Psychologist backs increase in age for alcohol and drug use

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­[email protected]

Psy­chol­o­gist Sarah Sub­han has wel­comed the Gov­ern­ment’s pro­posed in­crease in the le­gal age for the use of al­co­hol and drugs, say­ing the move is sup­port­ed by in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and sci­en­tif­ic ev­i­dence on ado­les­cent brain de­vel­op­ment.

Sub­han said re­search in­di­cates that al­co­hol use among young peo­ple can af­fect de­ci­sion-mak­ing and im­pulse con­trol, while the brain con­tin­ues de­vel­op­ing in­to young adult­hood.

“The age amend­ment for the use of drugs and al­co­hol is a pos­i­tive move based on in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and sci­en­tif­ic ev­i­dence,” she said.

Sub­han point­ed to re­search by the Unit­ed States Na­tion­al In­sti­tute on Al­co­hol Abuse and Al­co­holism, which in­di­cates that al­co­hol can af­fect ar­eas of the brain in­volved in de­ci­sion-mak­ing and im­pulse con­trol.

She said the ado­les­cent brain con­tin­ues to de­vel­op in­to young adult­hood and that de­lay­ing ex­po­sure to al­co­hol and drugs could help re­duce the like­li­hood of young peo­ple de­vel­op­ing un­healthy cop­ing mech­a­nisms.

“How­ev­er, for this age lim­it amend­ment to be ef­fec­tive, we re­al­ly need some foun­da­tion­al and cul­tur­al change in our so­ci­ety and shifts,” Sub­han said.

Her com­ments come as the Gov­ern­ment pre­pares to in­tro­duce the Mis­cel­la­neous Pro­vi­sions (Al­co­hol, Cannabis, Dan­ger­ous Drugs, Gam­bling and To­bac­co) Bill, 2026, in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on Wednes­day.

The Bill pro­pos­es amend­ments to sev­er­al pieces of leg­is­la­tion deal­ing with al­co­hol, cannabis, dan­ger­ous drugs, gam­bling and to­bac­co. Par­lia­ment’s Or­der Pa­per lists the Bill for in­tro­duc­tion and sec­ond read­ing on Wednes­day.

The pro­posed changes fol­low Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s an­nounce­ment in Jan­u­ary that the Gov­ern­ment in­tend­ed to raise the le­gal age for the sale, pur­chase, pos­ses­sion or con­sump­tion of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor and to­bac­co from 18 to 21, and cannabis from 18 to 21. The pro­posed age for gam­bling is 25.

Sub­han said leg­is­la­tion alone, how­ev­er, would not nec­es­sar­i­ly change be­hav­iour in a so­ci­ety where al­co­hol use is wide­ly ac­cept­ed.

“We live in a cul­ture where al­co­hol use is so­cial­ly ac­cept­ed and in many cul­tures in Trinidad and To­ba­go, in­tro­duc­ing young peo­ple to al­co­hol at a young age is ac­cept­able,” she said.

She said the pro­posed changes there­fore need to be ac­com­pa­nied by sus­tained pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion aimed at young peo­ple and their par­ents.

Sub­han sug­gest­ed tak­ing the mes­sage in­to schools and com­mu­ni­ties, while us­ing so­cial me­dia and mass me­dia to raise aware­ness about the ef­fects of ear­ly ex­po­sure to al­co­hol, mar­i­jua­na and va­p­ing.

“We may need some more pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion cam­paigns to ed­u­cate the pub­lic about the im­pacts of ear­ly use of al­co­hol, mar­i­jua­na and even va­p­ing,” she said.

“Go­ing in­to schools, go­ing in­to com­mu­ni­ties, us­ing so­cial me­dia and mass me­dia would be very help­ful to ed­u­cate young peo­ple and their par­ents about the im­pact of drugs on their sys­tem and the rea­sons why de­layed use of these sub­stances might be help­ful for their long-term de­vel­op­ment.”

The pro­posed leg­is­la­tion forms part of a wider pack­age of changes be­ing pur­sued by the Gov­ern­ment in re­la­tion to sub­stance use and gam­bling. The Prime Min­is­ter al­so said the Gov­ern­ment was ex­am­in­ing re­forms to the Dan­ger­ous Drugs Act fol­low­ing the de­crim­i­nal­i­sa­tion of cannabis in 2019, in­clud­ing is­sues sur­round­ing cul­ti­va­tion, pub­lic use and reg­u­la­tion.

The Bill is sched­uled to pro­ceed to the Sen­ate af­ter con­sid­er­a­tion in the House, with Par­lia­ment list­ing it for sec­ond read­ing in the Sen­ate on Fri­day, Oc­to­ber 2.

The pro­posed changes would there­fore place greater em­pha­sis on de­lay­ing young peo­ple's ac­cess to these sub­stances, while Sub­han said broad­er changes in at­ti­tudes, parental guid­ance and pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion would be need­ed if the leg­isla­tive mea­sures are to have their in­tend­ed ef­fect.