Psychologist backs increase in age for alcohol and drug use

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.