England and Scotland were reported to have the highest rates of under-age drinking nations in a World Health Organization survey last year. A coding static is recently introduced in Scotland to trace shopkeepers and adults supplying drink to under-aged youth, said Newstatesman.[1] 

According to the spokesperson for Strathclyde Police, the aim of this coding is both to prosecute offenders and gather information about places where children are getting their alcohol. Yet the effect of this scheme is far beyond our prediction.

It has been proved difficult to encourage people to break away the habits like drinking and smoking: people will still smoke and drink anyway even under the heavy tax and hash regulations. It is noticeable that, rather than going to the tightening controlled supermarkets, teenagers tend to purchase alcohol in small corner shops, which are much more difficult to be monitored by police. Regulation seems to be vulnerable to have every situation under controlled.

Compared to those debatable rules and regulations, youth drinking education programme is more likely to provide effective and permanent solutions to the under-age drinking problem.

However, as to the youth education on drinking, British parents, I must say, need to do more. Parents` attitude towards drinking is crucial to constrain youth`s drinking behaviours. Kids in Britain are given too much freedom by their generous parents: they think it is up to them to decide if their child has a drink or not and thus unconsciously approve excessive drinking. A shop owner who has been running the alcohol business for 5 years expressed same concern, according to Newstatesman`s article.

It is always more effective and easier to persuade teenagers themselves to get rid of alcohol, rather than threatening the vendors by heavy fine in solving the youth drinking problem.

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[1] Newstatesman: Keep an eye on the booze, 12 February 2007