It is generally believed that the potential for alcohol-related harm is higher for younger people (those under the age of 25), whose drinking behaviors place them at particular risk for harm.  The debate revolves around how best to reduce the risks facing this segment of population.

Young people are, for a variety of reasons, at increased risk for harm from certain drinking patterns. 

Physiologically, they are still undergoing developmental changes, which place them at increased risk for physical harm.

• Young people may have reduced sensitivity to some intoxicating effects of alcohol compared to older adults.
• For example, young people may be susceptible to increased potential harm to brain development, memory processing, and other physiological development.

Young people's inexperience with alcohol consumption and their greater tendency toward risk-taking, as well as other behaviors, also increase the potential for social harm.  Young people are more likely than adults to—

• drink excessively;
• engage in aggressive and asocial behaviors and experience injuries and accidents (especially road traffic crashes);
• be involved in both excessive alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior.

There is no agreement on the specific age when drinking becomes appropriate. 

Most cultures where alcohol consumption is legal have a mandated threshold age at which buying and/or consuming alcohol becomes permitted (see Policy Table: Minimum Age Limits Worldwide).  

Where this limit should be set and its potential effectiveness as a prevention measure is subject to considerable debate.

• Minimum drinking and purchase ages in countries around the world range from 16 to 25 years of age.
• Where the age limit is set, it is largely a product of cultural attitudes toward alcohol and level of permissiveness to drinking by young people.
• In some countries, drinking age precedes the age of legal majority; in others, it coincides with it; and, in still others, drinking is delayed well past that threshold.
• Typically, drinking age laws make no reference to alcohol consumption in the home.  In some countries, alcohol content or type of beverage also determine the age of legal access.

There is considerable debate around how adolescents learn to drink and what influences their drinking.

How and when the young learn about drinking and acquire drinking patterns may be influenced by a variety of factors: family, peers, media, cultural norms and religion, and government policies.

There is evidence that family and peers represent the most significant influences in the development of young people’s drinking patterns.

The influence of the age at which drinking is initiated on the potential for problems later in life is a controversial issue.

However, this is likely to relate to particular patterns of drinking and requires further research. It is important to consider a range of other key factors that may contribute to the development of problems: genetics, family history, drinking patterns, cultural influences, and social and family environments.