By paNOW

A lower drinking age welcomed by some on university campus

Nov 5, 2012 | 11:58 PM

The manager of Regina’s on-campus bar is among those making the case for a lower drinking age in Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Party prompted discussion Monday of lowering the drinking age from 19 to 18 after a resolution to do so was passed at the party’s convention on the weekend. The government is adamant that the idea will be studied thoroughly before any change is brought to the legislature.

However the long-time manager of The Lazy Owl, the University Of Regina’s on-campus bar feels the change is a long time coming. Alexis Losie has run the bar for the last eight years and has seen more than her fair share of young drinkers come through the door. In her opinion the current age is an antiquated policy that doesn’t reflect a key reality.

“I really do feel like we’re not getting a lot of kids who have never had the taste of alcohol,” she explained in an interview Monday morning. “They’re doing it in their rooms. They’ve done it probably at home with their friends before they move here. They may even be doing it at home with their parents.”

Losie feels that 18 year olds that are attending university, living on their own, and budgeting their money are capable of taking on the responsibility of purchasing alcohol. She says excluding a large portion of students from on-campus events that may feature alcohol sales or are held in the bar setting means they aren’t getting the full university experience.

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She says it’s also driving many of them to criminal behaviour like buying and using fake ID just to be able to get into the bar and socialize with their friends.

“Kids are finding a way to get in. If the drinking age is 18 it would alleviate some problems of us having to deal with so many fake IDs.”

Losie insists staff at the Owl are vigilant about checking ID at the door but the fakes are getting sophisticated enough that it’s a constant challenge. The growing international student population also means they have to try and familiarize themselves with what identification cards from around the world are supposed to look like and how to spot fakes.

Students at the University of Regina that News Talk Radio talked to on Monday afternoon were nearly unanimous in their support for the idea as well. Many cited the argument that 18 is old enough to attend university, vote, and serve in the military and thus should be old enough to drink. Others pointed out that Manitoba and Alberta go by 18 and Saskatchewan should do the same to keep young people from travelling out of province to buy booze.

news@panow.com