Should the drinking age be raised to 21?

Picture this. A bunch of incoherent teenagers who can barely remember whether the sky is blue or red. Their alcohol saturated brains and their maturity level or rather lack of thereof become the cauldron where imbecilic ideas are concocted and come to life. A few moments later it’s all sirens screeching and lights flashing. Whether it’s an ambulance, fire truck or the police, the common denominator is that there has been trouble and someone has been hurt. This has become such a familiar scene on say a Friday night (or really any day) that some members of parliament have suggested raising the drinking age from 18 to 21. In New Zealand we don’t actually have a legal drinking age but rather a purchase age. Anyone can consume alcohol but only people aged 18 and over can legally purchase it. Brawls and accidents caused by intoxicated teenagers have been on the rise and recent studies indicate that most binge drinkers develop bad drinking habits between the ages of 16 and 22 as most people are not very mature before they hit the mid 20s.
Teens under 18 use fake identification to enter pubs and clubs where they can buy and consume alcohol. This is one of the reasons why raising the drinking age has been proposed. It’s quite easy for a 15 year old to look 18 but not 21. Therefore in that way this would reduce the number of teens under 18 drinking alcohol. Another argument is that 18 year olds are more likely to buy alcoholic drinks for their younger friends than 21 year olds. This is especially true in a high school setting where most year 13 students are 18 and they have younger friends in the school who may ask them to buy alcohol for them. There is also the controversial issue about 18 year olds not being mature enough to drink responsibly. The police are called to or stumble upon street fights or accidents involving drunken teenagers too many a time. It’s hoped that raising the drinking age will reduce the number of such unfortunate events.
On the other hand, raising the drinking age would infuriate those who are almost 18 and it would be difficult for 19 and 20 year olds to follow the new law as they are already legally allowed to purchase and consume alcohol publicly. Although raising the drinking age would potentially reduce underage drinking and maybe even binge drinking, it would not completely obliterate these problems. There would still be underage drinkers just like there are now. Underage drinking statistics would probably sky rocket as there would be more people under the legal drinking age or rather purchasing age.
Personally I think it would be more effective to have a legal drinking age not a purchasing age. This would reduce the number of underage drinkers as it would actually be illegal for people over the drinking age to supply alcohol to those under the drinking age. Another solution could be educating the masses about alcohol and its effects on the body. There has already been an effort made as drug and alcohol education were incorporated into the high school P.E. and Health curriculum. However I believe there should be more education for the general public as well. The binge drinking culture is passed down from generation to generation so if our parents are informed of the consequences then they can set a good example for us to follow.
Raising the drinking age to 21 would have many repercussions some good and others not so good. I personally don’t think there enough good possible consequences to change the law. However I acknowledge the problem of binge drinking and underage drinking but I think there are other less disputable ways of tackling these problems like rehabilitation through education and so forth.