A leading police official is calling for the drinking age in Great Britain to be raised to 21 and for a ban on public alcohol consumption, the BBC reported Aug. 15.

"Alcohol is too cheap and too readily available and is too strong. Young people cannot handle it," said Peter Fahey, chief constable of the Cheshire police. The current legal drinking age in the U.K. is 18, although even that is loosely enforced in many instances.

Currently, public drinking also is permitted unless local governments explicitly ban it. "I would like to see the emphasis change the other way, where we say drinking in public is not permitted apart from those areas where a local community, local authorities say 'yes, in this particular park, this particular location, people can drink,'" said Fahey. "It's that sort of thing which starts changing the popular culture, which starts getting the message across."

However, a U.K government official said raising the drinking age would not solve the problem of adolescent alcohol abuse. "People are getting hold of alcohol under 18. If we raise the age to 21 it's not going to stop people managing to get hold of alcohol," said Meg Hillier, a minister with Great Britain's Home Office. "We have this attitude that it's OK to go out and get plastered, publicly and privately. It's not something that government or legislation or the police alone can solve; it's much more of an attitude in society. In the end, the buck will stop with parents."