In our society it has been deemed that the drinking age should be 18. Regardless of whether this stops underage drinking, it can almost definitely be said that there are double standards intertwining with these regulations.

In the US, for instance, you can get married, have sex and BUY A GUN before you are legally allowed to drink and view pornographic images.

So in theory, should people under the age of 21 close their eyes when they're on their honeymoon, making love to their new husband or wife?

I find this ludicrous but admittedly also somewhat amusing.

These same double standards can be translated, as aforementioned, into our own British society. Us 16 and 17 year olds have to pay an adult fare on trains yet we cannot legally drink.

It makes no sense, in my opinion, that we are adults to suit the actual adults themselves.

There is also the issue that we may not be able to afford the price rise in accordance to train tickets.

Therefore, I believe it is only fair that in our supposed democracy we should get a say as well, and that these regulations should be altered so that either the drinking age is lowered or so that the prices for train fares until the age of 18 remain as child prices.

The latter would be more easy to regulate and perhaps more widely accepted but I'm sure this would appease many teenagers' discrepancies.

By Lewis Chandler, age 17