Caption: Political Leader of the UNC and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar greets at supporter on Monday. Photo: Facebook
By Alicia Chamely
LEGISLATION to raise the legal age for gambling and marijuana use to 25 and raise the legal age for alcohol use to 21, will soon be brought to parliament.
This was a promise made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, on Monday Night at the United National Congress’s (UNC) Monday Night Forum held at Penal Secondary School.
Monday night’s forum was the first one held since the UNC won the April 28, 2025, general election.
Speaking to a sea of supporters, Persad-Bissessar outlined upcoming legislation her government plans to implement in the new parliamentary term.
Persad-Bissessar said, “Gambling, marijuana and alcohol legislation will also be brought to parliament. We intend to raise the legal age for gambling and marijuana use to 25 years and older. The legal age for alcohol use will be raised to 21 years and older.”
The raising of age limits for gambling, marijuana and alcohol use, was part of the UNC’s election campaign.
Persad-Bissessar and the candidates stated that this move to increase age limits would serve as a crime prevention tool.
She said the UNC believed that addiction was a root cause of crime and fuelled illegal trade and businesses, as well as contributed to acts of violence.
Commenting on Persad-Bissessar’s announcement of bringing legislation to increase age limits for gambling, marijuana and alcohol, former Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith said the issue of age was not the problem, it was the lack of enforcement.
In a release sent on Tuesday, Griffith said, “I understand the intention and it is a noble one. However, the target is being missed. The age limit is not the main issue. It is the enforcement.”
He continued, “Presently, the age limit is 18 years but every nightclub, every bar, every fete, every all-inclusive- not one bartender challenges any customer to show their ID card to verify if they are 18 or over. Not one bar owner has been charged for doing what they do nightly. Presently 15-year-olds are found consuming alcohol in fetes and bars and nothing done.”
Griffith stated, “So altering it from 18 to 21 will not fix the problem. It is about enforcement going hand in hand with altering the age limit.”
