18 vs 21
 

Why is that by governments standards, at 18 you are not old enough to handle the responsibilities of alcohol, yet you are old enough to give and take life for you country? Theoretically you can go to war, eat a bullet saving you own men’s lives, come back a war hero, but you can't drink a victory beer because you may not know how to handle yourself. Can someone please enlighten me?

well, they tried to have 18 as the drinking age in California for several years. Changed it back due to too much increase in DWIs etc.

but you're right--it doesn't seem too fair or logical; but young men are fearless. Fearless and stupid enough to be soldiers, (no, this is not a slam against our servicemen and women); not yet grown up enough to be responsible around alcohol? dunno.

Can we enlighten you? Nope. The US is one of the few countries who has an (on a universal level) absurd rule for drinking alcohol. Alcohol is part of all human cultures but the US just has very different rules about it. I'm in favor of 18 being the age of consumption or not even having a drinking age (because alcohol is human culture! and the correctly parented children will know not get wasted at age 10).

Believe me, at the tender age of 19 I am applicable to both conscription and drinking tickets.

If every 18 year old in the nation registered to vote and immediately started lobbying about this, it would be changed quickly.

18 has been the drinking age before, and it worked out very badly because it meant that through members of the senior class, the entire high school would have easy access to alcohol.

The number of teen DWIs increased after the change.

maybe because the 18 years olds were buying all their little buddies booze.

Which change, to 18 or to 21?

To 21.

Read about this in both statistics and psychology classes. Do I remember any other particulars? No. I was too busy drinking.

Some people think alcohol abuse at colleges has gotten WORSE since the age was raised to 21 in the mid-80s. (I'm one of them.) It actually was 21 in many states back in earlier decades. It was around the time of the 1960s if I'm correct that most states lowered it to 18 in large part due to "if I'm old enough to get drafted and have my ass shot off, I'm old enough to have a beer" agitation on the part of young people. By the time MADD was raising a ruckus in the 1980s, those same people didn't seem quite so concerned about protecting their children's rights to drink.

I don't know what you are talking about SteveDallas. We all know if you illegalize something the abuse will go down. I mean, look at the great success of the prohibition.

Seriously, I think we should have a system for 18-21 year olds that if they are drinking alcohol and are below a certain Blood-Alcohol level, they don't get a ticket (unless they are driving). That encourages responsible drinking both socially and through the law. It is basically the same thing as encouraging safe sex instead of abstinence.

Rexmons can you add a poll to vote who wants to keep it at 21, lower it to 18 or get rid of the drinking age altogether?

Sure, NOW you want to vote.

:lol:

18 is the age for basically everything here. License, Drinking, Voting (compulsory) etc

I tend to think its a bit OTT to get your license and be legal to drink at the same time.

We have an awful lot of young driver deaths over here and usually if there is a fatal accident involving a young driver....it tends to wipe out a car load of young people traveling together.

We dont seem to have a problem with 18 yr old drink drivers though and a lot of that is to do with education and penalties I think, plus incentive for Designated Drivers etc.

I think you have better and less congested roads, too.


How do you get a ticket if you're not driving?

UT made a good point about this nonsense a while back. We are both in that age group of guys that crossed state lines for booze because of drinking age disparity between states. It gave us all a certain amount of disrespect for the randomness of lawmakers. People ended up driving for drinking instead of staying close to home...

Out of interest. Do the drinking laws (in most states) apply uniformly, or are under-18s allowed to drink at home, with supervision?

In our present environment, allowing your kids to drink at home would probably lead to some misapplication of the laws around child abuse. In America, you're supposed to drink with strangers in a bar as far from home as possible.

A drinking ticket/citation.

I thought that was so I wouldn't embarrass my mom with my drunken behavior.

Laws vary from state to state.. here's a handy map.

Yeh G I don't know if I mentioned it before, but that was the issue that I would say "turned" me libertarian. I just couldn't believe that all these legislators were taking the approach that would clearly kill more teenagers in order for them to look like they were being politically responsible.

We made the state line trip a few times even though it was an hour away and, I swear, I drank nothing out of it. I didn't learn to drink until the correct time and place for it ... college.

As someone who has a lot of friends who work in the bar and club industry, I have to say lower it. Darn selfish college kids using fake IDs get tons of businesses in trouble. :(

I don't really understand why so many young people have such ridiculous attitudes about alcohol. Drinks can taste good and make you feel happy, but I don't see the appeal of (for the guys) buying cheap beer in huge quantities and chugging it until it makes you sick, or (for the girls) buying cheap liquor with enough sugary mixers to disguise the taste and drinking until it makes you sick. What's wrong with having a drink or two with food, feeling a nice buzz, and then going to bed with someone you won't be ashamed of in the morning? :D

Because its coooooooooool. I think it has to do with that is the social norm or what people think everyone else is doing.

This is actually what I strive for and same with most of my friends. I like the buzz and the feelings I get from it and then I'll sober up while keeping that same feeling then drink a Gatorade before I go to bed and I'm feeling great in the morning.

I only needed to get alcohol poisoning once to realize that I didn't want to do that again...

Because it cuts my chances of getting laid, waaaaaaaaaay down.

They need to pick one. Adult is adult.
If they leave it at 21 then they need to raise the military age to that.

I have to say that I think it's weird that a person can live in Australia and have been drinking socially for a couple of years, then take a trip to the US and they can't buy a beer legally.

What Ducksy said is true here. Drink driving is not the major cause of road accidents for young drivers. Speed is.

As to other social issues associated with young drinkers. I think they're there for some people all their lives. I don't think youngsters are the only ones who behave like dickheads when they're pissed.

The main concern I have with young people drinking too much are the implications for their health to do with not quite mature livers etc. That being said, kids will always get drinks if they want to badly enough. Laws don't stop people abusing alcohol.

...and the voting age and age for adult prosecution... Hmmm... Let's go back to 18. I'm not real keen on extending childhood, some folks won't grow up.

I agree, make everything 18. We would also lose a lot in taxes if going to 21 as the adult age.

Unfortunately, all of them are too busy getting wasted to bother...

When I was in the service, most base clubs the policy was, you wear the uniform you can drink. 18 for those in uniform, 21 for the unwashed rabble.

I'd leave it at 21, it's a small price of three years to pay for several lives saved because of DUIs and other drunken mishaps.

I think most kids from 18-20 have had a few drinks anyway.