Poll: Drinking age changing to 21

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

Drinking laws are pointless. If someone wants to have liquor, they'll find ways to get it. The only difference is that by bumping the age up to 21 it inconveniences us. I mean, seriously. By eighteen we're basically old enough to be on our own, and we can make our own choices, we also make our own money. So, why can't we spend OUR money on the alcohol WE want?

we can join the damned military when you're eighteen, we can have guns by eighteen, we can even smoke by eighteen. (American laws wise!)


Which, basically tells me -

We can die in a war once we're eighteen, possibly being shot in the balls. we can have a tool to kill by eighteen, and we can give our self cancer by eighteen. Yet, we cannot drink liquor? Something that's stood the test of time? Something which is in fact healthy if taken responsibly?

I live in New Brunswick, Canada, the drinking age is Nineteen here, and in Quebec it's Eighteen. I personally think even these ages are stupid. If I lived in Australia, I'd be paying my tax money for them to take my liquor away from me, and for them to ban basically every game I want to play.

How ironic, Democracy has become an authoritarian government that basically decides what you get dependent on your age, not on your maturity. A final thing I'll complain about in regards to this drinking law is it's incredibly unfair that this mean spirited, selfish jerk
who's an alcoholic can drink just because he's twenty one, meanwhile I wouldn't be able to
even have one bottle of beer, simply because I'm one or two years younger.

So there, it's unreasonable, it's age discrimination, and it gets in the way of a service, the law is a cancer.

 

[cieply]

Nothing is better than creating a law no one will ever obey. Increases respect for the law in general...
But people have funny ideas, just like thinking that kids don't fuck untill they are 18

 

[Troldepuss]

Is a kid not entitled to the alcohol of his own brow?
No, says the man in Australia. It belongs to the old!

 

[Kif]

I'm not really fussed by the age countries select... what I do find interesting, though, is that Governments spend more time thinking about the age than how to enforce it.

The issue with stopping teenage drinking isn't about the age you should be to drink; it is purely about enforcing the policy so that underage people find it difficult to get hold of alcohol.

The age could be 30 but if the enforcement isn't in place to make sure that venues ID anyone who looks suspect it wouldn't stop underage people getting hold of alcohol and the physical differences between 18 and 21 are marginal at best so it's not exactly a big enough difference for bar owners to determine the age of their customers and whether they should ID someone.

 

[VanityGirl]

I was going to say "Welcome to America".
Sorry about that. I think 21 is too high for a drinking age though. I think if you can do everything else when you're 18, you may as well drink too.

 

[cobra_ky]

it's a terrible idea. why do people always talk about drunk driving deaths

See, people always forget that when the US raised the drinking age from 18 to 21, the alcohol related car accident rate in young people plummeted, like, dropped substantially. An argument could probably be made for stricter drivers licence requirements, but then people also forget that driving is so integral to the US culture and way of life. It's a function of just how damn big America is and how spread out its people are that cars are far more necessary there then they are in Europe, where most of the criticism for our drinking age comes from.

People also forget that deaths from binge drinking haven't changed at all, and are up amongst certain groups. what raising the drinking age did was take the job of teaching children to drink responsibly away from their parents and gave it to a bunch of equally irresponsible college students. When my father turned 18, my grandparents sat him down in the kitchen and made him get drunk. when he went to college, he understood his limits. When i started drinking, I went to a party and got bombed out of my mind.

that's why there's a large movement among university presidents in the U.S. to lower the drinking age back to 18.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/16/mccardell.lower.drinking.age/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/19/60minutes/main4813571.shtml

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Australia seems to be becoming a horrible country...

But honestly, can you tell my why people under 21 should be able to drink?

 

[CrysisMcGee]

Since when does the law prevent drinking? Here in the US, at least 75% of the 16-20 years old population has some form of drinking habit.

Many many times this has proven true. Yeah, there are so many ways to get alchohol if your under 21 in the US.

 

[Exosus]

To the unquoteable number of people who say "I don't drink, so it doesn't matter to me" I give this poem. May it enlighten you.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out?because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out?because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out?because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out?because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me?and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Australia seems to be becoming a horrible country...

But honestly, can you tell my why people under 21 should be able to drink?

Laws don't exist on a "why not" basis; If there is no specific reason to make a law, there shouldn't be such a law. Can you honestly tell me why people under 21 should be allowed to dance naked in their living room with the blinds shut and "Party in the USA" playing on the stereo? If we start outlawing everything we don't see a reason for, the law books will soon overflow.

 

[rokkolpo]

as long as it's still 16 in holland.

 

[Collymilad08]

It's dumb.

It's not going to stop younger people getting drink. All it does is screw over people who are 18-21.

Governments have no idea how to deal with problems, at all.

 

[Xanian]

I personally wouldn't trust an 18-year-old to piss in the toilet without spilling a drop on his shoes...but that still sounds lame I guess.

 

[Happy Toki Toki]

Considering your drunk idiots of my age bracket rack up a 4.2 billion dollar bill in drunken accidents every year, I say we should get rid of alcohol all together till you idiots develop brains and start using them wisely.

 

[zen5887]

I'm a 19 year old Australian and like a fair number of people my age, I enjoy a scotch on occasion (and many scotches on some occasions)so I'm not going to lie, I am a little worried. However, this isn't going to stop me from drinking, my girlfriend is 22, I have older friends at uni, hell, even my parents would probably buy me stuff if it comes down to it.

All this raised drinking age will do is stop me and my peers go to nightclubs or bars, it will not stop us drinking and it will not stop us drinking a lot. So perhaps the problem is not drinking, but the bars and nightclubs. In fact, while reading up on this, I read that the whole reason why they want to raise the age is to stop drunken violence at pubs and clubs.

Maybe the 2am lock out isn't such a bad idea...

 

[Agema]

Maturity comes with age. Just because you're 18 and can now vote doesn't mean you have the responsibility of a 21-year-old. 21-year-olds are generally less responsible than 25-year-olds, and they are on average probably less responsible than 30-year-olds (although the gap will be increasingly small).

Nevertheless, puberty has stopped at 18 for the vast majority of humans; if at that age people are considered capable of voting, marrying without parental consent and other legal responsibilities, then it stands to reason they should be competent to decide whether they want to indulge in various vices like smoking, visiting strip joints and drinking alcohol. There are decent reasons why it may be preferable to give access to some of these earlier than voting age, but I can't see many convincing reasons for why they should only be granted later, although people with a puritanical mindset no doubt can.

 

[iJosh]

It don't really phase me as much because like you said, it's in australiar? But if it were going down in canada. Then I might have to get a little angry. It wouldn't really mattter though, Im 20 and my best friends 21, so were all set.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

It wont stop bindge drinking as it is a culture. They need to change the culture.

You know, what you call 'binge drinking' we just used to call 'drinking' when I was a kid.

Also, lolstralian government. Please continue to try to ride the coat tails of other countries. It makes you so lolworthy.

Sex at 16, drink at 18.

England's not all that bad, ya know?

Sweden. Sex at 15, drink at 18.. Not that anyone cares. Ive had a drink with an off-duty cop.

 

[Emperor Inferno]

Yeah, see how we feel. In America, the drinking age has been 21 for decades, and yes, it sucks.

 

[Overlord2702]

What a bunch of idoits the problem isn't the drinking age its the "lets get smashed" mentality. And with that comes people killing each other with fists (dont piss off a drunk aussie)

 

[Saskwach]

Couple points.
First, to those who say "I can die in a foreign war/vote/whatever but not drink?!"
Ok, sure. But here in Oz, 16 is the legal age for sex with your elders. Any complaints that you can't vote at 16? Drink at 16? Join the army at 16 without parental approval? No? Then you're being just as inconsistent as the laws that might one day decree a 3 year gap between voting and drinking. In fact, it's worse: the fact that you care more about the relative age you can swallow intoxicating beverages versus vote for your own governance or defend your country is a bit...perplexing.
Second, Australian drinking culture is vile. We are well known in foreign countries that have experience with us to be terrible boozehounds. Germans do not look forward to seeing us at Oktoberfest, because we're violent and rowdy drunks. A Zimbabwean friend of mine does not drink with Ozzies (even though he lives here) because "at some point in the night you're going to lose them".

What a bunch of idoits the problem isn't the drinking age its the "lets get smashed" mentality. And with that comes people killing each other with fists (dont piss off a drunk aussie)

Hell, don't be around a drunk Aussie. A Brit friend of a Brit friend of mine had his jaw broken open (literally split in twain) by a drunken Aussie with no prior provocation. The night they went clubbing again after his recovery they were attacked again minutes after they got off the train.

3. I dont live in australia aka the alabama of the pacific

Ha! You know a(n American) friend of the family says that whenever he hears "Australia" he thinks "Illinois". It's a state about the same size as Oz in terms of population and economy.

See, people always forget that when the US raised the drinking age from 18 to 21, the alcohol related car accident rate in young people plummeted, like, dropped substantially. An argument could probably be made for stricter drivers licence requirements, but then people also forget that driving is so integral to the US culture and way of life. It's a function of just how damn big America is and how spread out its people are that cars are far more necessary there then they are in Europe, where most of the criticism for our drinking age comes from.


... That being said, I do find it somewhat silly that you can die for your country but not have a beer in it's honor at 18.

You should see our driver's license laws. As a late entry to the wonderful world of driver's licensing (just started down that path) I am at the beginning of a very long road. So I intimately understand the road ahead of me (a road which, it should be noted, each successive government feels it must put extra potholes in to 'look tough with those damn irresponsible kids'):
1)Pass a basic road knowledge test. 30 questions, minimum 25 right to pass. Not very hard. Having passed you can now drive as an L-plate driver. This means you must a) display L plates in the front and rear windows of your car and b) only drive with someone in the passenger side who has had a full license for more than 5 years. You'll be doing this a lot because your next test is:
2)A driving test. This test is notoriously draconian. The vast majority of the testers are old men who've been doing this for so many years (and for whom the paperwork for failing someone is much less than for passing) that they are now crotchety and angry. I've known people who failed the test because they didn't check their blind spot as they turned into the turning lane of a median strip (if that wasn't clear, basically a turning lane for which there could have been no one behind him). You will likely have to take this test 2-3 times, with a waiting list of a few months each time.
Congratulations! You have your Phase 2 Learner's license! What does that entail? You're still on your L plates, which means you still need a 5-year-fully-licensed passenger at all times - and you need to accrue 25 hours behind the wheel, logging the times you did this (minimum 15 minutes each time). There is a 6 month minimum period in Phase 2, so don't expect that you can just breeze through the 25 and move on to P plates. Oh I didn't mention P plates did I? In that case:
3)Finish those 25 hours and pass a computerised hazard perception test and you're on P - provisional - plates. You can drive alone. Well done! But wait - there's still restrictions. For instance: you cannot drive with a BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) over 0.00%. (Hell, you could be done for the drinking you did the night before!)
You may not drive between 12am and 5pm unless driving to or from a place of work or study. This means you cannot be the designated driver for a group of drinkers, and you cannot drive yourself home from a party that went any length of time. It's as if the government doesn't even understand how drink driving works.
You will have red-on-white P plates (which must be displayed) for 6 months, and then you will have 'green' P plates for another 18. After this you will finally have:
4)A full license.

(The anger in that rant was at the dills who made this terrible ladder of pain and tedium, not you. Apologies if it seemed that way.)