Just wondering what you guys think. Watching the Colbert Report now and they're talking on the subject.
Should the legal drinking age in America be 18?
- Thread starter ManiacalZManiac
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I reckon you should make this a poll, and yeah, it is good, im in Aussie were we are allowed to drink at 18, but that doesnt stop us *wink*, well, its much better because we cant drive earlier than you but we ca ndrink, so we even out : )
My bias is that people drink illegally because they aren't allowed. People want what they can't have. If we got rid of the law[or lowered it], no one would care to drink because it's no longer a rebellious thing.
As many have said and many will say, "Why can I choose to die for my country, yet not be allowed to drink?"
As many have said and many will say, "Why can I choose to die for my country, yet not be allowed to drink?"
That has not much backing do to it never seems to be tested in real life for the take surveys not actually going out and tallying each person that drinks...I think since Alcohol has been arround since the dawn of humanity it wont change if the age limit drops. Only it will change the lives of even younger generations do to they see their older siblings/friends and will sneek some and thus we slowly go to the point where we are having the babbies eating the rotten carcases of their dead drunk 12 year old mothers...ok that was a MAJOR exageration but it gets my point across!Aschenkatza said:
I say we try this - lower the drinking age to 18 for a week and watch as every 18-20 year old goes and gets sh**-faced hammered to celebrate. The resulting hangover on a significant percentage of America's population will teach them to never go on an 18-hour drinking binge ever again. In theory, at least.
I'm 19 and suffice to say, the law has never posed an issue for me and my buddies getting our drink on. It makes a few obstacles to leap over but never has it actually stopped us from drinking.
I'm 19 and suffice to say, the law has never posed an issue for me and my buddies getting our drink on. It makes a few obstacles to leap over but never has it actually stopped us from drinking.
I thought of another thing, since its so easy for you all to get guns and such, would you really want even more hot headed gun weilding people out and about, 21 year olds seem to be more responsible than 18 year olds, and mixing guns in the equation just make it sound like Death is waiting...
An old thought that was passed to my by my grandfather a long time ago.
"If you are old enough to go and die for your country, you are old enough to buy a beer."
"If you are old enough to go and die for your country, you are old enough to buy a beer."
And
The fact of the matter is that almost every other country gets along just fine with the drinking age at less than 21, and even less than 18 in some cases. Even with the higher age limit here, our teens are still the ones stereotyped for stupid behavior worldwide. It teaches adolescents to chug/mainline/funnel their alcohol so they don't get caught with any, thereby enforcing really bad drinking habits.
I agree that lowering it now would cause a few months (3? 6? a year?) of insanity, but the novelty would wear off quickly. The rest of the world isn't going to fall in behind our "stellar" example, so why are we still punishing our teens?
Bull. Mass transit has nothing to do with it. Canada is much, MUCH less densely populated than the U.S., yet they get along fine being able to drink at 18.Cheeze_Pavilion said:
The fact of the matter is that almost every other country gets along just fine with the drinking age at less than 21, and even less than 18 in some cases. Even with the higher age limit here, our teens are still the ones stereotyped for stupid behavior worldwide. It teaches adolescents to chug/mainline/funnel their alcohol so they don't get caught with any, thereby enforcing really bad drinking habits.
I agree that lowering it now would cause a few months (3? 6? a year?) of insanity, but the novelty would wear off quickly. The rest of the world isn't going to fall in behind our "stellar" example, so why are we still punishing our teens?
Your mind isn't ready to drive by 18, lets not go around drinking things we don't understand untill the brain is done setting up shop.
I do believe there is a scientific reason for the drinking age being 21. The human brain doesnt reach full maturity until age 21, the cognitive part in particular. I believe this may be the logic behind the drinking age.
I've heard that one. I have to wonder if getting all your early-college drinking done legally rather than illegally would mean getting it out of your system sooner.Kirosilence said:
My country has the drinking age at eighteen.
We have a drinking culture to rival that of Scotland and Ireland.
Except we don't have awesome enough accents to remedy the fact that we're singing out of tune and throwing up on our neighbour's gardens every weekend.
When I was in school, I found about 80% percent of the people I knew there were drinking from age 13 up.
I chose not to drink until I turned 18, and even then I didn't really start drinking in the large quantities that result in hilarious behaviour until I was 20.
Now days I see my brother (who is underage) and his friends getting drunk, and I want to punch them.
I think there was a suggestion in parliament to raise the drinking age up to 20, but it wasn't looked upon that well by the public and was scrapped.
If 13 year olds can get hold of drink, I don't see how it would be harder for 18 year olds to. All raising the drinking age would do is increase the number of people who have to get hold of their drinks illegally.
In the same vein for you Americans, all lowering the drinking age would do is lower the amount of illegal drinkers. (I assume, though there may be vast differences in drinking culture that mean this would not be the case. According to some Scottish guy who had been to America that I met this one time, he found Americans were nowhere near as heavy drinkers as those in the UK and New Zealand/Australia)
Of course, it could just be that New Zealand has a phenomenal amount of dodgy dairy owners willing to sell alcohol to minors. So maybe drinking ages actually make a difference in America, I wouldn't know.
We have a drinking culture to rival that of Scotland and Ireland.
Except we don't have awesome enough accents to remedy the fact that we're singing out of tune and throwing up on our neighbour's gardens every weekend.
When I was in school, I found about 80% percent of the people I knew there were drinking from age 13 up.
I chose not to drink until I turned 18, and even then I didn't really start drinking in the large quantities that result in hilarious behaviour until I was 20.
Now days I see my brother (who is underage) and his friends getting drunk, and I want to punch them.
I think there was a suggestion in parliament to raise the drinking age up to 20, but it wasn't looked upon that well by the public and was scrapped.
If 13 year olds can get hold of drink, I don't see how it would be harder for 18 year olds to. All raising the drinking age would do is increase the number of people who have to get hold of their drinks illegally.
In the same vein for you Americans, all lowering the drinking age would do is lower the amount of illegal drinkers. (I assume, though there may be vast differences in drinking culture that mean this would not be the case. According to some Scottish guy who had been to America that I met this one time, he found Americans were nowhere near as heavy drinkers as those in the UK and New Zealand/Australia)
Of course, it could just be that New Zealand has a phenomenal amount of dodgy dairy owners willing to sell alcohol to minors. So maybe drinking ages actually make a difference in America, I wouldn't know.
The younger the drinking age is, the more people die in traffic accidents. The only possible offset is an extreme shift in the punishment of drunk drivers, similar to the way Germany deals with drunk drivers. Extreme enforcement of traffic law to this extent Americans would never stand for. So forget it, never gonna happen, and it shouldn't until we can grow up as a nation.
Don't mind my editing. ^^;Shinny_Explosions said:
It is highly unlikely that it would go that far. By lowering the drinking age, it shows that alcohol isn't as big a deal as it used to be. People would still consume it for fun and sensual/mental pleasure, but not in such vast quantities that we do today. We should be stressing Safety more than not drinking.
Plus, I don't believe we always had the drinking age... and we got along fine back then didn't we? =P
