Should the legal drinking age in America be 18?

[rekabdarb]

no, it should be fucking lower, look at europe/everywhere else in the god damn world, they drink and their perfectly fine god damnit

 

[Optimystic]

Source?

Drinking ages of the other G8 countries:

Canada: 18
Japan: 20
France: 16, 18 in establishments
Germany: 16 for beer, 18 for liquor
Italy: 16
Russia: 18
UK: 18

That's right, we're the only G8 above 20. Go figure.
Oh, and Russia also has (A LOT) less population density than we do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age
And before you "lolWikipedia", the individual sources for each country are at the bottom of that article.

 

[Shinny_Explosions]

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?"

That has not much backing, due to it never seems to have been tested in real life. That takes surveys, not actually going out and tallying each person that drinks. I think since Alcohol has been around since the dawn of humanity, it wont change if the age limit drops. It will only change the lives of even younger generations; due to they see their older siblings/friends and will sneak alcohol. Thus we slowly go to the point where we are having babies eating the rotten carcasses of their dead, drunk, 12 year old, mothers...ok that was a MAJOR exageration but it gets my point across!

Don't mind my editing. ^^;
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

Actually we (U.S.A.) did try to have a drinking ban and that FAILED I mean it FAILED EPICALLY! I know a lot of people drink under age and they always will is what I am getting at...the other was more of a extream example of what I meant. As for the rest it only applies to those that are inclined to drink some do so for the fun and with friends as for my self being over aged I only do so at home and not to get drunk but just to let it relax me and then only sparingly. If we do anything it is to remove the chance of drunks from being able to buy the alcohol in the first place no matter the age.

 

[Seldon2639]

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?"

This argument would make a lot of sense, and the pop psychology of it is awesome, but the realities of the situation don't back it up. Binge drinking among teens in Europe is as big a problem as it is in America, the reporting criteria are just different. Most of Europe self-reports, while America has tracking due to the law. It's kind of like how French women do get fat, they just don't admit it.

http://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/2001/english/20010219_youngpeoplealcohol.en.html

In fact, many European countries are considering raising their drinking ages. The "binging as an act of defiance" is a good excuse, but it's not a real one. It's a false flag. College-age kids will drink because they like drinking. The choice seems to boil down to "most of the kids are gonna drink anyway, do we make them criminals, or decriminalize it?"

The argument from the lowering the age side is that if kids are doing it anyway, it's not a disincentive and we're just creating more criminals.

The argument from the keeping the age the same side is that it might not affect every single person who would drink underage, but it may affect some. And if we can reduce underage and binge drinking even somewhat, isn't that a good thing?

 

[Kuno]

I'll respond here because my father is a US Federal Judge, and his stance on the issue is that if it's legal for Americans to do it, it should be legal for them to do it by the age of 18. Let's not forget, the voting age in the US used to be 21, and it was brought down to 18 during the Vietnam War by that exact same argument. So, yeah. The drinking age should be 18. Not because you magically become mature at the age of 18, but because you become an adult at the age of 18, and that means you should have all of the rights granted to adults. It isn't a safety issue. It isn't a moral issue. It's a rights issue. And my dad would know.

 

[Hyperactiveman]

Dude don't Americans like drink underage anyway? I mean you can't police stuff like that so there's no point really! But seriously if it was 18 then there would be too much over drinking anyway because hasn't America got the highest population for alchoholics out of the whole world? Seeing that UK has the drinking age of 18 but the driving age of 18 as well. If you have both drinking and driving ages down for younger then the number of drink drivers wouls increase dramatically. I know you wouldn't do it because you guys are smart but there's always idiots out there who will and I think America has enough freedom at the moment.

 

[Dr_Baron_von_Evilsatan]

If I may ask, why is it so important that US kids get alcohol 3 years earlier? I mean I can see why it's at 21 (I consider myself much more mature and responsible at 21 than I was at 18). Is there something I'm missing to counteract the seemingly blatant probability of a rise in alcohol related crime and deaths?

 

[Optimystic]

Um, I meant source for the fact that Canada is able to "get along fine being able to drink at 18."

The fact that it hasn't imploded yet? I'm not sure what specific thing you want me to point to. In other words, all the horror stories that opponents of lowering the drinking age usually cite as reasons its a bad idea have yet to happen in any of the countries I've listed, Canada included.

 

[Aschenkatza]

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?"

This argument would make a lot of sense, and the pop psychology of it is awesome, but the realities of the situation don't back it up. Binge drinking among teens in Europe is as big a problem as it is in America, the reporting criteria are just different. Most of Europe self-reports, while America has tracking due to the law. It's kind of like how French women do get fat, they just don't admit it.

http://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/2001/english/20010219_youngpeoplealcohol.en.html

In fact, many European countries are considering raising their drinking ages. The "binging as an act of defiance" is a good excuse, but it's not a real one. It's a false flag. College-age kids will drink because they like drinking. The choice seems to boil down to "most of the kids are gonna drink anyway, do we make them criminals, or decriminalize it?"

The argument from the lowering the age side is that if kids are doing it anyway, it's not a disincentive and we're just creating more criminals.

The argument from the keeping the age the same side is that it might not affect every single person who would drink underage, but it may affect some. And if we can reduce underage and binge drinking even somewhat, isn't that a good thing?

Wow, I really didn't know that.

With that being said, then we should stop worrying about the law. We should be increasing ways to teach teenagers how to drink safely. My college campus is actually doing a "Think" event. They aren't focusing on not drinking; they are focusing on being Safe if your choosing to drink.
If we know they are drinking, then let's make sure they can drink and drink safely. More informative classes on binge drinking and DUI's, what they do to you and your body.

 

[Aschenkatza]

Plus, I don't believe we always had the drinking age... and we got along fine back then didn't we? =P

Actually, that's the issue: was there a drop in the accident rate among 18-21 year olds due to raising the public consumption and purchase age, was there any other way to achieve that drop, and does that drop justify the raising of the age?

I was actually talking about in the days of cowboys and such... >.>

--sorry if this is a double post =P

 

[Optimystic]

I'm thinking there are degrees of consequence in between "get along fine" and "imploded."

Not to hear MADD tell it.

Just to clarify, I'm against drunk driving and substance abuse as much as you are. But I think a high drinking age is worsening the problem rather than improving it. As I said before, you aren't going to teach teens good drinking habits by encouraging them to down all the hooch before they get found with it.

I'm from the Caribbean. When young people there go out, we don't mix alcohol types, we don't do shots, and we don't use funnels or chug. Then we get here and we see all these underage college kids killing themselves and wonder... why?

 

[Vern]

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...

Your example makes perfect sense. I've been around firearms since I was 10, been using them since I was 13, had my first drink when I was 14, and have owned firearms since I was 18, and have yet to go on a shooting spree, or even pull a gun on someone. Oh, and it's not hard to get either firearms or alcohol even if you're under 21 or 18, so I doubt in any way that it would increase gun violence. And no, 21 year olds aren't anymore responsible than 18 year olds. Responsibility is not dictated by an age, it has alot to do with your parenting, your environment, your personal morals, and how much you want to actually be a responsible person. I've known 16 year olds who are more responsible than 40 year olds I've met.

 

[Dragofaxer]

Well, im from Denmark where the legal drinking age is 16. And i think if you lower the legal age of drinking will there just become a new issue and that is that people that is 16-17 want to drink too, and they will get alcohol just as 18 year olds can get it today (by avoiding the law)

When i ask alot of people (in Denmark) when they were drunk for the first time they mostly answer 13-15 and thats because of the law, if the law in Denmark had the limit at 18-21 do i think it would be alot difrent.