Drinking Age

rival.

keep it at 21.

i don't want to go to bars and hang out with 18 year olds.

Gremmie95

could always go back to the 3.2 law they had in the 70's........

Pacomc79

yes, absolutely and step up DUI policing.

18 should absolutely be the drinking age. 21 is absurd.

It's only there because 18 year olds know more underage people. Bottom line, take the mystique away from it and people learn earlier that vomiting for 6 hours isn't fun.

Abuse is not a reason to set the drinking age at 21. Neither is it being more accessable to underaged people.

18 year olds are already in bars... and those bars are fairly easy to spot and avoid. Most of them are really loud and they play bad music.

If DUI becomes more of an issue then the penalties for even the first DUI should just become more severe and begin with Jail time.

Prohibition does not work in practice. MADD cannot show figures on that and they can't prove thier hypothesis other than to show that young people take more risks.

Pot is legal or at least not criminalized in Amsterdam, yet they have less drug abuse issues... interesting.

I'd wager part of the reason for abuse of alcohol in young people is because the law tells them they can't have it.

reeferchief

Jeremy1012 wrote:

The idea that you can have a wife and kids and be sat behind the wheel of 1000 kg of prime station wagon metal'n'wood before you can down a nice cold one is one of the more glaring absurdities that America has fallen foul of.

Well to be honest you can drive at 17 and drink at 18 here in the UK, so that rings true here as well.
Also the lehgal drinking age will be going up to 21 here soon I'll promise you, they have already implemented it in shops in Scotland as far as buying it goes, then it'll be pubs and then England.

intodeep

As mentioned earlier if you are old enough to go to war and old enough to choose a president you should be old enough to drink a beer.

And who the hell are these people kidding that think it stops 18 year olds from drinking. It may stop the goodie two shoes from drinking but most kids once you hit college start drinking at parites. So what is the difference.

I drank when i was 18 and i turned out okay.

JordyWordy

18 years is the age here, but there are problems. not because of the age, but because of a binge-drinking culture.

so yeah, why the fuck not?
at the same time though i feel it would be taking away from the fun times i had drinking legally for three years while americans were toiling and cheating for their booze.....im a prick really

PJaddicted

As the parent of four sons(21, 19, 17 & 14)....it should be put back down to 18. Most of my sons friends drink. Many drink and drive. For some reason the police don't ever even ask if they have been drinking after accidents....I know of three kids just from the last few months...19 and 20 year olds that had crashes and had been drinking. I don't think making the kids wait until 21 stops drinking and driving, if anything the kids drink heavier before they go out to someplace they won't be able to drink.

oxc

stu gee

reeferchief wrote:

Well to be honest you can drive at 17 and drink at 18 here in the UK, so that rings true here as well.
Also the lehgal drinking age will be going up to 21 here soon I'll promise you, they have already implemented it in shops in Scotland as far as buying it goes, then it'll be pubs and then England.

You can still buy alcohol in the vast majority of Scottish shops at 18. I think it was tested in some areas but its not a national thing yet.

Changing the age isnt going to have an affect, not for a long time anyway. Im 23 and the truth is that me and my friends, and honestly at least half the people i grew up with, started drinking maybe shortly after we started secondary school, so you're talking around 13. It takes a long, long time to change a way of life!

phatucini

Age has rarely made anyone drink more responsible. Experience, Knowledge & Experience do! At least in my environment. Most people need to make some "bad" experience to take some consequence!

reeferchief

stu gee wrote:

You can still buy alcohol in the vast majority of Scottish shops at 18. I think it was tested in some areas but its not a national thing yet.

Changing the age isnt going to have an affect, not for a long time anyway. Im 23 and the truth is that me and my friends, and honestly at least half the people i grew up with, started drinking maybe shortly after we started secondary school, so you're talking around 13. It takes a long, long time to change a way of life!

Oh for certain, same with me and everything else I started experimenting with then also.;)
But it's most definately coming just the same as the legal smoking age went up to 18.

wolfbear

saveuplife wrote:

To be fair, I think one of the reasons people are skeptical about allowing 18 year olds to drink is..... drinking and driving.

Americans drive a hell of a lot more than Europeans (both because of our countries lack of public transport and because of its vast space). So, that makes the environments somewhat different.

I agree with you. I'd also add that most kids in European countries are drinking wine/beer with meals from the time they are kids so are shown moderation. That doesn't happen much in the US and moderation is key. I still say and always have that if you're of legal age you should be able to drink legally.

South of Seattle

Cheers!

Urban Hiker

I vote yes.

And while they are at it, toss out time fucking restrictions. In this 24hr society, my 8AM may be someone else's 5PM. Who are we to say they can't go get a beer when they get off of work or whatever?

suns rival

here in the philippines, you can't drink unless you're 18.

Red_Dot

Follow Australia - at 18 you can drink, vote and drive. If you are responsible enough to vote at 18, then you should be able to have a drink.

As for the maturity thing, most of the drinking problems here are caused by people in their early to mid 20's anyway. The 18 year olds are no worse than anyone else.

suns rival

M.G wrote:

Follow Australia - at 18 you can drink, vote and drive. If you are responsible enough to vote at 18, then you should be able to have a drink.

As for the maturity thing, most of the drinking problems here are caused by people in their early to mid 20's anyway. The 18 year olds are no worse than anyone else.

yeah!!! i agree

the age requirement is same as here....:)

vedder_soup

21 is a joke, the majority of the world is 18 or younger...

Kilgore_Trout

only if they do it before january 25 of '09... after i turn 21 i will instantly be an hornery old man totally against any change

then again more drunk 18 y.o. girls wouldnt be a bad thing...

in all seriousness i think it would help to cut back on binge drinking... from all the 21 y.o. i know, the fascination with drinking really dies off alot once its legal...

this really shouldve been done a generation ago though... todays 16-17 y.o. are really the worst collective group of people with the most out of wack values and priorities and worst taste in music, fashion, movies, etc... hows that for old and hornery??

Hinny

Sucks when a there's a PJ preparty and the resident young'un can't get a drink from the bar- how's the rounds system gonna work?