Should the Legal Drinking Age in the US Be Lowered to 18?

[Lapis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauty Mark I think responsible drinking is what really needs to be taught. IMO, it's like sex. They're going to do it, why not teach them the ramifications of drinking too much?

So true, when I lived at home the American kids who came to the university always got majorly smashed the first couple of weeks at school (some the whole time).
Here alcohol has sooo many taboos it romanticizes it and makes kids want to try it and to me as a parent it's sorta scary when I see my 19 year old cousin's friends act more crazy to try alcohol than my 12 year old!
Something has to change and taking the age up is not it!

It has to start with parents! And can't run to either extreme with the parents themselves.

 

[kimmy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer Yes. They can vote, enter a legal contract, be put on death row and life sentences, and enter into service for our country. Yes.

agreed.

i feel that the people who get into trouble when they drink (ie. violent drunks, drunk drivers, etc.) will get into that trouble no matter what age they are. if i can join the military at eighteen, if i can vote, if i can marry, if i can be given a life sentence, if i can gamble, why can i not drink at that age?

 

[Divinity]

Most 18 years of age have at least tried it or are drinking anyway, so why not? I agree with Shimmer - you can vote at 18, enter a legal contract, serve the country, and be put on death row...if they are considered old enough to do all this and legally considered an adult at this age, then they are old enough for liquor.

 

[Nox]

An 18 year old man can be sent away from his mother to a far away land to pick up a machine gun, fight, kill, and die for this country.

Give that man a brew!

The problem with mainstream American culture is that it glorifies drinking as something associated with coolness, parties, youth, etc. People here don't teach their kids how to drink properly because they themselves haven't even mastered it.

With my own children, they will grow up drinking wine at the table with the rest of us (of course you would water it down for the children). But once you take this forbidden mystique away, there ain't much to it.

 

[panther27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkylarV217 No , Even in your early 20's your brain is still developing... drinking alcohol hinders and sometimes ceases that development all together. That is one of the main reasons the legal age to drink is 21. http://www.actforyouth.net/documents...olbraindev.pdf I also believe many 18-21 year old are simply not mature enough to handle the responsibility of alcohol. But my main reason is the brain development.

Im completely agree with you

 

[Brittni]

Skylar had a good point about brain activity AND maturity levels. Even though I'm 19 and a majority of myself/friends drink, I'm a hell of a lot more mature than most people. IE: The boys peeing off the balcony last night next door.

I think it should remain the same and if people underage really want to drink then let them do it the way they've been doing it I guess, it's not going to stop us either way. I feel that it stems more from parents not raising their children to make the decision on their own as is with most of the problems in the world; children raising children, etc. lol

 

[Beauty Mark]

But if people are that immature at 18, why on earth do we let them buy fire arms, drive at 16, etc.?

 

[glamdoll]

I totally agree with Shimmer. At 18 you are LEGALLY an adult. So why is the goverment telling adults when they can or cant have a drink? Seriously, that is ridiculous. Making drinking under 21 such taboo is what gets people into binge drinking and doing all this underage stuff. Its lame.

If they lowered it, maybe people wouldnt break the law so much.

 

[SkylarV217]

Quote:

Originally Posted by glamdoll If they lowered it, maybe people wouldnt break the law so much.

I don't mean to be rude , but i don't like the school of thought that ... People are breaking the law ... we might as well change it ...

 

[SkylarV217]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauty Mark But if people are that immature at 18, why on earth do we let them buy fire arms, drive at 16, etc.?

Most fire arms are restricted you have to have a background check, make it through a class and be finger printed .... & you have to be 21 ... you can't buy a gun at the age of 18 .... at least not in my state.

 

[glamdoll]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkylarV217 I don't mean to be rude , but i don't like the school of thought that ... People are breaking the law ... we might as well change it ...

I was saying that specific law is broken so much because its truly outrageous, in the fact like shimmer said, you can be sentenced to death, you can enter into legal contract, be held acountable for your own actions, but you cannot legally buy alcohol. It just doesnt make sense.

18 is the age where you are an "adult" so why are we adults being told we cannot drink till 21.

I didnt mean like in general if a law is being broken it should be changed. I guess I didnt fully express my thought.

 

[babiid0llox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer Yes. They can vote, enter a legal contract, be put on death row and life sentences, and enter into service for our country. Yes.

Well Shimmer you've summed it up pretty nicely

Here in Australia the legal drinking age is 18, where not doing that badly. I'll admit there is a serious issue with drink driving but it's not like it's significantly worse than in America (I haven't got any exact facts to back up this, I am much too lazy lol) or many other countries for that matter.

We also have a binge drinking issue, particularly with the younger generations, say under 24 to underage teens. But our binge drinking issue is nothing like what's going on in Britain and the UK (as has been stated on 60 minutes, a binge drinking documentary that we had to watch in PDHPE last year and on Today Tonight, LOL at the last one).

Regarding drink driving, there will always be some idiot that will get into the car whilst drunk, maybe lowering the drinking age limit to 18 might result in a few more cases of this. But I highly doubt so.

Also why would a government deny someone who may have very well helped to put them in power, the right to consume alcohol, when they're able to do all the things that Shimmer listed? Why not raise the age limit of the not so fun things to 21? If 18, 19 and 20 year olds are not able to decide whether they want to drink beer or not, then they surely don't have the mental capacity to enter into a car loan contract or know that murdering someone is wrong. (Sarcasm intended)

Sorry for the long post!

 

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauty Mark But if people are that immature at 18, why on earth do we let them buy fire arms, drive at 16, etc.?

Precisely.
They're either adults and competent of mind and capable of dealing with their actions, or they're not.
This middle ground MADD/SADD/whatever crap is ridiculous and it's nothing more than a fundraiser that plays on emotional response.

 

[Willa]

They should.

Here it's already 18 years old to drink.
And because of that, loads of young people who live near the canadian borders basically come here to Quebec to party on fridays nights, and go back to the US after...

 

[Beauty Mark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkylarV217 Most fire arms are restricted you have to have a background check, make it through a class and be finger printed .... & you have to be 21 ... you can't buy a gun at the age of 18 .... at least not in my state.

Regulations don't mean that the person isn't immature and won't handle it improperly. A class doesn't mean anything either; how many people pass driver's ed and can't drive for beans? There are states that I believe allow 18 year olds to purchase guns.

I'm not saying that drunk driving isn't a serious issue or that college drinking isn't a serious issue (I'm frankly disturbed by the drinking culture), but I don't think setting the drinking age at 21 or higher is helpful

 

[rbella]

I believe I had my first drink at age 16 with my crappy fake ID. I also believe that I drank every weekend non-stop (without my mom's knowledge) until I was 21. At 21, it lost its appeal because I wasn't banned from it anymore. Just a thought....