Drinking Age. Should it be lowered?

[Me14k]

When I talk about issues people are always intrigued that I, being very conservative am for lowering the drinking age to 18.

Before the admissions were changed I submitted this essay on the idea that we should lower the drinking age.

1. Europe has lower drinking age, its effective
2. 18 year olds are legal adults
3. lowering drinking age allows for more supervision

In the immortal words of J-Kwon, a popular musician among teenagers, "Teen drinking is very bad…Yo I got a fake ID though!" The words of this artist while comical encompass the crux of America's problem with underage drinking. While we are quick to blame pop cultures corrupt influence we must realize that our nations youth understands the consequences of underage drinking yet are enticed primarily by its illegalities. We must first look to the model of the European nations, which do not teach against the usage of alcohol but rather its abuse. Second, we need to understand that at 18 one is legally an adult and thus should be treated as such. And finally, we should analyze the dangers of unsupervised college drinking. It is critical that we lower the drinking age to 18.

Many people want to raise the drinking age, and I understand the view point of more mature people drinking alcohol, but we must consider the merits of the European approach to alcohol consumption. In most European nations, the drinking age is either low or nonexistent. And yet, they do not have as big of a drinking problem. According to Tom Brokaw of NBC News "Many European countries have tougher standards and lower rates of drunk driving fatalities." The reason for this is because Europeans do not seek to prohibit alcohol consumption, but rather to promote healthy drinking habits. In contrast, young Americans glorify getting drunk because they consider it "cool" to break the law, a habit that needs to be ended quickly.

I understand that many people feel teens are not mature enough for alcohol and studies prove you are correct. Teens are more likely to be abusive while under the influence of alcohol. However according to Issues and Controversies, “21 is an arbitrary age limit that does not necessarily correspond with maturity.” The age of 18 just makes more sense. 18-year olds are legally independent, and with this independence comes the right to vote, the ability to serve on juries, and even the ability and at times responsibility to serve one's country in the military. And yet a legal inconsistency exists where we deem a person old enough to make decisions for themselves, including the decision to die for their nation, but still not consider them mature enough to decide what to drink.

You may be thinking that lowering the drinking age will increase drinking and the dangers associated with it. This idea makes sense considering alcohol will be attained easier. But according to Prof. David J. Hanson “A decrease in the minimum drinking age had no impact on the underage students' consumption rates”. This will just make drinking safer by providing supervision. We need to focus on the safety of those that this problem specifically targets, college students. College campuses are plagued with Excessive amounts of underaged drinking. According to Issues and Controversies "44% of students under 21 claimed to be binge drinkersand only 22% of those over 24. " Underage drinkers are more likely to binge drink, increasing the probability of alcohol poisoning. We must lower the drinking age to allow college drinkers to seek medical help without fear of penalization.

J-Kwon reminded us that it has become a virtual sport for the youth in America to find a way around laws prohibiting alcohol consumption. This is the main reason for which we have such a heavy drinking problem. However, in changing the drinking age, we can eliminate the harm caused by glorifying alcohol as a forbidden fruit. This way we can begin to promote healthier attitudes towards drinking as a whole. Because the European model has proved successful, because 18-year-olds can legally make their own decisions, and because the legalization of alcohol for college students would actually make drinking safer on campus, it is our responsibility to pass this resolution. With your vote in agreement, we can begin our alcohol revolution.

 

[Gamer4Fire]

For the love of the Goddess, make paragraphs that are easy to identify and read! It looks like a long rambling heap of vomit.

 

[Zero Beat]

Honestly dude I can't give you an opposing side because I don't drink.

The reason I don't drink isn't because my parents tell me not to or whatever, but I chose not to drink. The taste doesn't appeal to me at all, and I've tried many just to make sure. I'm 17 by the way.

A minor reason why I may not drink either is because my girlfriend doesn't drink as well, so that might influence me even more to not drink.

Most teens do not know how to regulate the amount of drinking they should have and that's when the usual disasters strike. Again, I said MOST, not all. Most might exclude some of you fine teenage drinkers out here in the DH. However, the grand majority tend to act otherwise. I have personally seen it.

In most European nations, the drinking age is either low or nonexistent. And yet, they do not have as big of a drinking problem.

Same with drugs. Make them legal and less idiots will die from them. Since it's illegal, however, it raises its value and therefore becomes a big deal. By making it legal, less problems would result from it. I was going to bring up the gun issue as another example but there are many many implications with that one.

 

[Crimson King]

G4F, don't be a douche bag and flame people without reason.

 

[Gamer4Fire]

I am being quite serious. I was having a hard time reading through that post due to the fact that it all seems to be jumbled together in a large word pile. He needs to double space his paragraphs so that the information is more accessible.

Other than that, his assertions that teens will drink irregardless of the law is correct. And the choice of twenty one of being the drinking age (a through back to when the voting age was twenty one [twenty sixth amendment]) does, in fact, now seem obsolete. But getting to this information is a trial! It is because of that that I choose to flame instead of debate him.

 

[lonejedi]

I forgot about the enter key

But seriously.

If you claim lowering the drinking age is legit because it will promote a safer environment for college students, then why don't we lower the age to 15, for all those high schoolers who are too afraid to turn them selves in to get help. While we're at it, why don't we legalize marijuana so that people can get help from that too.

 

[Zero Beat]

But seriously.

If you claim lowering the drinking age is legit because it will promote a safer environment for college students, then why don't we lower the age to 15, for all those high schoolers who are too afraid to turn them selves in to get help. While we're at it, why don't we legalize marijuana so that people can get help from that too.

The fact that it's illegal makes it a bad thing to do, which in case makes you a bad person.

Get the hint?

 

[Me14k]

Gamer..you are right I should not have had such pathetic formatting, but your flaming is unnecessary.


Anyways...

But seriously.

If you claim lowering the drinking age is legit because it will promote a safer environment for college students, then why don't we lower the age to 15, for all those high schoolers who are too afraid to turn them selves in to get help. While we're at it, why don't we legalize marijuana so that people can get help from that too.

While lowering drinking age to 15 will make it safer for the few high schoolers who do drink, it will cause more harm than good because teens whom dont drink are now going to start to drink. The majority of college students drink while a very low amount of teens drink.

Legalizing Marijuana in order to help addicts recover doesnt make sense because marijuana is less likely to kill someone than alchohol is. There is only one reported case of a person dying directly from marijuana (not including driving while under influence of it), that person smoked almost 1 lb of weed... 1 oz is about 1.5 cups of weed. Most people would suffocate in the smoke before they would finish this amount.

Just to clarify...I do not drink. I do not smoke. I do not do drugs. I do not do anything illegal.

 

[Mediocre]

While lowering drinking age to 15 will make it safer for the few high schoolers who do drink

Few?

You're kidding, right? I don't know if the majority of high school students drink or not, but it's definitely more than a "few."

 

[Crimson King]

Yea, in my high school, I was considered odd for NOT drinking by my sophomore year. By the junior year, when I drank rarely, I was considered odd for not getting drunk.

I'm not sure where your claims are that most high schools don't drink. It's easier to count the ones that don't.

 

[DoH]

Can someone explain the appeal of alcohol? I can understand the appeal of breaking other laws like speed limits (it gets you to your destination faster, there's a rush from moving at high speeds, etc), but drinking seems to have no appeal to me; although I've never tasted alcohol (outside of cooking), the smell of most alcoholic drinks is enough to ward me off, in addition to the unpleasant after effects.

If we want to reduce underage drinking, what about increasing the price by taxing it?

 

[Mic_128]

Do NOT lower the age. We used to have a situation like this in Aus where 16's used to drink, go for benders, ect, because it's cool to do things that the older kids do. So we lowered the age to 18. All that happened was people who thought "wow, that's 10 years away" now thought "it's only around 5 years away, lets do it". So now we've been getting kids around 12 getting wasted. Yeah, parents are also responsable, but lowering the age doesn't help at all.

 

[Eor]

Social appeal, getting drunk, getting tipsy, and taste. I personally like whiskey and rum.

Increasing the tax won't stop underage drinking, it'd just make everyone have to pay more to drink. I know a group of people who just steal their liquor anyways, so it's not like increasing it's tax would do anything.

Edit: in responds to DoH

 

[Zero Beat]

Actually CK I don't see much drinking in my school nor drugs, and I go to a school with a lot of "thugs" I should call 'em.

The population is also 4000, and there isn't much drinking around, if at all. Whatever, doesn't affect me because I don't drink nor do I get in cars with drunk drivers.

 

[Me14k]

Do NOT lower the age. We used to have a situation like this in Aus where 16's used to drink, go for benders, ect, because it's cool to do things that the older kids do. So we lowered the age to 18. All that happened was people who thought "wow, that's 10 years away" now thought "it's only around 5 years away, lets do it". So now we've been getting kids around 12 getting wasted. Yeah, parents are also responsable, but lowering the age doesn't help at all.

Thats one problem with lowering drinking age, you are moving the entire spectum for underaged drinkers down. The fear is that with moving the drinking limit down 3 years, are we gaining underage drinkers that are 3 years younger now?

And the answer is no. College would become a barrier between drinkers and non drinkers. Because of this underaged drinkers wont have as strong as a connection to the alchohol as if the age was lowered to 16 (in your situation).

 

[Mic_128]

And the answer is no. College would become a barrier between drinkers and non drinkers. Because of this underaged drinkers wont have as strong as a connection to the alchohol as if the age was lowered to 16 (in your situation).

Uh, wrong. I just gave an example of that happening. It's what is going to happen. You already said you have high schoolers drinking, lowering the age will just get younger people drinking.

 

[Digital Watches]

Few?

You're kidding, right? I don't know if the majority of high school students drink or not, but it's definitely more than a "few."

Yeah, what about nerds like us?

In all seriousness, though, with the issues of drugs, alcohol, and even prostitution, I often take the position that regulation is better than prohibition in many cases. Illegalization of an activity that isn't inherently harmful is a recipe for disaster: Lack of regulation leads to abuse, and fear of the law leads to unwillingness to seek help.

Another annoying thing is the sensationalism applied to underage drinking. I wouldn't be surprised if drinkers were in the majority in American highschools, but really, the media scares people about it a lot more than is due. Psychologically, two things happen. First, as with many horrific events, if the possible consequences of underage drinking are exaggerated too greatly, it exacerbates the mentality of invulnerability ("It couldn't happen to ME") that teenagers are oh-so-prone to. Secondly, it furthers the stigma against underage drinkers, making them more reluctant to admit to drinking in order to get help (Either to quit or medically).

 

[lonejedi]

Thats one problem with lowering drinking age, you are moving the entire spectum for underaged drinkers down. The fear is that with moving the drinking limit down 3 years, are we gaining underage drinkers that are 3 years younger now?

And the answer is no. College would become a barrier between drinkers and non drinkers. Because of this underaged drinkers wont have as strong as a connection to the alchohol as if the age was lowered to 16 (in your situation).

Lol, sorry, but that's not true. That barrier was gone years ago. Like many said, drinking has already become the thing to do in high school, and if you haven't drinked, like myself, then you are in the small minority. "If you give a give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk" If you give 18 year olds the opportunity to drink legally, you're going go have to at some point, give the teen agers that same opportunity.

Another annoying thing is the sensationalism applied to underage drinking. I wouldn't be surprised if drinkers were in the majority in American highschools, but really, the media scares people about it a lot more than is due. Psychologically, two things happen. First, as with many horrific events, if the possible consequences of underage drinking are exaggerated too greatly, it exacerbates the mentality of invulnerability ("It couldn't happen to ME") that teenagers are oh-so-prone to. Secondly, it furthers the stigma against underage drinkers, making them more reluctant to admit to drinking in order to get help (Either to quit or medically)

So you're saying the media shouldn't warn teenagers about the ills of drinking and driving? That seems pretty foolish, it might be a scare tactic by the media, but how many lives were saved by teenagers actually thinking about the choice they made, instead of doing something stupid. Of course they are going to show the car accidents, and the stories of kids getting wasted. But there are plenty of stories that out weigh the bad ones, of kids making better decisions.

And even if we made drinking legal at age 16, how will that make kids begin to look for help. I don't know about you, but I'm sure most parents, legal or not, don't want there kids drinking at athe age of 16, and will not let them till a later age. These kids will still drink, and will still be in fear of telling someone, in fear of getting in trouble with their parents.

 

[Sandy]

If you're old enough to serve your country, then you should be able to consume alcohol.

 

[lonejedi]

If you're old enough to serve your country, then you should be able to consume alcohol.

If you want to get into the debate hall, one liners aren't your ticket. And underage drinking is already allowed for some bases.

http://nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/18/news/top_stories/1_04_525_17_07.txt

Usually those who serve in the army, or any other division of it, have at least more responsibility, than a college partier, or a high school teenager drinking cause it's the cool thing.

 

[cF=)]

Just to clarify...I do not drink. I do not smoke. I do not do drugs. I do not do anything illegal.

Music downloading is AGAINST THE LAW

On a more serious note, I love to drink. The minimum drinking age, being 21/19/18, is clearly just a suggestion, whatever country you are in; like Mediocre said, it's more than a "few" students who will start drinking at 15, because alcohol is easily bought wherever you are (older friends, parents, false ID card, etc.).

I consider myself a good drinker, because I appreciate what I drink. Being tequila, beer, rhum, vodka, I have tried many labels and will always taste instead of swallowing, something teens has to learn if they want to drink responsibly.

I'm all for the lowering of the drinking age because at 18 years old, you're normally out of high school, you're sometimes in an appartment and you start living your life on your own. By taking these responsibilities, you should also be allowed and entrust the right to buy alcohol since you're supposed to have gain some maturity over time.

EDIT: In response to DoH, alcoholic beverage (like beer for exemple) have good taste on the long run. If you want to appreciate those correctly, you need to learn the differences between different beers (Lager, Pilsener, Ale, Pale Ale, IPA, Cream Ale, Stouts, etc.), how they are supposed to look like, their specific aroma, and a whole variety of complex tastes. That's what I find appealing, the astronomic number of variations in the same drink (water, hops, malt, and yeast).

 

[Digital Watches]

So you're saying the media shouldn't warn teenagers about the ills of drinking and driving? That seems pretty foolish, it might be a scare tactic by the media, but how many lives were saved by teenagers actually thinking about the choice they made, instead of doing something stupid. Of course they are going to show the car accidents, and the stories of kids getting wasted. But there are plenty of stories that out weigh the bad ones, of kids making better decisions.

I don't mean the media COVERING stories about underage drinking/drug use, I mean what I said: Sensationalism. Where I live, there was recently a death of a highschool student associated with drug use, and shortly after the police were willing to release details of the investigation, the newspapers would not stop trying to implicate people, including the entire school that the student attended, as being part of the problem. People aren't going to go to authorities because not only are they afraid of getting in trouble, they're afraid of being all over the news, being ostracized, and taking everyone they know down with them.

And even if we made drinking legal at age 16, how will that make kids begin to look for help. I don't know about you, but I'm sure most parents, legal or not, don't want there kids drinking at athe age of 16, and will not let them till a later age. These kids will still drink, and will still be in fear of telling someone, in fear of getting in trouble with their parents.

Please note that I still haven't quite jumped the fence from 18 to 16 in this debate yet (Though a few European countries work this way, such as Germany, Italy, and Greece), as most countries still stick with a drinking age of 18, and in the developed world, they tend to have fewer drinking problems than we do. I think that since underage drinking in our culture has gotten to the point it has, lowering it so far would simply eliminate another deterrent to people who drink irresponsibly.

 

[KevinM]

Although i am not a drinker and i don't believe that people should drink underage, i am actually for lowering the drinking age to 18 for many reasons stated. There are however a number of things that you need to look out for, drinking is ok, drinking irresponsibly is not. Many times people in my high school come back after a weekend hung-over and bragging about how they had gotten drunk that weekend, while people that drank a little bit say with friends but kept it away from the point where they got downright trashed seem alert and fine during the school day.

Parents should take an extra interest in teaching their kids about alcohol consumption as they get closer to the age of 18. I'm not saying they should come at it like how school systems teach, where a lot of the times they try and assume no one drinks, or just teaches about the negatives of drinking, but instead teach your kid responsibility. Heck I'm even for having a drink with your kid if he's around the legal age.

What Mic described, although just a scenario to describe a specific situation could be corrected if the parents taught they're kids responsible drinking. Drinking should be a social thing, not an excuse to not remember anything, once you get to that point your beyond reasonable and acceptable drinking.

What CF had said is what I appreciate, drinking is absolutely fine as long as you can drink responsibly and at the point of 18 which is the legal age of adulthood, you should have the responsibility to make your own decisions. At this point its up to parents to instill good values within their kids, and for the kids to make smarter decisions about drinking, and with people helping to make these decisions and values more apparent you would greatly improve teenage responsibility.

Lol, sorry, but that's not true. That barrier was gone years ago. Like many said, drinking has already become the thing to do in high school, and if you haven't drinked, like myself, then you are in the small minority. "If you give a give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk" If you give 18 year olds the opportunity to drink legally, you're going go have to at some point, give the teen agers that same opportunity.

I'm sorry but i don't think that this is a domino effect, we are talking about lowering the drinking age, not saying that once we lower it to age 18 just because the teenagers complain we would think about lowering it again. I think a drop to the legal American adult age would be the perfect solution to this again, I STRESS, with awareness to responsibility from the kids. It's a two way system and its not going to be perfect but nothing is. And as for saying we have to give the teenagers the same opportunity... many students take that opportunity into their own hands already, lowering it too 18 wouldn't change anything.

 

[Crimson King]

In my opinion, the government doesn't have a right to limit anything that affects the individual. They don't have the right to limit alcohol intake, but they do have the right to say whether you can drink and drive because they own the roads. They do not have the right to tell you whether or not you can drink or get high in your own house, but they do have the right to stop the public sale because it's on their streets.

Lowering the drinking age will just cause those who do not fit in the new criteria to try to get it lowered to their age.

The problem with alcohol laws, as seen best with prohibition, is that when you add more and more restrictions, people who are normal, law-abiding citizens, will become criminals. Also, alcohol laws always seem to come back to drunk driving, something which I feel we need to be much harsher on. However, the same can be said while taking medication and driving or anything else that makes you a less attentive driver.

 

[Sandy]

Because of the high-profile arrests of President Bush's 19-year-old daughter for underage drinking offenses, suddenly the debate about lowering the legal drinking age is back in the national spotlight.

Jenna Bush's two arrests in less than a month for consuming alcohol and trying to purchase alcohol with a fake identification card, has placed the drinking age debate in the national media, with the old argument that if an 18-year-old is old enough to vote, sign contracts, join the armed forces, and get married, he or she should be old enough to drink a beer.


The evidence for keeping the drinking age at 21 is so overwhelming, we doubt that we would be even having this debate if Jenna Bush was just another college student, rather than the young, attractive daughter of the President of the United States.

And if she had been arrested for causing an accident in which someone was injured or killed, rather than just trying to use a fake ID, we suspect the national media would be coming down on the other side of the lower drinking age debate.

 

[KevinM]

If you're old enough to serve your country, then you should be able to consume alcohol.

Because of the high-profile arrests of President Bush's 19-year-old daughter for underage drinking offenses, suddenly the debate about lowering the legal drinking age is back in the national spotlight.

Jenna Bush's two arrests in less than a month for consuming alcohol and trying to purchase alcohol with a fake identification card, has placed the drinking age debate in the national media, with the old argument that if an 18-year-old is old enough to vote, sign contracts, join the armed forces, and get married, he or she should be old enough to drink a beer.


The evidence for keeping the drinking age at 21 is so overwhelming, we doubt that we would be even having this debate if Jenna Bush was just another college student, rather than the young, attractive daughter of the President of the United States.

And if she had been arrested for causing an accident in which someone was injured or killed, rather than just trying to use a fake ID, we suspect the national media would be coming down on the other side of the lower drinking age debate.

You seem to have flipped your tone on this is a matter of a day, i find it hard to dispute you for two reasons though. One obvious one is how you flip-flopped and then went completely off topic, you didn't debate anything you just said the only reason we were having this was because of Jenna Bush getting arrested, which i disagree with, but more on that later. The second reason is you haven't stated an opinion here.. like you have no argument, what are you trying to prove? Are you saying that because one teenager made a bad decision we shouldn't lower the drinking age? Because if so i think that i thoroughly described this situation in my post, responsibility and awareness is a good way to limit these stories of teenagers causing trouble.

Also the media blows a lot of things out of proportion, are you telling me that maybe we should also look to a lot of other celebrates for other things that go on in the real world. Maybe we should limit the age at which people are allowed to have kids because look at how Britney Spears can't take care of her child. A loose analogy i know, but you get my point.

Also, alcohol laws always seem to come back to drunk driving, something which I feel we need to be much harsher on. However, the same can be said while taking medication and driving or anything else that makes you a less attentive driver.

I completely agree there as well, if drunk driving laws were a lot harsher, people would be a lot more in control of their alcohol consumption. There was a recent case that i read about in which a man who hit a girl and struck her dead while drunk, was only charged with Vehicular Manslaughter. Now I'm not saying he's not going to regret that decision for the rest of his life, but if say, you are involved in a drunk driving killing and your guaranteed 30 years to life... i believe you'd take a little bit more time to think about things.

 

[Zero Beat]

If you're old enough to serve your country, then you should be able to consume alcohol.

Wow that's a pretty lame excuse.



Serving the country doesn't have anything to do with being able to drink. As a matter of fact, drinking would degrade a soldier's abilities to serve well in many ways, both short and long termed.

The problem with alcohol laws, as seen best with prohibition, is that when you add more and more restrictions, people who are normal, law-abiding citizens, will become criminals.

That's exactly what I said earlier.

 

[Eor]

I actually disagree Xzero, if I'm considered old enough to kill and die for my goverment, and choose the leader of it, then I should be entrusted enough to drink alcohol.

 

[Zero Beat]

I actually disagree Xzero, if I'm considered old enough to kill and die for my goverment, and choose the leader of it, then I should be entrusted enough to drink alcohol.

Definitely not.

Very different circumstances. Just because you're considered 'old enough' to kill and die for your country, doesn't give you any right to drink. How are those two and one related?

 

[blazedaces]

Many of you are ignoring a very good argument brought up in the first post of this thread:
The drinking age of 18 is what is the norm in most of Europe and they have much fewer drinking problems then we do...

I go to Israel many summers and believe me when I say that drinking in comparison to this country is not even close to being an issue. Kids don't go around talking about how they got drunk last weekend. I see almost zero evidence of binge drinking, I've even had conversations with my family there and it's almost unheard of. I've gone drinking with my cousins in bars and in comparison to bars I've been to (I'm 20 years old, I've been to a few bars to play darts/pool/karyoke though) people drink much less. It's just not a big deal at all and as such there's no stigma surrounding it. There are still commercials just like in the US about anti-drug/drinking but that's about as much as I heard about it. People are taught to drink responsibly, as opposed to avoiding alcohol before all other things.

My point is the following theories have clearly not been thought through and have been mentioned by numorous people on the board:

-Lowering the drinking age to 18 will only make people ask it to be lowered even more: No one in the countries with that drinking age today have this issue, this is pure speculation without any evidence.

-Lowering the drinking age will lower the age kids will begin to want to drink: An example was given of a country where this occurred and the country was reffered to as Aus (Australia? Austria-Hungary? Austin, Texas? <-- this one was a joke). I don't know what you're talking about, but what is different about this country and the rest that have the drinking age of 18? This problem doesn't exist in those countries and in my experience like I've said before, going to a country that has a drinking age of 18 for many summers and hanging with teenagers my own age each year in the area, this was never a common way of passing the time as it is in this country (the US).

-Lowering the drinking age will simply increase the amount of irresponsible drinking: Why isn't this the case in other countries? Someone even claimed it's "too late" in this country now... What? Again, pure speculation with zero evidence. Unless you have an example of a country where it was also considered "too late" and this exact thing happened you have only examples which oppose this idea.

People, it's not like this is not apparent throughout the rest of the world. You guys are making hypotheses and are waiting for experimental data, but it already exists, and it contradicts these arguments...

-blazed

 

[Eor]

Definitely not.

Very different circumstances. Just because you're considered 'old enough' to kill and die for your country, doesn't give you any right to drink. How are those two and one related?

You're the only one trying to draw a direct correlation between them. It's not the acts, it's the responsibility. It doesn't make sense to say that consuming alcohol requires more maturity then it does to fight in a war, or to cast a vote and equal . Same with cigarettes.

I'm not even saying that we have to move the drinking age down, but as long as voting rights and drafts are at age 18, then being allowed to drink alcohol should be around there as well.

 

[Crimson King]

Many of you are ignoring a very good argument brought up in the first post of this thread:
The drinking age of 18 is what is the norm in most of Europe and they have much fewer drinking problems then we do...

Terrible reason to go by. US has FAR more people than any European Country so comparing the two is not equivalent. While they may have far less problems, they still have problems. When you span that over 300 million people, it'll naturally be larger.

 

[Mic_128]

In my opinion, the government doesn't have a right to limit anything that affects the individual.

Drinking DOES affect more than the individual, which is why theyre's (guess what) drink driving problems. But it's more than that. What about drunk kids wandering around, smashing things, grafiting and so on. If it was something you could only do out of the way with out affecting anyone, then sure. But it doesn't.

 

[KevinM]

Mic I don't know i disagree with your reasoning. A lot of things that affect an individual also affect people around them and although the government has limited some of this with success it also has caused a general lower morale in the public. Take smoking for example, i know it can't be directly correlated to drunk driving because the effects aren't as immediate and tragic but the context is the same. In areas like restaurants where you could chose between smoking and non-smoking the people who chose to sit in the non-smoking section or people who didn't smoke that were with them are still affected by smoke that comes into their system. We know how smoking affects people and sometimes it can lead to death, just like how sometimes driving home drunk can kill people. The government however has issued bans on smoking in public buildings and many of the public still grumble about this decision. Many people try and find ways around it and even though there is a government ban many people still allow it. I am afraid the same would happen with drinking and driving.

I mean drinking and driving is obviously a terrible decision on the persons part, but its not like its going to make a difference whether they are 21 or 18. Governments creating awareness programs for teens that would aim to teach drinking responsibly (if done at all) rather then aiming to dismiss drinking at all would help this a lot.

Oh and as for drunk kids wandering around and running amok, this happens with many drunk people regardless of age. At that point to stop the amount of dumb things drunk people can do, you'd be looking at prohibition all over again. Just my two cents

 

[Gamer4Fire]

Gamer..you are right I should not have had such pathetic formatting, but your flaming is unnecessary.

I disagree, I doubt that you will ever accidently "forget" about the enter key from now on. Negative reinforcement and punishment are legitimate training tools. I would be negligent as a teacher and a moderator if I did not endeavor to educate you in the most efficient way possible.

As for the drinking age being twenty one instead of eighteen, I think it is discordant that the age of adulthood and the drinking age are dissimilar. I believe from a politically pragmatic point of view that they should be one and the same. However I also believe that we should drop the "war on drugs" and legalize and regulate them instead. But I'm just a libertarian

 

[Mediocre]

I disagree, I doubt that you will ever accidently "forget" about the enter key from now on. Negative reinforcement and punishment are legitimate training tools. I would be negligent as a teacher and a moderator if I did not endeavor to educate you in the most efficient way possible.

Please, give it a rest.

 

[Digital Watches]

I would be negligent as a teacher and a moderator if I did not endeavor to educate you in the most efficient way possible.

You know, that explains... a lot.

 

[Gamer4Fire]

Mediocre, Digital Watches - Do not post one liners. Stay on topic. If you fail to do so I will reprimand you.

 

[Crimson King]

You JUST did both. Stop being such an *******.

 

[Sargent_Peach]

Just going to add my 2 cents. Um... I lived in Italy for 4 years, and actually the drinking age is 14, not 18. It works there for many reasons, one being that the driving age in Italy is 18. Kids have time to learn about alcohol and consume it way before they drive, so they can learn how it affects their body. They are more likely to know how much will get them "buzzed" or how much will get them "wasted" before they ever drive a car. This helps a little with the drunk driving thing.

Also, in Italy, drinking is part of the culture. Families constantly drink, almost everynight (usually wine) with dinner. They even let their younger kids drink wine. It is a part of their culture, and they are raised understanding and respecting alcohol. This understanding causes their drinking age/ driving age to work perfectly for them. If those ages were put into the US, we would have MAJOR problems. No one ever hears about massive amounts of drunk driving accidents in Italy, and that is because they are raised with a positive atmosphere around alcohol.