Drinking Age

[sandgk]

Being under the legal age of drinking you should know you can obtain it regardless. But, from a medical standpoint, I think it will be hard to lower the drinking age under 21. I am for lowering the drinking age, but if anyone really wants to drink, even at a bar or club, they can if they are over 18.

The reason why it might be difficult to lower the drinking age under 21 has nothing to do with any medical standpoint. It is entirely driven by the desire that puritanical or "well-wishing" elements have to control that which in truth, and as you note, cannot be controlled. It is, in other words, purely a political issue driven by cultural bias. Do you believe in life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and all the demands for self control that implies? Or, do you believe in the control of others that you believe have insufficient control over their impulses? (In other words are you a prohibitionist or not).

 

[Flocka]

The reason why it might be difficult to lower the drinking age under 21 has nothing to do with any medical standpoint. It is entirely driven by the desire that puritanical or "well-wishing" elements have to control that which in truth, and as you note, cannot be controlled. It is, in other words, purely a political issue driven by cultural bias. Do you believe in life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and all the demands for self control that implies? Or, do you believe in the control of others that you believe have insufficient control over their impulses? (In other words are you a prohibitionist or not).

The reason I brought up the medical issue is because it has been proven that the brain is not completely matured by the age of 18 and it is not healthy to drink then. This is just another reason why the government will not lower the drinking age.

 

[Muck]

"From a medical standpoint" the age of sexual consent should be raised to 21 since the current lower age raises the risks of getting a sexually transmitted disease sooner.

If most teens aren't attracted to hard liquor what is the purpose of changing the law to split ages for beer & liquor? To prevent 18 y/o's from drinking something that they aren't attracted to in the first place?

If 18 is considered to be the age of majority in the United States then it should be so across the board ...period.

Maybe just maybe someday we'll actually learn to just punish those who act irresponsibly rather than everyone "just in case".

 

[sandgk]

The reason I brought up the medical issue is because it has been proven that the brain is not completely matured by the age of 18 and it is not healthy to drink then. This is just another reason why the government will not lower the drinking age.

I see, though frankly I have never heard any social conservative group or politician advance that as a primary rationale for baby-sitting the younger adult members of our electorate.
The government really does not do the raising or lowering of drinking age anyway - it is the people who will raise or lower the age at which drinking occurs (either legally, or illegally). All the "government" (read pimped politicians) does is enact laws reflecting what the most vocal minority demands.

So, if you want to drink with the legal age limit being lowered shout loudly for your right to do the same. :)

 

[gbearbuck]

I'm not sure what the 3.2 rule would do... I say just lower the legal age to 18. As stated if you are old enough to vote and go to war, you're old enough to drink imo.

I have to admit this is comming from somebody that thinks drugs should be legal... if you want to kill yourself, go for it... why have laws telling you what you can/can not do when you will not follow the rules to begin with.

I do think penalties for anything that puts somebody else in harms way should be dramatically increased...

In short, kill yourself all you want.... plance any type of added risk to a different person and you should be gone, one strike you're out...

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

My first half at Ohio State the age was 19 for beer (any beer) and wine; 21 for hard liquor. Halfway through, it was upped to 21. As an aside, the first vote that I ever cast in my life was against the notorious Issue 1 that would have raised the drinking age to 21.

As I've stated in other threads, the drinking age should be 18. But what's most important is that Americans raise their children to consider alcohol a natural, mealtime beverage. That's the best way to end binge drinking. Telling them it's this awful forbidden fruit while denying it only leads to excess drinking when they finally have the freedom.

 

[Taosman]

Anyone ever catch MTV's "The Real World"?
You would think that the roommates, after watching so many previous "Real Worlders" get drunk and act stupid would learn something.
Nope!
Kids will be kids...........
Changing the Law won't necessarily change the behavior.

 

[cincibuck]

My first half at Ohio State the age was 19 for beer (any beer) and wine; 21 for hard liquor. Halfway through, it was upped to 21. As an aside, the first vote that I ever cast in my life was against the notorious Issue 1 that would have raised the drinking age to 21.

As I've stated in other threads, the drinking age should be 18. But what's most important is that Americans raise their children to consider alcohol a natural, mealtime beverage. That's the best way to end binge drinking. Telling them it's this awful forbidden fruit while denying it only leads to excess drinking when they finally have the freedom.

Ord, I recall reading something about rates of alcoholism in France, Germany and Holland where kids are raised with alcohol in the manner you stated. It wasn't good news.

Perhaps Maslow wasn't right. Maybe when you get enough money to satisfy your need for food clothing and shelter your next step is to spend it on alcohol. The current prosperity of the Western world and the amount of discretionary income in the hands of teens is unprecedented.... maybe that's the link.

 

[Buckeye Maniac]

6. I don't know that many teens who are attracted to hard liquor unless it's in the form of bad wine and fruity tooty things like hard lemonade. As a teen I was pretty content to settle for 3.2, though we often tried to get 6 and hoped the counter guy was too busy to check the bottle tops. "OH, I thought this was 3.2. I just reached in..." bull shit, bull shit, bull shit.

As an 18 year old, I can tell you that all of my friends and peers prefer hard liquor. By that I mean Vodka, Rum, 151, Absynth, etc., not "bad wine and fruity tooty things" I know a lot of people who hate the taste of beer. I personally dislike the taste of most beers, but I love rum and vodka.

As an 18 year old casual drinker (it's true, I don't binge drink) I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. I am in England as I write this, and here the drinking age is 18, and I've seen many people my age casually drinking in the pubs, not drinking a lot, just having a beer with meals or for a casual drink with friends. From what I've seen it doesn't seem to be a problem here.

 

[Mac]

I have 8.5 months until I'm 21...I can't wait

 

[cincibuck]

I have 8.5 months until I'm 21...I can't wait

It'll be a long damn 8.5 months. Been there, done that...

 

[kinch]

When I was in Austria many of the towns in the Alps made there own beer, and one of the beers for each town would be a "training beer." Beer for kids. Hilarious.

About the concept that allowing beer at any age as a natural thing may prevent binge drinking: I had to draw a diagram of a beer bong for my friend from Ireland. He was amazed. He was also amazed at my college stories. Binge drinking just doesn't exist in the same way there, because it was never a forbidden fruit. Drinking beer is not a "sport." Not that the Irish don't get their drink on. . .

 

[Bleed S & G]

The reason I brought up the medical issue is because it has been proven that the brain is not completely matured by the age of 18 and it is not healthy to drink then. This is just another reason why the government will not lower the drinking age.

If you want to look at it from the medical perspective, why is it legal? watching my buddy projectile vomit, watching his body forcing this liquid out of him because it was either going to kill him, or the fact that his body was just rejecting it.. granted a glass of wine has been proven to be good for you..

It'll be a long damn 8.5 months. Been there, done that...

yeah i've got 10 months.. good thing i hit puberty in 4th grade and havnt been carded buying beer in over 2 years. campus bars are hit or miss though which sucks, but bars anywhere else, i'm golden

 

[Flocka]

If you want to look at it from the medical perspective, why is it legal? watching my buddy projectile vomit, watching his body forcing this liquid out of him because it was either going to kill him, or the fact that his body was just rejecting it.. granted a glass of wine has been proven to be good for you..

Because like I said the brain is not fully matured yet. There is a big difference between the effects of vomitting and hurting your brain development because you are drinking at too young of an age.

 

[cincibuck]

The notion that alcoholism is more rampant in the US than Europe doesn't hold. Prosperity may have changed Ireland, but when I was there in 86 men on the dole were a huge problem and damn near any night in Dublin you'd run in to more than a few wasted individuals.

Here's what I found from a WHO site on alcoholism:
Binge Drinking. Binge drinking (sometimes called heavy episodic drinking) has been included as a measure in some recent comparative studies:

• Wilsnack and colleagues (2000), in an analysis that included 10 countries, found that Canadian men and Swedish women had the highest percentages of drinkers who had engaged in heavy episodic drinking (the definitions of this term varied among the countries) in the last 12 months. Conversely, Israeli men and women had the lowest percentages of heavy episodic drinking. (This analysis included current drinkers only.)
• Studying data from four Scandinavian countries, and considering data from all respondents (drinkers and nondrinkers), M?kel? and colleagues (2001) found that Danish men and women had the highest annual frequencies of consuming six or more drinks on one occasion, and Norwegian men and Finnish women had the lowest frequencies.
• In his study of six EU member states, Leifman (2002) reported that when both drinkers and nondrinkers were included in the analysis, people in the United Kingdom had the highest annual frequency of heavy drinking (defined as drinking a bottle of wine or the equivalent on one occasion), and people in France had the lowest.
• In a comparison between the United States and Germany including all respondents (Bloomfield et al. 2002),4 the number of days per month on which five or more drinks were consumed was almost twice as high in Germany as in the United States.