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**College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.</p>
<p>The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.
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College presidents seek debate on drinking age</p>
<p>The drinking age is 18 here, which is still too high in my opinion. A drinking age of 21 in the U.S., on the other hand, is completely ridiculous. If one is able to join the army and fight for one's country at the age of 18 (and vote), then one should be able to at least drink at that age.</p>
<p>Ideally, I think there should be no drinking age. Kids are going to drink beginning at the age of eleven or twelve (we did, anyway), and I don't see how anyone would drink any more or less whether it is legal or not. In fact, early drinking may encourage more moderate drinking in the future. As stated above, some people who have not had much exposure to alcohol early on may say, "Woo hoo, I'm 18/21/whatever minimum age, I'm going to get ****ing wasted!" That's not a healthy path to take.</p>
<p>I really don't care what it is. I'm probably a rare exception, as I have yet to even try alcohol at age 17. I'm just really puzzled as to why everyone wants to cover up all these problems. There are going to be binge drinkers, there are going to be pot smokers, and there are going to be erratic drivers. I don't understand what excessive punishment does to resolve this, as it hasn't exactly worked wonders thus far.</p>
<p>The biggest thing that irks me is that the age of consent is several years lower than the drinking age. While I'm not exactly advocating for the drinking age to be lowered to 16 (or whatever the age of consent is in the US) or the age of consent be raised to 21... is it just me that finds the fact that a 18-year old is deemed to be responsible enough to consent to sex, get married and serve in the armed forces, but not responsible to drink alcohol absurd?</p>
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The drinking age is 18 here, which is still too high in my opinion. A drinking age of 21 in the U.S., on the other hand, is completely ridiculous. If one is able to join the army and fight for one's country at the age of 18 (and vote), then one should be able to at least drink at that age.
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<p>I've always hated this argument. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. The fact is, brain cells don't finish developing until your mid-late 20's. And complaining about not being able to drink, IMO, just makes you sound younger than 18 to begin with. Wait the three years and do it responsibly if you're so "adult".</p>
<p>If the drinking age were 18, it would only encourage people to get wasted on their 18th.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don't really care. If you want to get wasted, it's fine with me. It's that most 18-year-olds (note the MOST) drink irresponsibly...driving drunk (or "buzzed", as people here call it), binge drinking, etc. As soon as other people are put into danger, that's when it bothers me. (Not that 21-year-olds don't do things like this, just that I've noticed it's higher in 18-year-olds from my own experience.)</p>
<p>What an absolutely brilliant idea! Can we also legalize marijuana & cocaine too?</p>
<p>Instead of actually doing their job and trying to crack down hard on college students doing illegal activities, colleges are coping out and saying hey its not worth the trouble of trying to prevent students from getting inebriated and going to class like fools; they're like whatever we'll lower the drinking age because it saves us the effort. Awesome job!</p>
<p>The thing about the Brain cell argument is that they don't stop developing until 25....</p>
<p>I still stand by the drinking license thing. The issue isn't at what age can you start drinking, it's the fact that drinking is 100% not allowed (except in your parents homes under their permission/supervision and for religious purposes) until a certain age at which point you can do whatever the hell you want.</p>
<p>With regard to minors driving drunk, I think that the idea that the drinking age needs to be raised to prevent them from driving drunk is flawed. I group in NYC, so this wasn't an issue for me, but I know a few people whose parents didn't "allow" them to drink, but did have the rule "if you are ever in a situation where you or someone you know has to drive drunk, I don't care what time it is or where you are, call us to come get you and your friends. We will not punish you if you do this. As much as we don't want you drinking, your safety is #1"</p>
<p>Most kids however, have the fear of god in them of getting caught, and so when it's time to decide between driving home drunk or admitting to their parents they're too drunk to drive, they choose the former. The combination of alcohol and immaturity causes them to evaluate the risk of death via a car accident as not high enough to justify certain punishment from their parents.</p>
<p>To reiterate, changing the drinking age isn't what's necessary, it's a total restructuring of the law that's necessary (e.g. the drinking license)</p>
<p>There's no reason why marijuana should be illegal. By making it illegal creates more crime than not. It's not like anyone follows any of these laws anyways, it is just a pain in the ass and makes everyones life that much harder.</p>
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It's that most 18-year-olds (note the MOST) drink irresponsibly...driving drunk (or "buzzed", as people here call it), binge drinking, etc. As soon as other people are put into danger, that's when it bothers me. (Not that 21-year-olds don't do things like this, just that I've noticed it's higher in 18-year-olds from my own experience.)
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<p>That's exactly the point, though. 18-year-olds act as such because of this lure behind underage drinking (and iwbB's quote below). And as you have kindly pointed out, these laws aren't preventing 18-year-olds from drinking. The irresponsible, wild ones will always get their hands on alcohol - the only thing the drinking age does is prevent the responsible 18-year-olds from drinking.</p>
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Most kids however, have the fear of god in them of getting caught, and so when it's time to decide between driving home drunk or admitting to their parents they're too drunk to drive, they choose the former. The combination of alcohol and immaturity causes them to evaluate the risk of death via a car accident as not high enough to justify certain punishment from their parents.
<p>I posted this in the thread in parents' cafe (funny how the opinions are different, adults where I'm from are much more understanding of drinking):</p>
<p>So our troops are mature enough to kill a man, but not mature enough to have a beer? They're mature enough to buy cancer sticks but not mature enough to have a shot of vodka? I am absolutely suggesting that bringing down the drinking age will not lead to an increase in deaths from drunk driving. For that to be true we'd have to assume that there are a big portion of people who refrain from underage drinking because it's illegal, which isn't true. Stupid 18 year olds will kill themselves regardless of whether or not it's legal-it's already been proven. Colleges can still discourage drinking but the drinking laws in this country are arcane and need to be changed. An 18 year old is legally considered an adult and they should therefore have all of the rights of adults.</p>
<p>Hmm I never said anything about making the drinking age 18. I just said having it 21 makes people go get wasted on their 21st, which is a fact that is not disputable.</p>
<p>From my estimation, drinking alcohol before age 21 is de facto legal already in many places in America. I've known many underage friends from high school who were caught with alcohol in their car (not open of course) and to be simply sent home by the police. </p>
<p>Fake ID's are rampant and no real crackdown by the authorities seems to be taking place on that front. And in many cases, it's in liquor stores and clubs' best interest monetarily to simply accept the ID and plead ignorance if they get caught selling to minors. </p>
<p>Somethings I've noticed...
-The bigger the city I'm in, the less likely it is that anyone (including cops) will care if underage kids are drinking
-Many parents simply accept the fact that their kids will start drinking 17+, and are unlikely to punish them if they are caught (I know my friends and I weren't)</p>
<p>I think society by and large accepts drinking 18+, and that soon (before I die) the laws will reflect such. Only 4 months to go until 21 for me though, so I couldn't care less</p>
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That's exactly the point, though. 18-year-olds act as such because of this lure behind underage drinking (and iwbB's quote below). And as you have kindly pointed out, these laws aren't preventing 18-year-olds from drinking. The irresponsible, wild ones will always get their hands on alcohol - the only thing the drinking age does is prevent the responsible 18-year-olds from drinking.
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<p>I disagree. I have met very few people who drink because "ZOMG IT'S ILLEGAL SO IT MUST BE SO COOL." They drink because it's readily available, and because "everyone else does it, so it must be okay."</p>
<p>If you ask me, the crackdown needs to happen on the sellers and those who buy for their friends/younger siblings, not those who actually drink.</p>
<p>Why not just ban the drinking age all together? In other countries like China, it's much more relaxed and most kids are very mature about their drinking habits. During my childhood in China, I started drinking beer and other types of wine when I was 4. And somehow I never went crazy about alcohol because I knew I had easy access to it.</p>