<p>I’ve always been on the fence about the MDI. I’ve done a lot of research on it for school debates, and I’ve been given pro both times. It’s completely true that teenagers and people under the age of 21 are going to drink regardless of the drinking age. And it has always seemed ridiculous to me to grant 18 year old all the rights and responsibilities of adulthood except one.</p>
<p>But there are still the staggering numbers of people killed by teenage drunk drivers that keep me from supporting a lower drinking age. So, I don’t believe it should be lowered. I do, however, believe that more money could be spent on teaching kids responsibility and teaching parents how to help their kids develop healthy attitudes towards alcohol. Hunting down offenders and telling them “Just say no” has never, and is never going to work.</p>
<p>A major part of the age limit being a 21 is the hypothesis that an 18 year old will have an easier time getting alchohol to minors and a minor will have easier access to a 18 year old. I.E, you wait for one friend to be 18 and buy beer for a bunch of 15 and 16 year olds.</p>
<p>Going to school in a state that requires one to be 19 for many things that you only have to be 18 for in other states (though if you commit a crime, you are considered an adult at 18) and it is really annoying. Making the drinking age 19 doesn’t change the fact that one does not legally become an adult all at once. It works in Canada because 19 is the age for adulthood in certain provinces. </p>
<p>I’d like to see the drinking age lowered to 18 or possibly less and drunken driving laws strengthened. I know that Canada does not allow a person to enter who has had a DUI/DWI in recent years because a DUI/DWI is a felony in Canada. In addition, I think that all states should allow parents/guardians to serve alcohol to their children inside a private home as some states currently allow.</p>
<p>If anything, states are losing potential tax revenue from alcohol sales should if the drinking age were lowered. It would also allow more 18-20 year-olds to gamble because the type of Liquor License a casino has often determines how old a person has to be in order to gamble. In my state, certain casinos allow anyone 18 or older to gamble because they only have a certain liquor license and bingo halls also advertise this distinction.</p>
<p>Right now, to legally drink, those of us 18-20 have to cross national borders or join the military so we can drink on base. Otherwise, there are no legal options available to all in this age group. The Supreme Court recently judged that states can impose their liquor laws on planes of US airlines flying over their state, otherwise drinking may have become legal on interstate flights.</p>
<p>Edit: I forgot that one could always go to Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands, where the age is 18, but both are quite far away for many people to go to regularly.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m completely against drinking for many reasons, but I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. As many others have said, if you’re legally considered an adult, there’s not a completely “good” reason to prohibit one from drinking until you’re 21. </p>
<p>Yes there are scientific studies, but I know that a lot of people already find ways to drink at 18. By lowering the legal age to 18, yes there probably will be more incidents related to drunk driving, but if you make punishments harsher for such things, that will bring things under control. </p>
<p>More revenue will be gained and hopefully, those who are 18 will be more mature after they make mistakes related to drinking. I’m sure there are many others who will disagree with me and point out other things, such as the number of innocent bystanders killed by drunk driving incidents, but this debating has probably gone on for years and years now. I’m just giving my own thoughts and you don’t have to accept or agree with them.</p>
<p>How many people do you personally know got behind the wheel after drinking too much to drive because they knew they were doing something they weren’t supposed to and had to be home at a certain time? I know plenty of people that would rather risk their own life and the lives of others by driving drunk instead of calling for help. I believe this has a lot to do with parents that do not allow their children to drink because it is illegal. </p>
<p>Also, 18 year olds are not as easily watched by their parents as younger children. Many gain considerably more freedom as they get older and are beginning to make their own choices. They will drink regardless. Younger children will have a harder time finding a place where they are able to drink with relative freedom. </p>
<p>I believe that a major reason people drink to excess is the taboo factor that comes with drinking alcohol underage. Also, we are allowed to die for our country but not buy a beer. That’s just ridiculous.</p>
<p>Then again, where I live, I can walk into a bar and buy a drink myself even though I am only 19 ;)</p>
<p>Risky business. Last time I tried that (years ago, btw) I ended up in the back of a squad car.</p>
<p>I think it is ridiculous that an 18 year-old can buy a shotgun with no problem but cannot buy a drink. Lower the drinking age to 18, increase DUI enforcement. Have a graduated DUI scale. Have severe, severe penalties for DUI’s that lead to wrecks.</p>
<p>The drinking age should def be lowered. Its stupid how the US has to have different rules than every other country. Yeah at first some 18-19-20 year olds would go crazy but it would be legal, and then they would get bored with it. Make more laws about DUIs and stuff and everyone’s set. Alcohol companies would make so much money. bahaaa</p>
<p>Realistically, to make the most change, the drinking age should be abolished or lowered to something like 12. Either that or parents should be allowed to serve it to their children.</p>
<p>Countries in Europe where kids just grew up drinking alcohol have fewer incidents of binge drinking and drunk driving in young people because they were able to drink young enough that they learned their limits around their family NOT their friends. </p>
<p>It does increase drinking to lower the age. However, it decreases the amount of accidents because younger people no longer have to hide it. The people are too rule conscious to drink illegally are usually too rule conscious to drive drunk.</p>
<p>I know that that won’t happen though, so I’d like to see the age lowered to 18. It’s the one freedom we don’t get at twenty-one, so most people think it’s unfair. A law that’s universally thought unfair is much more likely to be broken.</p>
<p>“'ve blown a bac of much higher than the standard level of ‘black out’ and been perfectly fine (friend had a breathalyzer lol). Actually, I’m fairly certain I was at the “pass out” level and was perfectly fine (but I’ve been called a tank for my size- 5’1 girl).”</p>
<p>I used to work in the substance abuse field, and was a state expert on that issue.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, what you’re describing is a classic sign that you may be alcoholic or at risk of becoming alcoholic. Many people assume that having a high tolerance for alcohol means that they don’t have an alcohol problem. Unfortunately, that’s not true.</p>
<p>"Do you have to drink a lot more than you used to in order to get buzzed? Can you drink more than other people without getting drunk? These are signs of tolerance, the first warning sign of alcoholism. Tolerance means that, over time, you need more and more alcohol to feel the same effects you used to with smaller amounts. "</p>
<p>I think 18 is fine to be buying firearms, and people much younger than 18 are able to use firearms legally without supervision. Not drinking, though. My argument is that the drinking age should be lowered, not that the gun-buying age should be raised.</p>
<p>Tolerance is not necessarily a bad thing, at least in my opinion. You are obviously the expert here, so I’ll defer to your judgment. However, going to a party and being able to consume several drinks without being drunk or wasted may prevent you from making some bad decisions.</p>
I mean, thinking about a bunch of immature high school seniors being able to buy shotguns and rifles doesn’t sound so great. And also, science is behind not letting those under 21 drink, since alcohol stunts the growth of the frontal lobe (which grows until ages 19-21), and teens are more likely to drink and drive (already being some of the most unsafe drivers as it is).</p>
<p>We let 18 year old use machine guns, drive tanks, and blow things up in our military; letting them buy a shotgun to hunt with pales in comparison. </p>
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<p>Well, cigarettes destroy your lungs, so why are those legal for 18 year olds? I agree that drinking and driving is a bigger issue, and any attempt to lower the drinking age would hopefully result in states, counties and cities increasing their funding for local DUI enforcement.</p>
After a lot of intense training, not just filing for a gun license. And even then, that doesn’t always work out.</p>
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Cigarettes are bad at any age (as is alcohol, I suppose), but alcohol does particularly fierce damage to the brains (frontal lobe = logic and reasoning) of those under 21, which then lead to worse choices. And DUI enforcement is too late, that’s when they’re already on the road, and there are a lot more pedestrians out there than police officers.</p>
<p>You don’t need intense training to be able to successfully use a shotgun. A couple of hours, max. Plus, any effort to deny the right to purchase such a weapon to legal, adult (18) citizens would be unconstitutional given the latest supreme court ruling. </p>
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<p>I don’t really buy this. Many of our parents and grandparents grew up in a time when the drinking age was 18-they seemed to turn out alright, didn’t they? Or all they all secretly dumber than they should be?</p>
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<p>Drunk drivers hitting pedestrians isn’t as big of a problem as drunk drivers hitting other drivers (there usually aren’t too many pedestrians milling about in the late night/early morning hours that drunk drivers typically appear). Checkpoints, specialized DUI units, etc. can and do stop drunk drivers before they can cause too much trouble. They can’t get everybody, but with increased funding and patrols they can certainly catch the most dangerous ones.</p>
<p>Northstarmom- I highly doubt I have an alcohol problem. Especially considering how rarely I do drink. And the fact that I’m perfectly happy not drinking if I go to a party where a friend of mine isn’t comfortable.<br>
This summer? I’ve drank maybe three times. And all three of those times were with my parents during dinner.
I’m the person at parties who always has to tell others that they need to stop.</p>
<p>As I said, I’m physically small, which means it takes very little to get my bac high. It’s not like I’m binge drinking in the standard sense of “7 or more drinks in a night” or whatever it is. But at the same time, I’m a block of muscle (because of my sport) so alcohol affects me slightly differently than it would another person my size.</p>
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It’s not a tolerance to alcohol. I have legit always been like this, since the first time I drank. I never “built up” anything.</p>