<p>There’s this saying I tell everyone about people in society.</p>
<p>“People want/do what they can’t have/do.”</p>
<p>We want to love people who won’t love us back. We want to drive 150 mph but we can’t. We (under 21) want to drink a Corona, but we can’t.
And most people can’t control this “want”, so they do it anyways.</p>
<p>If everything was legal. there would be no crime.</p>
<p>As radical as this is, it’s (generally) true.</p>
<p>They should lower the age for beer and wine to 18 and keep hard liquor at 21.</p>
<p>I think you’d see a significant lowering of the alcohol overdoses with this strategy.</p>
<p>I don’t think the drinking age should be 18 at all. A person’s brain is done growing around 18-20 yrs of age. If the drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18 would cause many people to never reach their potential because alcohol will prevent the brain from actually growing to what it can be. </p>
<p>Anyone bringing up the arguments about who Germany doing fine with a lower drinking age needs to look deeper into why that is. They don’t get fewer DUI or any other alcohol related incidents only because it is legal. They do it because the don’t use alcohol for the same reason as we do here in America. People 21 and over alone get in more alcohol related problems than the people in Germany. We just come from a different culture than they do. </p>
<p>Also people saying well high school kids drink anyways, is the most ridiculous argument. People rob, rape, kill despite it’s against the law, so should we make that legal too. Drinking doesn’t only affect the person drinking but it also affects people around.
I will also like to add, yes i also drank when i was in high school but i would’ve done it a whole lot more if i had easier access to it and wouldn’t get in trouble for it.</p>
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<p>They also have fewer DUI’s because their infrastructure is entirely different over there. In most places in the US driving is a necessity to get around. This is not the case in most of Europe, as use of public transportation is much more widespread.</p>
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<p>So are you saying that people should be able to rob, rape, and kill once they turn 21? Most of our parents grew up with the drinking age at 18 or 19; do they strike you as the type that robs and rapes for a living?</p>
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<p>I also drank in high school and got in plenty of trouble for it. Just made it that much more fun. Teenagers are rebellious in general, and being able to party and break a bogus law at the same time is incredibly appealing to many of them. You’re a badass if you show up at a high school party with a case of beer and a handle of liquor; not so much if you show up with a pack of cigarettes that you legally purchased.</p>
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<p>This is, by definition, true. If there is nothing that is illegal, it is impossible to break the law.</p>
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<p>This is the entire basis of youth abuse of alcohol in the US.</p>
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<p>The American government doesn’t have a mandate to protect the people from themselves. It does, to a certain extent, but it’s original purpose was not so. If people want to make the choice to drink before their brain is developed, even if they know that it will harm their full development, they should have that right. Furthermore, alcohol in moderation isn’t necessarily any more harmful to people (even young people) than a bad sunburn, or the fluoride in our water. It’s only when it’s abused that it poses problems.</p>
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<p>the argument that people are making is that our culture regarding alcohol stems from the fact that it is illegal, which encourages rapid, goal oriented, clandestine drinking because the punishment is the same if you drank a shot or a fifth. By lowering the drinking age, people hope to change the cultural zeitgeist in such a manner that alcohol consumption comes out into the light, so that it can be done in a safe and responsible manner.</p>
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<p>this is a good idea</p>
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The human brain does not fully develop until around 25 on average, and the brain changes throughout a person’s life. Would you suggest changing it to 25?
If that was true, people in other countries would be dumber because alcohol inhibited brain development. European students drink a lot earlier, and outperform American HS students in most subjects. An 18 year old’s brain won’t be seriously inhibited by drinking, unless they’re an alcoholic. In HS they told us “when you drink, you lose brain cells!” as if it would make us ■■■■■■■■. Reality: We have 100 billion neurons and ten times as many glia, and we lose about 9,000 neurons a day anyhow. Smack yourself on the head, that’s like the equivalent of drinking a beer. Using alcohol speeds that up slightly, and drugs more so, but having 18 year olds drinking is not going to seriously inhibit frontal cortex development, unless you’re an 18 yr old alcoholic. </p>
<p>What’s funny is in America we make drinking beer a huge deal when foreigners think of our beer as watered-down horse p!ss</p>
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<p>that’s because beer like natty light and keystone light is made as cheaply as possible so college students can buy it in large quantities, our college drinking culture makes our alcohol worse, if that makes any sense</p>
<p>To be honest, I find most Americans (ages 18-24) don’t really know how to control themselves over drinking. Many of them think that drinking is a competition, many think you have to drink as much as possible. However, you should know that the fun in drinking is not to see who can drink the most and become crazy and hump like jack rabbits. I think the fun in it is to hang out with your friends, drink a couple of beers and socialize and have fun without causing a big mess.</p>
<p>I don’t think the drinking age should be altered, I think how people treat alcohol in this country needs to be changed.</p>
<p>It’s not the age, it’s how parents and society handles the subject of alcohol that needs to be adjusted. Other countries with a lower drinking age treat alcohol differently than we do.</p>
<p>(I’m not implying that the countries with lowered ages are without raving drunk people, of course.)</p>
<p>I would consider lowering the age to 19 - but not 18.</p>
<p>High schoolers are ridiculously stupid. And sure, the majority of high school students have probably tried alcohol. But, I’d say it is a small minority who binge drinks with some frequency or exhibits the drinking patterns of college students. “Legalizing it” for 18 year olds would only encourage way more drinking for high school seniors (think of the rule-abiding kids too).</p>
<p>By the way, the fact that American beer is “watered-down horse-*<strong><em>” compared to European beer or other foreign beers is a stereotype and an outright lie. Every single country’s national, mass-produced cheap beer tastes like variations of watered-down horse *</em></strong>. In fact some are so bad you’d be wishing for a Pabst Blue Ribbon.</p>
<p>I’d say 19 is the right number. However, when you have an age limit, kids find ways to get it and will want it more because of the restrictions. So no matter how low or high the age you set, you will still have a problem.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with this article. I think the drinking age at 21 absolutely promotes binge drinking. My DD goes to the same college I did. When I was in school the drinking age was 18. We would go out to a bar, listen to music, play some foosball & drink a few beers. Yes, we got drunk and went to keg parties, but we really didn’t binge drink like they do today. These days, the kids sit in their dorm rooms or apartments and do shots of liquor before they go out. And they don’t do one or two. They do four or five shots to get a good buzz on and then head out. Many have fake IDs which they use to get into clubs, but are afraid to use to buy drinks, so they get good and *****faced before going out. They don’t learn to drink responsibly. </p>
<p>I also think the article made a good point that awareness is much higher today about drinking and driving than it was back in the 70’s. Kids are much more likely to use a designated driver or to take a cab. I do not think the drunk driving rates would return to the rates they were. As to the idea that if 18 year olds could legally drink, then 12-14 year olds will be drinking. There are kids that are predisposed to drinking for whatever reason. The kids who are going to drink are going to drink regardless of the legal age.</p>
<p>Peter and chaoses (and others supporting 19 as a good drinking age) - how do you reconcile that with the fact that the age of legal majority in this country is 18?</p>
<p>I would argue that it doesn’t matter whether you’re in high school or college or whatever - the age of majority should be the age of majority for everything. If you can enter into legal contracts, enlist in the military, and otherwise be legally responsible for your own life, you should be able to buy alcohol. Period. You can’t have one age for some things and another for others.</p>
<p>You can’t rent a car until you’re 25.</p>
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<p>That’s not a legal restriction. Car rental companies generally won’t rent to people under 21 or 25 (depending on company) because they aren’t confident that they’ll get it back. There’s no legal restriction on renting cars, and a car company is free to rent to people as young as 16 as if they see fit.</p>
<p>In contrast, a grocery store in not allowed to make the choice that it is an acceptable risk to sell alcohol to minors, which shows the crucial difference.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with Icarus, if you set an age of majority for anything, you need to set it for everything.</p>
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Not true - the age of sexual consent varies from state to state. The age minimum for getting a driver’s license and learner’s permit varies. The age of buying cigarettes varies (19 in my hometown). The age of renting a car varies. It’s not like you turn 18 and can automatically do everything but drink. </p>
<p>I’ve heard if there’s a military draft, they would change it back to 18? Idk my hs health teacher made this argument in class when we used the “die for your country but can’t drink beer” argument. Don’t know if this is bs or not.</p>
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<p>Legally, no, but many turn a blind eye to obvious fake IDs.</p>
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<p>There is a thing called ‘Selective Service’ all american citizen men must register when they turn 18. It’s possible to get out of registration, but it’s grounds to be ignored in a lot of things, such as job application, and federal financial aid for college. It is issued though the DoD, so if there was ever a draft again, it would draw from that list.</p>
<p>I also agree with this article. Having the drinking age at 21 just doesn’t work, and I think we’re getting to a point where more and more people realize this. </p>
<p>And the argument that if you change it back to 18, there will be an increase in HS kids drinking doesn’t fly with me. I have never touched/bought a cigarette in my life, and that sure as hell didn’t change once I turned 18. I didn’t have some wild urge to start smoking just because I was legally allowed to. It’s the same thing with alcohol. If a kid has no interest in drinking, they won’t become a raging alcoholic just because they can.</p>