<p>"The amount of stupidity that I have witnessed by 18-20 year olds has cemented my faith in America's comparatively high legal drinking age. "</p>
<p>Well then, I guess the high drinking age hasn't done what it's supposed to--stop people under 21 from drinking. All it does is create this ridiculous mystique/taboo that only encourages the binge drinking that you see.</p>
<p>It seems absurd to say that for that reason, you have FAITH in 21 as the legal age.</p>
<p>agreed. alcohol is seen as such a 'forbidden fruit' in our society and more kids here drink just to get drunk. </p>
<p>I also hate it when bands I like play in bars and have 21+ shows. it's so weak.</p>
<p>disagree on raising the age for driving though. some cities (read: Phoenix) are incredibly sprawled out and have horrific public transportation. I would have been hating life if I couldn't drive at 16 and 17.</p>
<p>18.</p>
<p>At 18 you can't buy a beer but you CAN:
buy a shotgun
vote
join the armed services</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>I think it would take a generation or maybe more for America to develop the European attitude towards drinking. If the drinking age were to be lowered, it would probably still carry remnants of the taboo for those who grew up with it. Sure maybe after 30 years or so we would even out, but until then I think drinking-related accidents, crimes, deaths would spike.</p>
<p>When I was a teenager the drinking age where I lived was 18. They say they raised it back up to 21 because of the increase in driving fatalities.</p>
<p>If you are going to abuse alcohol you will do it where it is legal or not. It's not about the legal age it's about your own personal problems that you try to deal with through the use of alcohol. That stays the same if you are 19 or 50.</p>
<p>"At 18 you can't buy a beer but you CAN:
buy a shotgun
vote
join the armed services"</p>
<p>Don't forget that you can SMOKE! A much filthier and unhealthy habit than a couple drinks.</p>
<p>My take on it as stated before, is that teenagers only do it because they think it makes them cool to do something they shouldn't. Why is it that students commit minor acts such as pranks (senior pranks, teepee) or sex at a young age? Because one gets a rush of energy and excitment when breaking the rules. If it's no longer illegal to drink, you take away that rush.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters. I mean, gaining access to alcohol is so easy that changing the drinking age wouldn't really make a big difference anyways. :p</p>
<p>REVISED:</p>
<p>At 18 you can't buy a beer but you CAN:
buy a shotgun
vote
join the armed services
smoke cigarettes/tobacco
enter into legally binding contracts(credit card, bank account, loan, apartment)
have sexual intercourse
be legally held responsible as an adult when committing crimes
....</p>
<p>^^Yes it does. At 16-17 I would go to nice indoor or outdoor lounges with friends to have a couple drinks on friday nights. That sure smacks around drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups.</p>
<p>IMO, if you can buy cigarettes, vote, etc. and be considered an adult and/or independent at age 18, why the hell can't you drink?</p>
<p>The drinking age being 21 does not stop underage people from drinking. They do it, and they do it alot. </p>
<p>Many parents like to believe, "My kids would never do that." </p>
<p>But they do.</p>
<p>I honestly believe that the drinking age being 21 is a violation of the the Constitution guaranteeing equal rights. I mean, I know it sounds like a completely biased under-ager, but I have thought about this a lot. I think that the drinking age needs to be 18 (or the voting age 21....) if all adult Americans are going to be given the same rights and responsibilities. I think if the issue was ever forced into serious debate or to a Supreme court hearing, that the drinking age would have to be lowered to 18. But no politician is going to try and put that up for debate and get reelected by the older constituancy which already has teenaphobia.
i also think it really would save lives, if 18-20 year olds could take public transportation instead of trying to drive or being forced to spend the night where ever they get drunk and with whom ever...if 18-20 year olds could get help if they needed to with no fear of punishment... </p>
<p>and don't even get me started on how wrong I think strings-attached federal to state grants are...</p>
<p>Having the drinking age at 21 violates every Constitutional right known to man, so does the states being held hostage to lower the DUI limit to .08, but no politician is going to touch either of those issues because they do not want to lose precious highway dollars. Blame organizations such as MADD and Christian Fundamentalists for this sort of madness. Imagine this scenario (somewhat has been desribed above) a 19 year old Marine goes over to Iraq, his left leg is blown off by an IED. After six months of painful rehab, and a crudely designed prostetic (sp?) he is now 20 and limps into a local tavern back home a decorated war hero. He cannot be served a beer because he is not 21! People like myself probably would have become alcoholics no matter what the age limit was, but I venture to say I would have been less likely if I was allowed to drink at a younger age, when it wasn't pushed underground causing me to take it way overboard, basically killing my twenties :eek:</p>
<p>The reason that there is a national drinking age of 21 is because the fed. govt saw a correaltion between automobile accidents and fatalities with alcohol and age. So the said to the states that a national drinking age would be set. All complied except ( and this isnt as ironic as it sounds) Louisiana. They refused and the fed. govt (with all its might and power) said that if the didnt that LA wouldnt never see a dime of fed. funding ever again. Hows that for ball twisting. Well they quickly agreed because many if not all states rely on fed. funding all sorts of loverly things. The reason a lower drinking age would never work in American is because we have no self control and do not teach little youngins i.e. stupid highschool kids the RESPONSIBILITY that goes along with drinking and the CONSEQUENCES of excessive drinking. The fed. govt thinks its doing its part by establishing such programs as D.A.R.E. and other programs of that ilk, but c' mon, did any of that really work? Does anyone REMEBER what the learned in D.A.R.E.?</p>
<p>A parents take....
Drinking is not bad, not at 18 and not at 21. Drinking to a point where you don't know what you are doing is bad AT ANY AGE as of course is drinking and driving..
I have never kidded myself as a parent. I know my daughter who is a HS senior drinks. I also know if I ground her and tell her not to, she will still drink, so all I can do as a parent is hope I taught her well, continue to re-enforce the importace of being in control, and pray that she never gets behind the wheel or in a car with someone else who has been drinking.
I beleive, for the same reasons listed in this thread, that the drinking age sould be 18, HOWEVER I do think the driving age needs to be raised. I understand kids need to be able to get to work, but to me most 15/16/17 year olds are just not ready to take on the responsibility of driving, which is why there are so many accidents, and why insurance is so high for that age group.</p>
<p>im in ontario, and here the drinking age is 19. i don't think that that leads to any more drinking than there would be in teh states-the only thing that's different here is that HS students are a lot more likely to go to bars and clubs, whereas in the states they might stick to house parties/keggers etc. 19 seems reasonable to me.......</p>
<p>Here's my proposal:</p>
<p>Alcohol is a drug and is just as bad as ecstasy or marijuana. Those two are illegal. Therefore, alcohol should be too.</p>
<p>Alcohol ruins marriages, relationships, cars, innocent lives, friendships, brains, grades, bodies, livers, and many other things. There is NOTHING GOOD that comes from alcohol.</p>
<p>If something's worthless, we should get rid of it, right?</p>
<p>And as for colleges, I think the security needs to increase. The frat houses aren't supervised enough. At my old school (Mount Union), they made you believe everything was under control. The security people did practically nothing but eat donuts all day. The lady in charge of disability services actually said at one time that people need to go get wasted to fit in. Maybe that was a ploy so more people would get disabled somehow and need her services, since you'll probably wind up with a disability if you drink like those kids did up there...they drank beer like an SUV drinks gas.</p>
<p>I almost got killed by a group of drunks once. Someone obviously didn't pay attention to DARE in school, which actually does work as long as you get a good cop to teach it.</p>
<p>Another thing--professors respect the non-drinkers more so than the party animals. Trust me on this.</p>
<p>how exactly do professors respect the non-drinkers more? especially in first-year courses, profs barely even know your name, let alone your social habits. it's not like people wear a name tag professing their views on alcohol.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Alcohol is a drug and is just as bad as ecstasy or marijuana. Those two are illegal. Therefore, alcohol should be too.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Last time they tried that (1919-1932) there were more alcoholics than before. In fact it's the reason why mafias and gangs came about. Prohibition didn't work, doesn't work, and will not work.</p>