Drinking Age

[IronBuckI]

Wouldn't he be right?

Irrelevant. :tongue2:

 

[TRON]

Taos will probably send you a PM telling you that I'm just an asshole and to ignore me.

I got one a few months ago.

 

[morbitzerker]

Very interesting piece tonight on 60 Minutes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4819332n

I'm at a crossroads on this.

 

[DaytonBuck]

Why do we even need one?

 

[jwinslow]

Why do we even need one?

hi I'm america, have we met?

 

[DaytonBuck]

hi I'm america, have we met?

Prohibiting minors from drinking hasn't exactly worked

 

[jwinslow]

Prohibiting minors from drinking hasn't exactly worked

so the answer is to start america's excess craze as young as possible?

 

[morbitzerker]

Education and tolerance play a huge role in this discussion.

 

[jwinslow]

It's not like the illegality of the thing is the allure here, eliminating the drinking age isn't going to make anything better.

Self-control is, and that's not something this country likes very much.

 

[morbitzerker]

Lowering the drinking age while leaving education and tolerance levels where they are now is unfeasible and ridiculous. Lowering the drinking age while increasing education and consequence while lowering tolerance is understandable.

 

[DaytonBuck]

so the answer is to start america's excess craze as young as possible?

The battle lines are already drawn here. The people want to get hammered in high school and college are already doing it. Eliminating the drinking age isn't going to make someone decided to get hammered anymore than being able tobacco buy tobacco at 19 is going to make someone go out and want to start smoking.

 

[jwinslow]

Eliminating the drinking age isn't going to make someone decided to get hammered anymore than being able tobacco buy tobacco at 19 is going to make someone go out and want to start smoking.

And speed limits signs won't stop folks from speeding, but it also stops them from driving 100 all the time.

Drinking at parties and elsewhere is still a far cry from junior high kids having bud light in their packed lunches.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

And speed limits signs won't stop folks from speeding, but it also stops them from driving 100 all the time.

Drinking at parties and elsewhere is still a far cry from junior high kids having bud light in their packed lunches.

yeah, they shouldnt be drinking light beer at that age...

get em started on something decent tasting!

 

[martinss01]

Old enough to kill for your country, let the other dumb bastard die for his.

good ole patton :)

It would be interesting to see the impact of a drinking age change on team policies....how would coaches such as Tressel deal with the legal right of all players to drink at age 18? I imagine quite well, but it seems like with the law the way it is, it's a little easier for coaches to make black and white rules.

coaches would have far less problems enforcing rules than companies would.

People are going to drink no matter what the age.

true, but in this case it really isn't efficient for us as a society to spend the amount of money we do to enforce the underage drinking laws. we are far better off lowering the age to 18.

The government's view. They are worried about all this sin going on.

Why 21 Works When 18 Did Not

The unfortunate social experiment with America's drinking age laws lends insight into the possible effect that raising the LMSAT may have. The substantial drop in adolescent consumption of alcohol occurred in the absence of increased enforcement. Also, it is important to recognize that adolescents obtain alcohol differently than tobacco, and this difference may enhance the preventive effect of a higher age for access to tobacco products.

In the case of adolescents and tobacco, most regular users purchase it directly from a retailer (see chart) whereas the majority of underage alcohol users tend to avoid retailers and instead obtain alcohol from those over 21. Often, these older individuals have incentives to buy alcohol for younger people in order to induce a party atmosphere or sexual compliance, and these incentives may not exist for tobacco.13

In addition, alcohol is used differently than tobacco. Only a minority of alcohol users consumes it daily or in sufficient quantity to warrant a daily purchase, whereas most tobacco users maintain an active, incessant addiction. Addicted smokers generally smoke a minimum of 10 cigarettes per day. For many adolescents who may have limited cash reserves, this may mean seeking to obtain a pack (20 cigarettes) on a daily or every-other-day basis. The differences in the way youths access and use these two substances suggest that raising tobacco access to age 21 may have even more powerful impact than was achieved by raising the alcohol access age.14
http://www.tobacco21.org/

isn't this proof that the 21 not 18 rule DOES NOT work? or are you suggesting that the age for tobacco be raised?

Often, these older individuals have incentives to buy alcohol for younger people in order to induce a party atmosphere or sexual compliance, and these incentives may not exist for tobacco.

aren't we setting laws that actually encourage date rape...? lower the age to match that of statatory rape and this problem is solved 100%.

 

[Muck]

And speed limits signs won't stop folks from speeding, but it also stops them from driving 100 all the time.

Actually studies have shown that traffic tends to move at the same average speed regardless of what the posted limit is. :)