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Drinking Age

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Deety;897857; said:
Adults should have the rights of adults. I usually tend toward fewer restrictions on behavior, and heavier penalties as a consequence of action.
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I can't remember when I heard a better statement regarding personal responsibility, choice, and consequence of poor action. Greenies.
 
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There is a Puritan element that wants all alcohol gone. They are out of the mainstream of thinking by most Americans. Yet, they have a powerful voice in Congress. It is up to all of us to tell Congress that we need sensible restrictions on alcohol consumption.
Deety got the responsibility thing dead on.
If you can fight and die for your country, you should be able to drink responsibly.
Change the law.

(and just for your information, I lost my 18 year old niece to a drunk driver)
 
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Taosman;898129; said:
There is a Puritan element that wants all alcohol gone. They are out of the mainstream of thinking by most Americans. Yet, they have a powerful voice in Congress. It is up to all of us to tell Congress that we need sensible restrictions on alcohol consumption.
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As long as Ted Kennedy is still in office.........


BTW, if you know where, age doesn't matter is true.

The dollar is mightier than the law, I bought my first 12 when I was....

12 that is, and rode it to my freinds house on my 20 inch bmx. All this keeping in mind it was the hilltop.
 
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DEBuckeye;897729; said:
If I'm 18 and I know that A) 3.2 beer isn't going to get me drunk the way "normal" beer or liquor will, and B) that I have relatively easy access to the real stuff, why would I bother with 3.2 beer? It would be easier to lower the drinking age.
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Exactly.

Just lower the damn age to 18.


FWIW When I was on active duty Marines of any age were allowed to drink at the E Clubs on Pendleton due to it's proximity to the Mexican border (the same was true of all the Navy bases in San Diego).
 
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Being 18 never stopped me :biggrin:

Or 17 for that matter, but it helps looking 5 to 10 years older and always being able to pull that off :biggrin:

BUT, 18 is the age of majority and should be the age where a young man or woman can make their decision about drinking. Putting the age to 21 was nanny-state-ism in its' purest form.
 
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scooter1369;898299; said:
When you've seen someone sent to rehab and the counselor says the person was clinically an alcoholic at the age of 13, you see the alcohol problem our kids face
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Yeah but obviously the kids that really abuse alcohol before they are legally allowed to drink will drink anyway. If someone wants alcohol enough, they will get it.



I wouldn't even mind them lowering the drinking age to 19. That way it would keep it out of high schools somewhat more than 18 (not saying it would stop it, but it would make it a little harder for seniors), and by time you get to college you are ready to drink.
 
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ScarletBlood31;898361; said:
Yeah but obviously the kids that really abuse alcohol before they are legally allowed to drink will drink anyway. If someone wants alcohol enough, they will get it.



I wouldn't even mind them lowering the drinking age to 19. That way it would keep it out of high schools somewhat more than 18 (not saying it would stop it, but it would make it a little harder for seniors), and by time you get to college you are ready to drink.
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Honestly, if they lowered the drinking age to 19 I think it would be even easier for 18 year olds to get. All they need is someone to not go to college that is a year older than them and now they have their way of getting booze. At least at the age of 21 you have to know someone that is quite a bit older than you. Thus, keeping the drinkin age the way it is would make it harder to get. Seeing as I am under the legal age I can tell this board that alcohol is fairly easy to obtain. If the drinking age was 19 there would never be a panic to get alcohol as I know a lot more 19 year olds than 21 year olds.
 
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illinoisbuckeye;898392; said:
Honestly, if they lowered the drinking age to 19 I think it would be even easier for 18 year olds to get. All they need is someone to not go to college that is a year older than them and now they have their way of getting booze. At least at the age of 21 you have to know someone that is quite a bit older than you. Thus, keeping the drinkin age the way it is would make it harder to get. Seeing as I am under the legal age I can tell this board that alcohol is fairly easy to obtain. If the drinking age was 19 there would never be a panic to get alcohol as I know a lot more 19 year olds than 21 year olds.
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Being under the legal age of drinking you should know you can obtain it regardless. But, from a medical standpoint, I think it will be hard to lower the drinking age under 21. I am for lowering the drinking age, but if anyone really wants to drink, even at a bar or club, they can if they are over 18.
 
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bigballin2987;898393; said:
Being under the legal age of drinking you should know you can obtain it regardless. But, from a medical standpoint, I think it will be hard to lower the drinking age under 21. I am for lowering the drinking age, but if anyone really wants to drink, even at a bar or club, they can if they are over 18.
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The resident, underage drinker himself chimes in!:biggrin::biggrin:
 
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People who want alcohol will get alcohol. Growing up it was the norm to have wine with dinner. When dining out with my parents I was allowed to order alcoholic drinks, it definitely took a lot of the allure off of party drinking. I agree completely that the drinking age should be 18.
 
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scooter1369;898299; said:
When you've seen someone sent to rehab and the counselor says the person was clinically an alcoholic at the age of 13, you see the alcohol problem our kids face
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This is what worries me. Both high schools that I taught at from 1980 to 2000 were upper middle class suburban schools and the drinking was significant. Parents willingly intervened when the police got involved making a mockery of 'keg laws' and drinking age laws. I have NO DOUBT that some triggered the alcoholism gene during this time frame.

So why would you lower the age by proposing 3.2 beer?

1. Most of the parents of the kids do not support the current law, or set an expectation of no drinking. Many hosted parties knowing drinking was going to take place. More than a few hosted cocktail parties before the prom because the kids were going out in limos. In short, you have a very tough time enforcing laws which the general public doesn't accept...See college and marijuana in the 60s and 70s... while 3.2 doesn't address the alcoholism issue it at least provides a more viable outlet for the desire to find out what beer is all about.

2. There's a cultural factor, especially in German - Irish - Italian Catholic Cincinnati...birthday? let's drink beer... holiday? hey, where's the beer?
football/basketball/baseball game? hey let's get a coupla beers before/after
death in the family? well he/she will sure be missed, now where's the beer?
It's ingrained in how we live and therefore we all grow up expecting to make the association between good/bad times and beer.

3. Given all that, it sets up either the law as being patently out of touch or parents as hypocrites.

4. My understanding of alcoholism (not necessarily the facts) is that it is a genetic disease and can be triggered at any time, from first drink, to someone late in life who suddenly loses their ability to know when to say when. That the age point at which you begin drinking can cause the disease to be triggered sooner. i.e. the longer you postpone drinking, the less likely you are to suffer alcoholism.

5. That seems to put the medical realities of alcoholism at odds with the culture.

6. I don't know that many teens who are attracted to hard liquor unless it's in the form of bad wine and fruity tooty things like hard lemonade. As a teen I was pretty content to settle for 3.2, though we often tried to get 6 and hoped the counter guy was too busy to check the bottle tops. "OH, I thought this was 3.2. I just reached in..." bull shit, bull shit, bull shit.

7. Given that, wouldn't a more realistic approach be:
1. to allow beer drinking at 18
2. to provide better education on alcohol in schools
3. to provide AA type programs geared to HS and undergrads
4. do a better job of enforcing laws against anything other than beer
 
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