Drinking age.

Postby Chris12 » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:58 am

A lot of countries have different laws about what age you can legally buy alcohol. Down here its 16 which i think most of you will find crazy. In America you can buy Alcohol at 21 which i find crazy. Britain seems to have a middle ground at the age of 18.

Now, we have a proposition of increase the age up to 18 which a lot of people have a different opninion about. Personally i don't have a problem with the legal age being 18 except this. I'm 16 not 18 so if this comes to happen i will lose a right thats already legally mine! So, yeah i hate the people who want to make our drinking age 18, not that it stops 16 olds from getting boze but i still, i'd hate to see it happen.

What do you guys think the minimum age for buying alcohol should be?

Re: Drinking age.

Postby Kyle » Sat Aug 04, 2012 11:45 am

I did a project on the drinking age in college. I don't have sources on this at the moment but studies showed the human brain doesn't quit developing until a person is into their 20s, and people who start drinking younger than about the age of 20 are much more likely than people who are older when they start to become alcoholics. Whether younger drinkers are more likely to become alcoholics due to it actually affecting their brain or just because most of them don't seem to use enough sense to drink responsibly and become addicted isn't something I'm qualified to answer, and may not have been proven by a study.

If I was making a legal drinking age, I'd go with 20.

One thing a lot of people, including many Americans, don't know, is that the drinking age of 21 is actually set by the states, not the federal government. A state could theoretically have a legal drinking age of 6 if they wanted. Many states briefly went to a drinking age of 18 a few decades ago but it was severely pushed against by people who said it caused more driving fatalities. The federal government decided it would withhold highway funding from any state that didn't raise their drinking age to 21. Needless to say, it only took a few years for that to happen.

Oddly, Puerto Rico allows drinking at 18 despite being a US territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._histo ... e_by_state

Re: Drinking age.

Postby drawscore » Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:25 pm

The US reduced the drinking age from 21, to 18, several years ago. As a result, there was an increase in traffic accidents and fatalities involving alcohol and persons under 21. There were some other adverse effects, and after a number of years, the drinking age was boosted back to 21.

Of course, the US is the land of the automobile. There are more of them per capita, than in any other nation, and as a consequence, there are more teen-aged drivers. And, there is truth to the comparison of danger or stupidity, when certain acts are equated with being as dangerous, or as stupid, "as giving car keys and bottles of whiskey to 16 year old boys."

Drawscore

Re: Drinking age.

Postby Chris12 » Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:54 pm

Well being able to drive at 16 always raised my eyebrows because its just to long and legally or not thats the age people start drinking.

Re: Drinking age.

Postby xtc » Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:59 pm

These seem to be arguments for raising the driving age rather than the drinking age!
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!

More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

Re: Drinking age.

Postby mistofoleese » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:26 pm

Well I have always believed in this simple principle , if your old enough to fight and Die for your country your old enough to drink. This was told to me on my 17th birthday the day I enlisted in the Army's delayed entry program. after school my father took me down to the recruitment office where the rest of my family had gathered I enlisted ( with my Parents permission ) After that my father took me to his VFW several of his friends bought me a few drinks I am truly honored to know these fine veterans who became my friends a few of them had sons or daughters I had the pleasure of serving with.
My point is though I agree with the "civilian " drinking age being 21 BUT if a young person enlists in the Military knowing full well that they someday would go into harms way should be allowed to drink regardless if they are 21 or not

my two cents

Re: Drinking age.

Postby drawscore » Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:06 pm

Here in the states, 21 is the legal age. However, American service members overseas must be in compliance with the host country's laws. That's small consolation in to those serving in "the sandbox," where Muslim countries prohibit alcohol (unless it's the king's, prince's, ayatollah's or emir's private stock), and nobody can drink.

Drawscore

Re: Drinking age.

Postby Jason Toddman » Wed Aug 08, 2012 11:09 am

mistofoleese wrote: if a young person enlists in the Military knowing full well that they someday would go into harms way should be allowed to drink regardless if they are 21 or not

I fully agree. If a person has proved he's responsible enough to serve in the military then he's proved he's responsible enough to drink alcohol. Otherwise leave the drinking age at 21; maybe that would spur military enlistment! :quirk:
I feel the driving age should remain as it is but that any person under 21 who has an avoidable accident involving another person, another vehicle, or damaged property should have their license taken away until they're 21 (whether alcohol is a factor or not) unless the driver is clearly not at fault.
I also think that anyone (regardless of age) who is caught DUI should lose their license AND be required to avoid alcohol for a set period of time (such as five years), just as some perpetrators of certain crimes already are required to do anyway when they're on probation or parole. Ignoring this ban should mean hard prison time just as is they'd been using something like crack cocaine.
Anyone committing any offense under the influence should be treated the same as one who is criminally insane.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...