Drinking Age

[MarkDel]

I can't believe you all think it should be lowered. When you are assigned to respond to a drink driving accident when a drunk 17 year old killed himself and 4 other people, and you have to notify the parents I think you'll change your mind.

Case and point. 18 year olds are NOT mature enough for alcohol.

Raggage,

You've been a cop too long...think about it...they are not mature enough to drink, but they are mature enough to vote for the people who make the rules on who is mature enough to drink...think about it...

[Bandit3 the Worker]

On the Fourth of July, a young woman who was 19 crashed her car into a stone wall on my street. If I had been riding my bike down the roadway at the time, she could have very easily killed me.

The cops arrested her for DUI.

I would bet that this incident wouldn't have occurred at all if not for the 21 drinking age. The driver of the car probably felt encouraged to drink just because it was illegal for her to do so.

If I had been injured, I would have sued the driver of the car as well as MADD for helping to get the 21 drinking age passed.

[Brambila]

Then it must be an ignored law, since I just got back from a vacation full of Italians and several of them said there's no law on alcohol consumption. I really don't think it's the government's buisness to regulate that though.

The age for buying and consumer beer in Germany and Italy is 16...although it is true it is probably routinely ignored.

I can see it both ways in terms of teenagers, but certainly the government has duty to regulate the actions of CHILDREN.  Can an eight year old really make an informed choice about whether to drink alcohol or not?  You can say it is the parents' responsibility, but what if the child is an orphan or has irresponsible parents?

That's none of the government's buisness. If the parents are irresponsible, too bad. That's not the government's job. Many parents raise their children badly, and they group up with psychological problems. Not the government's fault. The government shouldn't regulate how parents should act.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Make it one age for everything.  Vote, drink, gamble, etc. all at 17.  Why?  I'm 16, and I think I can handle all of those things, and I have before.  But I also know some real stupid 16 year olds that I would not go near if they had a beer in their hand.  So.....17 sounds right to me.  

I actually think it is kind of important that the drinking age and the driving age are different.  I don't really think it matters which comes first, just that they don't happen at the same time.  

[CARLHAYDEN]

No it should not be lowered. I believe NJ lowered it to 18 years old a few years ago and it failed, miserably. NJ's drinking age is now back at 21 years old.

Not sure about New Jersey, but I do know that in many states the age was raised to 21 from 18 or 19 soley because the federal government threatened to withhold federal funds from states that did not do what the federal government wanted.

The feds did the same thing with DUI laws. The feds forced the states to accept a very low definition of DUI.

Carl,

That is correct. They actually withheld Federal Highway Improvement Funds...gotta love those Democratic Congresses back in the 1980's!!!!

Thanks Mark.

Nice to know someone else noticed.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Uh, I'd hate to be the one to break this to you, but it was Reagan who established the 21 drinking age.

[raggage]

I can't believe you all think it should be lowered. When you are assigned to respond to a drink driving accident when a drunk 17 year old killed himself and 4 other people, and you have to notify the parents I think you'll change your mind.

Case and point. 18 year olds are NOT mature enough for alcohol.

Raggage,

You've been a cop too long...think about it...they are not mature enough to drink, but they are mature enough to vote for the people who make the rules on who is mature enough to drink...think about it...

Perhaps yes, but the problem remains, the younger the age the more likely people under that age are going to have access to it.    Younger teens have a lot more contact with those aged 18 than those aged 21. If it is lowered, I think we are just asking for more instances of teen drunkeness and fatal crashes.

[minionofmidas]

I had a teacher who visited Germany, and he said the McDonald's restaurants there serve big mugs of beer to little kids.

Hard liquor from age 18, beer and wine from age 16. That's the law in germany, and I think it's quite what is called for.
McDonalds does serve beer in Germany, but in paper cups. Hardly anybody ever drinks beer there - there are millions of nicer places to drink in.

[English]

The drinking age should be scrapped. It's unwarranted interfearance in people's private lives.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

McDonalds does serve beer in Germany, but in paper cups. Hardly anybody ever drinks beer there - there are millions of nicer places to drink in.

This was 20 years ago when my teacher told us about this. Maybe it's different now from what it used to be.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Uh, I'd hate to be the one to break this to you, but it was Reagan who established the 21 drinking age.

Uh, I hate to break this to you.

But, Congress was the one who withheld the money.

[MarkDel]

Uh, I'd hate to be the one to break this to you, but it was Reagan who established the 21 drinking age.

Uh, I hate to break this to you.

But, Congress was the one who withheld the money.

Carl,

Please, I warned you about using those nasty facts to ruin an argument...LOL

[cwelsch]

The feds should drop it to 18 then eliminate highway punishments for states failing to comply.  States should regulate it or not as they see fit, provided that 18-year-olds and above can drink.  You're an adult, you should be able to drink.

[Platypus]

Here, the drinking age is zero, and quite rightly. The purchasing age is 18, same age as voting, driving, and buying tobacco. Basically, the adult age.

In Victoria, AUS, the law is basically that anyone can drink, but underage drinkers must be accompanied by a parent or guardian or somebody with a parents or gaudians' acceptance who is over 18, and that under 18-year olds can't buy alchohol. Seems reasonable to me.

[TheMadcapSyd]

I Think 18 is a good age for it to be at you can vote at that age, your're legally an adult, you can go fight in wars, so why not drink, and I also think this should be a state thing though.

[raggage]

I Think 18 is a good age for it to be at you can vote at that age, your're legally an adult, you can go fight in wars, so why not drink, and I also think this should be a state thing though.

I still think we are just inviting more road deaths and underage abuse of alcohol though..

Welcome to the forum, none-the-less

[minionofmidas]

Here, the drinking age is zero, and quite rightly.

That's actually true in Germany - it's sale and possession that are illegal, not consumption. In fact, that logic, in Germany, extends to drug use as well.

[Nym90]

The minimum age to buy alcohol should be 18. You get all of the other rights of adulthood at 18, you should get the right to drink as well.

As for those under the age of 18, I feel it should be legal for them to drink if they are in the company of a parent or legal guardian. The government shouldn't be able to encroach on parental rights in this regard.

[TheMadcapSyd]

I Think 18 is a good age for it to be at you can vote at that age, your're legally an adult, you can go fight in wars, so why not drink, and I also think this should be a state thing though.

I still think we are just inviting more road deaths and underage abuse of alcohol though..

Welcome to the forum, none-the-less

That's the thing though, the United States has the world's highest and most enforced drinking age, and to go with that, we have the world's highest number of accidents relating to drunk driving, in terms of a solid number, and in the percent of crashes alcohol is involved in.

[Redefeatbush04]

Drinking age should be left up to the states

[Bogart]

It should be left up to the states. If it weren't for the Congress threatening to withold highway funds, many states would never have raised it in the first place. It was blackmail--pure and simple.

Here's an interesting little twist on the 21-year old drinking age that I ran into in Wisconsin. Under state law, your parents can order a drink to serve to you if you are under 18. You are still a minor and in their custody. However, when you turn 18 until you turn 21, you are in a kind of legal limbo. You are no longer a minor, so technically your parents cannot serve you a drink, but you are not old enough to order it for yourself. At this point, really the only thing you can do is get married to an of-age spouse and have them serve it to you, since the law also allows for this.

Kind of highlights how dumb the whole thing is.

[A18]

If there's going to be one, it should be 16.

[Julien]

Here it is 16

[Redefeatbush04]

Here it is 16

Most nations have lower drinking ages. They aren't as fascist as we are.

[khirkhib]

I think they should raise it to 25 for guys and lower it to 17 for girls.   The bar scene would be a lot more interesting.