Beer at 18?!

[captchasep]

Here in the United States of Puritanism no one under the age of 21 is allowed to purchase alcohol. Many here think that is unfair. I don't drink so it doesn't bother me either way but if lowering the drinking age could keep my peers from binge drinking like they do, I'd be all for it. Here's an article about the whole brewha (get it?!)
Debate on lower drinking age bubbling up - Addictions - MSNBC.com

[TopHatter]

Personally I think that Americans tend to love excess regardless of what it is and therefore binge drinking will probably always occur among the younger crowd.

Restricting alcohol sales to 21 and over is a good idea IMHO, given the immaturity of most people under 21.

A common complaint is that "I can die for my country but a can't drink a beer".

Which is true.

You can join the armed forces and be thoroughly trained and drilled again and again to properly operate and maintain advanced combat weaponry with discipline and respect for the immense danger they can present to the unwary.

Unfortunately, there is no "training" course for drinking alcohol and certainly little respect for what an automobile becomes at the hands of a driver that's been drinking (regardless of age).

[Ironduke]

I disagree. All adults should enjoy equal rights. If they're so immature, law ought to proscribe everything those 18-20 can legally do now. If they're too immature to drink alcohol, they're too immature to be able to give consent to join the military, too immature to vote, to drive, etc.... maybe they should be judged as juveniles when prosecuted in the courts?

If you bring a child to a library and say "You can read every book here except this one", then leave, what book is that child going to read right away? Same principle applies here, I believe. One can look across the border to Canada, which although has higher rates of drinking among those age 18-20 (as its legal for most), also has lower rates of heavy drinking and alcohol abuse in that age group.

These laws are nothing less than nanny-state interventionism.

[Gun Grape]

Let them have beer at 18.

Thats what the law was when I was growing up. In fact in Fl, I could buy liquor.

It wasn't until I joined the Corps and moved to North Carolina that I couldn't get drunk with my buddy Jim Beam (yea right). Beer was 18 liquor was 21.

Seriously, at 18 you have the right to vote, can drive a car, can borrow money and enter into contracts, buy a gun and serve your country. Its asinine that we tell adults "Your grown, We trust you to do everything, but drink."

[captchasep]

Two perfectly opposing views. Sounds like something you'd find in the editorial section or your local paper. You two aren't conspiring to make an interesting. informed, and inviting place to arguement on the interweb are you?

Anywho, If the presence of a law didn't prevent anyone from abusing alchol neither do I think the absence of one is going to prevent anyone. I think the folkway in our culture is to abuse alcohol -- regardless of the law. Legalizing alcohol consumption earlier would only encourage teens to drink and drink like they've drinking for the past 30 years.

Absolute excessive drinking can only be curbed by active parents and a cultural expectation not to do so. So parents have to be comfortable enough to drink with their children (a glass of wine with dinner?) and be good role models as well. If you know your parents got completely wasted in college, see them order kegs for your 21st, watch your peers do the same, and know their parents do the same also well... so I think the rule is irrelevant. But I think a national discussion on the topic may do some good.

Edit -- gungrape I agree with you but only because your sig is hilarious!

[gunnut]

Let them have beer at 18.

Thats what the law was when I was growing up. In fact in Fl, I could buy liquor.

It wasn't until I joined the Corps and moved to North Carolina that I couldn't get drunk with my buddy Jim Beam (yea right). Beer was 18 liquor was 21.

Seriously, at 18 you have the right to vote, can drive a car, can borrow money and enter into contracts, buy a gun and serve your country. Its asinine that we tell adults "Your grown, We trust you to do everything, but drink."

I agree. Lower the drinking age to 18.

And lower the legal age to buy a handgun to 18 as well...at least in California.

Did you guys hear what the socialists in this country want to do now? They want universal health care for "children." Do you know what the definition of "children" is for this law? 25...

[taygone]

I remember when I was Oman. I was only 19 and Oman wasn't a dry country. When I heard that they allowed 18 y/o to drink I thought it was a joke. The one caveat was you can only get two drinks at a time then because it was costing the Base Commander money it was two a night but people would give their drinks to their friends (love loopholes). It took my squadron commander to tell me and hand me a beer for me to drink. If I got in trouble I would just say it was a direct order to drink.

The should at least allow 18 year olds in the military to drink. It happened all the time anyway and I never busted anyone for under age when I did a dorm walk thru.

[wabpilot]

Our prohibiton against drinking seems to be doing more harm than good. I look at our colleges and see far too much binge drinking. Total irresponsibility from our 18-21 yearolds. I think if alcohol were legal for them to consume, but regulated it would be a better and safer environment. Not just for our young people but for all.

[THL]

If we were to make it legal to purchase and consume alcohol at age 18 - we would have many a senior in high school buying and consuming alcohol (at a much greater rate than what is happening currently) with their underage friends.

On the other hand, 18 year olds can vote, join the military, legally smoke and in some states, buy/posess firearms (in IL if you are under 21 you must have the permission of your parents).

As for allowing only 18 year olds who are in the military to drink...I think that 18 year olds in the military are a little different (on average) than the normal college bond 18 year old. Those in the military have a lot more to lose than the Jr college kid...and they know it. They are reprimanded by more than a DUI or a simple civilian arrest.

As for civilian teens (since 18 years old is still a teenager) some 18 year olds (as some 21 year olds) are mature enough to handle the responsibility of drinking. Some would be able to drink within their limits and not binge or go overboard with it. But how to know who? How to determine which 18 year olds are able to handle that? There really is no way to tell...as there is no way to tell with a 21 year old.

Let me ask this to those who say 18 should be the legal drinking age: What does it hurt to have these 18 year olds wait just 3 more years until they have just a little more time growing up? They have waited 18 years to drink legally and waiting just a little more until they have spent some time out in the world is not going to hurt them any.

I am not for or against allowing 18 year olds to drink...I dont know if they should be allowed or not. I know that at 18 I was already drinking anyway and I also know that at 18 drinking was not something I should have been doing...I should have been focusing more on school, life and growing up. I should have been finding out who I really was without the glaze of tequilla.

Would I have been setting my life in the right direction if it was legal for me to drink?...I dont think so, but I was not one of those 18 year olds that were responsible enough to be drinking.

[Ray]

If one can join the Army at 18 but not drink, then how does the Army prevent these below age soldiers from drinking with their buddies, say in Iraq (in a combat zone, a drink is sometimes required to steady a man who has experienced some horror?

[Stan187]

All the fault out there goes to the American culture that glorifies drinking to excess. We have to change the culture first, prior to lowering the drinking age. Otherwise, lowering it to 18 with a drinking culture among youth such as we have on your hands today, would make more trouble, not less.

As far as drinking and driving, I think it has a lot to do with urban planning. Most teens live in the suburbs and that is where their parties happen. America is car-dependent. Why is drinking and driving a much bigger problem in LA than in NYC? Anyone wanna take a crack at it? There are always going to be stupid people. As long as everyone depends on cars to get around almost exlusively, there are going to be those idiots out there who choose to drink and drive.

[Ironduke]

If we were to make it legal to purchase and consume alcohol at age 18 - we would have many a senior in high school buying and consuming alcohol (at a much greater rate than what is happening currently) with their underage friends.

That's kind of a slippery-slope argument... the fact is you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody under 21 without the means to easily obtain alcohol.

Why do those 18-20 drink mainly hard liquors? Easy to transport and conceal. Hidden out of sight, these young adults are drinking much more dangerously than would otherwise be the case. Not only that, by driving them to underground drinking, it's more difficult for family to problems such as alcoholism.

[HKDan]

I grew up In Hong Kong where the drinking age is 18. Even though it is 18 it is rarely enforced. It was possible for me to walk to 7-11 at 16 and buy a beer. I probably drank too much as a teenager, but it wasn't until I went to the US for University that I was really exposed to binge drinking. None of my friends in HK ever drank themselves into the emergency room. What really surprised me though was that the guys in my dorm in the States went through all kinds of hoops to get a six pack of Bud Light, while pretty much any drug I had ever heard of was readily available. Maybe its time to choose the lesser, more regulated evil. I know that alcohol causes great problems, I had a classmate die in a wreck with a drunk driver, but alcohol related problems seem to me to be a more easily addressed concern than meth or heroin or e or whatever fools are taking these days.

[Ray]

Stan,

It is not that the Americans are the only one who drink in excess. It is a phenomenon that afflicts all.

And it is not that people want to drink in excess, but after a few drinks,it is the drinks which have the excess of the man since he is in a different world and has become a slave!

And I am having a beer right now.

All this talks makes me want another one!

BRB!

[Tarek Morgen]

I am German, we get our beer with sixteen. Here in Bavaria we even have a "basic right for beer" (it is considered to be part of the "basic food" everybody has to have access to like water and bred).

I think the biggest problem the U.S. when it comes to alcehol is the lack of a "Drinkkultur" (drinking culture). Your teenager dont start to drink slowly with a few beer once they get the chance, they get totally wasted as soon as they have the chance (and since they often never drunk before this happens very fast).

Here you often drink your first beer (often before you are sixteen) not in secret with some friends but in the round of your family (who will tell you early enough when to stop). You get basicly "teached" how to drink.