inspired by 'where would you set the driving age'

[DramaQueen]

this might be a touchy subject, but eh, i'm posting it anyways.
if it gets out of hand i'm sure the mods will handle it.
but then again, maybe it's not such a touchy subject.

anyways, my question is...where would you set the legal drinking age?

in quebec it's 18, in most of the rest of canada it's 19, in most (all?) of the us it's 21, in european countries sometimes it's 16, or even 15.

so where do you think is a good age for people to be legally allowed to purchase alcohol for themselves, or go to bars & nightclubs (etc)

 

[KidGoofy]

I say 18 for the USA. Because if you are able to serve for your country you should be able to drink.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

here's my view about the drinking age. I think it should be 18( I'm from chicago)
At 18, you are old enough to drive,vote, and go fight a war overseas, but you can't drink? That doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[disneydance]

I understand the reason why you can't drink in the U.S. till your 21 is the fact your brain isn't fully matured till your 21...
But I would say 18 personally I mean you get every other right at 18 (Other than gambling) but you can't drink doesn't seem right to me.

 

[OneTreeHill]

I say 18 for the USA. Because if you are able to serve for your country you should be able to drink.

I completely agree.

 

[Babyjustrun]

19 works for me like it is now, although it seems random.
18 wouldn't be too bad.

But 21 in my mind, is way too high and it just asks people to drink underage. I think my province is probably going to eventually put the drinking age up there, as they just redid driving laws and we can't have a single drop of alcohol in our system while we're driving until 21.

 

[PigletGurl]

30

 

[Axel]

23.

By that point most people are out of college. I think that raising the legal drinking age to above what the average age of graduation is will make it harder to get alcohol at all for students. They'd lose one of their most trusted alcohol sources: the older students. I think this would have a positive effect on grades and all that jazz.

I dunno. I'm an idealist and this probably wouldn't work.

 

[marypops!]

I would either raise the drinking age to 21, or leave it at 18, but put more stricter rules on drinking. That's just for public drinking. They should raise the private drinking age to about 15 I guess. At the moment, it's 5 I read last night that the amount of drinkers surpasses the amount of non drinkers at the age of 12 in the UK, and that was in 2007, so it's probably worse now.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I would keep it 21 here. Some people just arent mature enough to handle drinking. I would even raise the age. You have to realize that a lower drinking age would equal a higher death by drunk drivers (whatever its called) percentage. We already have too much of it. IMO.

 

[My Wild Love]

I would not lower the age to 18 around here. It only encourages people to drink at a lower age and then drive home. I'd say well over half my friends that drink have driven home drunk before.

 

[sexymickey]

Well, Here In England Its 18. Which I Think Is About Right.

21 is abit sad {no offence} cuz like people can vote, drive and what eva so they should be able 2 drink.

 

[sexymickey]

plus, 18 is just above where most people drink. lol. but 21 pretty much EVERY1 already drinks over here.

 

[BabyPiglet]

I say 18. If the government thinks our brains are developed enough to defend this country, then they should trust us with something like alcohol.

 

[imabrat]

here's my view about the drinking age. I think it should be 18( I'm from chicago)
At 18, you are old enough to drive,vote, and go fight a war overseas, but you can't drink? That doesn't make any sense to me.

If you are old enough to do all those things and more, why can't you drink? If they can handle all those other responsibilities, I'd say it's a safe bet they can handle drinking to.


OT;
Yesterday I found out the drinking age in Spain is 14 (in bars), 16 (buying), 18 (in clubs). I was like "Vacation, anyone?!".

 

[STOPxmickeytime]

I'm gonna go ahead and agree with everyone else and say 18.
I'd say most people are mature enough at that age to make responsible decisions regarding drinking.

 

[sexymickey]

If you are old enough to do all those things and more, why can't you drink? If they can handle all those other responsibilities, I'd say it's a safe bet they can handle drinking to.


OT;
Yesterday I found out the drinking age in Spain is 14 (in bars), 16 (buying), 18 (in clubs). I was like "Vacation, anyone?!".

no way im goin 2 spain in 2 yrs!!!

 

[marypops!]

If you are old enough to do all those things and more, why can't you drink? If they can handle all those other responsibilities, I'd say it's a safe bet they can handle drinking to.


OT;
Yesterday I found out the drinking age in Spain is 14 (in bars), 16 (buying), 18 (in clubs). I was like "Vacation, anyone?!".

That's true. When I went to Madrid with the school, everyone got drunk (except me. I hate alcohol) and were a bit too excited about being able to drink, that they threw common sense out the window. On the last night, we all went to a pub and everyone was drinking beer, shots, sangria, wine, etc. I ended up leaving early because I was feeling uncomfortable. Not sure how much they drunk, but it was more then enough.

Hurray off topicness!

 

[imabrat]

That's true. When I went to Madrid with the school, everyone got drunk (except me. I hate alcohol) and were a bit too excited about being able to drink, that they threw common sense out the window. On the last night, we all went to a pub and everyone was drinking beer, shots, sangria, wine, etc. I ended up leaving early because I was feeling uncomfortable. Not sure how much they drunk, but it was more then enough.

Hurray off topicness!

Haha yeah I just found that out. I mean, I knew you could drink at 18 but I didn't know the specifics. I haven't been since 2001.

 

[Sparx]

18.
(in usa) you can drive a car unrestricted, you can join the army, you can buy a gun, and all of those are a whole lot more dangerous and require a lot more maturity than drinking a beer.