The Drinking Age Should be Lowered to 18

[bluefairy13]

While I fully agree that both Democrats and Republicans vote for these government-as-nanny bills, it would be nice if the Republicans who claim to believe in small government, "states rights", etc. acted that way.

I'd be happy if they just admitted they did it. If they just said, we don't want small government at all. We want to control your sex life, your reproductive life, your religious life, and your families.

Just be real about it at least.

 

[SeeVee]

In many places, 18-year old can drink at home with their parents. Overall, I do think we need to re-examine our laws. Absolute prohibition until 21 just doesn't work and breeds contempt for the law.

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Yeah. And laws against murder breeds contempt for murder laws. REPEAL MURDER LAWS YESTREDAY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Christine]

Yeah. And laws against murder breeds contempt for murder laws. REPEAL MURDER LAWS YESTREDAY!!!!!!!!!!

No, laws only breed contempt when they do not make sense.

As other posters have said, when you draw the line at 18 as being adult (you can vote, be a soldier, treated as an adult for any crime, etc), then raising the drinking age to 21 does not make sense. If you must be 21 to drink a beer, then you should not be able to vote or go into the military until that age also. I fail to see the sense in it.

 

[Kath2003]

Yeah. And laws against murder breeds contempt for murder laws. REPEAL MURDER LAWS YESTREDAY!!!!!!!!!!

You can go to war at 18 and kill another human being in combat, but you can't have a drink at the end of the day. Yeah, drinking's WAY more dangerous than that...

 

[SeeVee]

Question, Dawn, Why do republicans say they want less government and then support crap like this?

Because, more often then not, when at 18 year old gets to drinking, he is impacting my life as much, if not more, than his own life.


Come along with me when I got to car accidents in which teenagers get drunk, get in a car, and end up with crushed skulls, separated limbs, bloody pools, and greiving parents.

 

[bluefairy13]

Because, more often then not, when at 18 year old gets to drinking, he is impacting my life as much, if not more, than his own life.


Come along with me when I got to car accidents in which teenagers get drunk, get in a car, and end up with crushed skulls, separated limbs, bloody pools, and greiving parents.

I imagine that happens when anyone drives drunk. You are punishing everyone for the mistakes of some.

At least an 18 year old has parents that should still be guiding him a little. Now the 30 year old tailgaters after the game, I don't know who's guiding them. Maybe we should make the drinking age 31. For our own protection.

 

[salmoneous]

Because, more often then not, when at 18 year old gets to drinking, he is impacting my life as much, if not more, than his own life.

More often than not? Really? What percentage of 18 year olds drink? What percentage get into drunk driving accidents?

The goal should be to reduce the problems associated with drinking, right? Strict prohibition against all drinking doesn't get rid of the problem. Teaching kids about alcohol, proper behavior, etc. needs to be part of that.

 

[Kath2003]

How about more education for teenagers on drink driving and harsher penalties? I've heard that the US isn't particularly strict on drink driving offenses. The UK has an automatic minimum 12 month ban (and you have to resit your test again after the 12 months). There's a fine of $500-$1000 minimum automatically too. It's a criminal conviction (which you must confess on job applications etc.) and you're lucky to get insured on a vehicle again. If you get caught DUI again within 10 years or are 2.5 times over the limit, it's an automatic 3 year ban and a whole lot of hassle (e.g. seeking medical advice that you don't have an alcohol problem etc.) to even be allowed to hold a provisional license again.

There's also a very broad overview of what classes "attempting to drive" such as sitting in your vehicle with the engine off or accessing the trunk which can cost you money and an awful lot of points on your license. Basically, caught anywhere near your vehicle after drinking = big trouble.

 

[Christine]

How about more education for teenagers on drink driving and harsher penalties? I've heard that the US isn't particularly strict on drink driving offenses. The UK has an automatic minimum 12 month ban (and you have to resit your test again after the 12 months). There's a fine of $500-$1000 minimum automatically too. It's a criminal conviction (which you must confess on job applications etc.) and you're lucky to get insured on a vehicle again. If you get caught DUI again within 10 years or are 2.5 times over the limit, it's an automatic 3 year ban and a whole lot of hassle (e.g. seeking medical advice that you don't have an alcohol problem etc.) to even be allowed to hold a provisional license again.

There's also a very broad overview of what classes "attempting to drive" such as sitting in your vehicle with the engine off or accessing the trunk which can cost you money and an awful lot of points on your license. Basically, caught anywhere near your vehicle after drinking = big trouble.

Well, that's mainly the problem here--no one wants to do the responsible thing and hand out harsh punishments. I'm not sure why.

 

[Kath2003]

Well, that's mainly the problem here--no one wants to do the responsible thing and hand out harsh punishments. I'm not sure why.

Actually there's very large public support in the UK for FAR harsher penalties. IMO drink driving should constitute an automatic 5-year ban and a 3-6 month prison sentence. I don't get why it's so slack on people fooling around with other people's lives

The drink driving limit is likely to be lowered within the next year or so from 80mg (0.08%) to 5mg (0.05%), so that's something...

 

[Christine]

Actually there's very large public support in the UK for FAR harsher penalties. IMO drink driving should constitute an automatic 5-year ban and a 3-6 month prison sentence. I don't get why it's so slack on people fooling around with other people's lives

I don't know either. I guess part of it is that in some areas where there isn't good public transportation, the harsh punishments would actually cause people to have to end their careers since they wouldn't be able to "get" to them. But so what.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

The penalties for drunk driving really do need to be raised.

DH had an employee that got a SECOND DUI and was sentenced to two weeks in jail. He served four days. He still has his license.

 

[jessaboo]

This topic kind of annoys me; only because I'm that age now, and a lot of people think it's so cool to have that law up on ballot, and half of them are only voting for that particular thing.

NONE. And I mean NONE of the 18 year olds in my school are even close to mature enough to be able to walk into a bar, pick up a beer, and have a DD. Most of their parents throw drinking parties, and it's ridiculous.

As you can tell, I'm part of the 'edge' crowd.
No drugs, no tobacco, no alcohol.
But, I barely know any 18 year old that is mature enough to handle things like that.


In the house, sure.
NOT in public.


I feel bad for posting something like this.
But honestly, in most towns, it's the truth.

 

[GeorgeG]

When I grew up in New York the legal drinking age was 18. A common form of ID, at least for guys, was the draft card. I'm sure the logic was that if you were old enough to be drafted into our military, you should be old enough to drink. Pretty good logic, I think. As I recall, there was very little drinking done by those under 18, especially compared to teenage drinking problems now.

As with anything else, drinking responsibly is something that cannot be legislated. How we behave is more of a reflection on how we have been brought up. Unfortunately, that is a process that now seems to have faded by the time children reach their teens.

 

[bluefairy13]

NONE. And I mean NONE of the 18 year olds in my school are even close to mature enough to be able to walk into a bar, pick up a beer, and have a DD. Most of their parents throw drinking parties, and it's ridiculous.

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For the most part that is because parents have not taught their kids to drink responsibly. Those 18 year olds who drink irresponsibly will not magically improve at 21, or even 30.

 

[NAB]

Where I live in Canada the legal drinking age is 18.

Drinking age in Canada is 19 years old?

I live in Ontario, I didn't think the provinces were different ages for legal drinking.

I think it is a good age too. By that age they are usually out on their own at school anyway and have to make up there own mind. Hopefully I have taught them well not to drink and drive and be responsible.

 

[Christine]

This topic kind of annoys me; only because I'm that age now, and a lot of people think it's so cool to have that law up on ballot, and half of them are only voting for that particular thing.

NONE. And I mean NONE of the 18 year olds in my school are even close to mature enough to be able to walk into a bar, pick up a beer, and have a DD. Most of their parents throw drinking parties, and it's ridiculous.

As you can tell, I'm part of the 'edge' crowd.
No drugs, no tobacco, no alcohol.
But, I barely know any 18 year old that is mature enough to handle things like that.


In the house, sure.
NOT in public.


I feel bad for posting something like this.
But honestly, in most towns, it's the truth.

You shouldn't feel bad about posting. I'm sure you're right about it all. The drinking age was 18 for me and not one 18 year old was responsible enough to drink. Not one. When I got to college, I rarely saw any 21 year olds that were responsible either. And, IMO, I hardly see many people under the age of 25 that handle alchohol responsibily. But, you can't keep upping the age.

I would argue to say that there are many, many drivers who are 18 that still should not be out on the roads. My boss's 21 year old son still hasn't improved since he was 16.

So, there are other incidences where we allow certain behaviors even though that population really isn't quite ready for it.

I'd argue that most 16 year old out on the road, sober, are "impacting our lives" as another poster put it.

At some point, a person needs to be deemed an adult and given all the priviledges.

I do think that the problem lies in the lack of severe punishment which would be a deterrant to doing something really stupid.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

But, I barely know any 18 year old that is mature enough to handle things like that.

The parents aren't doing their job then.

I moved out of my house when I was 17. I was responsible enough to handle that and it was because my parents taught me the proper way to act.

 

[Kath2003]

You can send your kids out of state to college at 18 but they can't handle walking into the bar and having a bud? Clearly something's gone wrong somewhere...

At 18 I moved 200 miles away to college. If I'm old enough to live by myself, I'm old enough to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.

 

[LindaM]

Drinking age in Canada is 19 years old?

I live in Ontario, I didn't think the provinces were different ages for legal drinking.

I think it is a good age too. By that age they are usually out on their own at school anyway and have to make up there own mind. Hopefully I have taught them well not to drink and drive and be responsible.

It varies from province to province, it's always been 18 in Alberta.