Underage Drinking

[JulielovesDisney]

hahahahaha i love it when i'm the DD and everyone else is drunk...it's hilarious!!! ...but then sometimes i'm the person on the other end making a fool of myself haha

and i am so with you on the whole blackout drunk situation....happened to me as well and i neveeeerrr want to do that again!!! that was ages ago though and now i know how to moderate myself lol...i think most people have to have to one awful horrible gut wrenching drunken night in order to realize how to regulate themselves tho.

yep! I'm so glad it has happened already!! lol

 

[LittleMissMusical]

yea... no one drinks for pleasure around here... they drink to get wasted. although i did have a friend who was having family issuses and coming out of the closet and fell into the wrong crowd. he started smoking pot... then snorting coke. we where really close in 8th grade... i was also close with his girlfriend. he dumped her over the summer and came to freshman year changed. he even pierced his own lip. he got suspeneded for a week for all he did then came clean to me and his ex-girlfriend. we tried to help him, and he quit for a few weeks, but then went back to it. he learned to be more careful of how and where he got high. eventually we just stopped trying to help... then trying to relate with him then finally we just stopped talking. it was a sad day. my friend actually cried. it's a shame to see good people make a bad mistake and mess up their lives.

 

[disneydance]

In my town it's not too uncommon to have your first drink by the end of 8th grade. Personally indont drink for numerous reasons one being there is no acohol in my home. But that doesn't mean I don't have other issues... I personage think it should be lowered to 18 or 16 as other countries have this as there legal drinking age and they don't have as near as many problem with achohol as we do if anything I think the driving age should be risen to 18.

 

[Mrs. Chamberlain]

I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Drinking any younger than that isn't a good idea, IMHO

 

[BeyondHorizons]

I'm blogging my opinions, because they're too intense for me, personally.
anybody's welcome to check em out though. check out mah website : )

 

[JulielovesDisney]

I kinda agree with lowering the drinking age to 18. I mean it does seem logical that if a person can put his or her life on the line for his or her country, they should be able to buy/consume alcohol.

But I also kinda like it at 21 because I really do feel like by that point, they have a better chance of being more responsible. Like, at 18, most people are just starting college, if not still in high school. They don't have much drinking experience under their belt. I think the need a few years of learning before they can buy it/legally consume it. That's just my opinion.

 

[princesskelz]

I think the drinking age should still be 21. Part of your brain isn't fully developed and doesn't become fully developed until you are 21. However that doesn't stop some people from getting completely wasted.

 

[Mrs. Chamberlain]

I kinda agree with lowering the drinking age to 18. I mean it does seem logical that if a person can put his or her life on the line for his or her country, they should be able to buy/consume alcohol.

But I also kinda like it at 21 because I really do feel like by that point, they have a better chance of being more responsible. Like, at 18, most people are just starting college, if not still in high school. They don't have much drinking experience under their belt. I think the need a few years of learning before they can buy it/legally consume it. That's just my opinion.

For me, it's the fact that you're legally an adult at 18. You can go out and get a tattoo or whatever and have it permanently etched into your skin, but you can't drink. It makes no sense to me.

 

[imabrat]

I think the age should be lowered to 18. The "your brain isn't done growing at 18" argument is bull dooky because your brain is always growing. Why do you think doctors recommend brain strategy games for the middle aged and elderly? To keep their brain fluid and growing.

Yeah there's always a bad seed that starts drinking in 7th grade, but they don't account for the majority. Most kids around here start drinking in HS, which is 10th-12th grades.

 

[Axel]

For me, it's the fact that you're legally an adult at 18. You can go out and get a tattoo or whatever and have it permanently etched into your skin, but you can't drink. It makes no sense to me.

I agree that 18 is a good age, I just think it should be done slowly. Like a phase in. I mean, I have no idea how to go about that practically, but just dropping it three years seems like there could be room for a whole lot of things to go wrong.

And just to point out a small error in your argument, there are several states that allow minors to get tattoos provided that you have parental permission and most states allow tattoo artists to tattoo family members regardless of age. Since my sister and brother-in-law are artists, I could have gotten my first tattoo when I was 10 and they got married and it would have been perfectly legal. I'm not looking to start an argument, I'm just saying that there are some reasons why your point isn't the greatest comparison to make in this situation.

Around here, kids get drunk all the time. UNH is a fairly big party school. I don't want to be around that lifestyle more than I have to, so I live in the Chemical/Substance Free Dorm. Most of us that are here have our reasons for not doing drugs or drinking (for many of us, it's watching family members and friends be destroyed by alcohol) but there are a few who do go out and drink/party. But mostly they respect that they're the minority in the dorm and if they're going to go out, they make arrangements to stay elsewhere.

One of my best friends went to his first party for homecoming or something. He was a freshman and this was his first college drinking experience. He came back completely wasted (pretty close to alcohol poisoning). When he woke up (after several hours of just plain being passed out) he said he couldn't remember much other than that he felt extremely pressured to go beyond what he felt were his limits. He's since sworn off drinking for at least the remainder of his college career because he had a really rough time making up for the two days of classes he missed.

Days like 4/20 and Cinco de Mayo are hell on campus. So much so that some professors cancel class because they know that the campus gets rowdy and not many people are going to bother showing up to class. I'm just glad that St. Patrick's Day fell over Spring Break. I heard the stories of what happened to some people who stayed on campus (two girls were raped and three more people ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning) and let's just say I'm not in a hurry to experience that holiday at school.

Halloween was just as bad. We spent the night outside watching all the drunk girls try to walk in the heels that came with their "Sexy Whatever" costumes. Now that is quality entertainment.

 

[bananda]

people start drinking as early as they can here.

i drink responsibly. the drinking age is 18 here im 19 and i've never been drunk. i dont see the appeal. i know that i wouldn't be able to handle much because i'm small, so i dont drink much.

i dont see the difference between 21 and 18 when it comes to drinking. i still have 23 year old friends who say they're going to get smashed on the weekend. you're always going to have responsible drinkers and irresponsible drinkers, regardless of age.

 

[nk2coolol]

i'm fine with the drinking age being 21. think about it. at 18 when you come to college, it's pretty easy to get alcohol considering the amount of students that are 21 +. BUT at 18, you are also a senior in highschool. that would mean 14 year old freshmen could just walk up to any senior they knew and ask them to buy alcohol, which would give younger kids easier access to alcohol.

i wouldn't be opposed to only letting 21 + buy alcohol, but decriminalizing it for 18-20 to drink in a restaurant if their parents wish to buy them alcohol.

 

[marypops!]

Technically in the UK, you're allowed to drink alcohol at age 5, as long as it's in somebody's house and you've had permission from an adult. From 16, you're able to get it with a table meal in a restaurant or pub if an adult orders it for you. 18 is when you can legally buy alcohol for yourself.

I would still say there's a problem in the UK with partying and drinking. So many people just drink because they can. I pretty much avoid all of that. On the last night of our school trip to Madrid, we all went down to a few bars and I ended up leaving early because I felt really uncomfortable with everyone drinking. When they all came back, they managed to leave someone at the bar and not notice...

 

[That_Australian_Kid]

people start drinking as early as they can here.

i drink responsibly. the drinking age is 18 here im 19 and i've never been drunk. i dont see the appeal. i know that i wouldn't be able to handle much because i'm small, so i dont drink much.

i dont see the difference between 21 and 18 when it comes to drinking. i still have 23 year old friends who say they're going to get smashed on the weekend. you're always going to have responsible drinkers and irresponsible drinkers, regardless of age.

^^^
This is so true

Our primary school-high school system is different in aus from the us.
7th grade to 12th grade(senior year) are all together.

I used to go to a pretty prestigious private school,, the kids there were bred to party.

as soon as they hit year 7 the popular kids are all out drinking.
8th grade.. others start up.
9th grade.. drinking is practically life..
i dont drink though..
it feels weird saying that. im in 9th grade and 14 and i dont drink.
wow. its sad that that seems like a shocker.

 

[Sparx]

I grew up in a very small town. There was nothing to do. Nothing. There was one theatre but it was owned by a christian family and that grately influenced their choices in what films to show. They had 6 screens and usually 5+ were G or PG rated and mostly involved talking animals. Our mall had about five stores. We had the usual fast food fare and a few local places, but other than that our only "nice" restaurant was Applebees and it was always mobbed.

I remember being in 7th grade and kids were drinking. In 8th grade one boy got pulled out of class for having alcohol on his person at school. It was quite the scandal. Kids were having sex then too.

In high school you can multiply those instances exponentially. I knew kids drank in middle school but I don't think they were doing any drugs except pot maybe. In high school there were drugs.

It really felt like everyone drank. Like the nerdy clique did, the popular kids especially did, everyone did.

I have never in my life drank or done drugs. And fwiw, I don't believe in peer pressure either. You know what you're doing, and you're still doing it. I've been offered alcohol/drugs on more than one occasion and I said no. I didn't get made fun of. They just said okay and kept doing whatever they were doing. Its not that hard.

 

[Sparx]

At my college, drinking is so common that people will bring in gatorade mixed with vodka (or their drink of choice) to classes. But by the time you are in college, you're so close to the drinking age, the line kinda gets blurry. I mean, the average student can go up to another, legal, student and ask them to drive around the corner to buy them a handle of something. No questions asked.

That stuff doesn't bother me. Even high school sophomores drinking doesn't phase me. It's the HS freshmen and under that surprises the heck outta me. I just remember being at that age and alcohol didn't even cross my mind once. I guess times are changing, and it's just weird to me. It makes me feel so old...haha

That happens at my university too. But the people who bring whatever they're drinking to class are the same ones who don't usually show up too often.

 

[Sparx]

I think the age should be lowered to 18. The "your brain isn't done growing at 18" argument is bull dooky because your brain is always growing. Why do you think doctors recommend brain strategy games for the middle aged and elderly? To keep their brain fluid and growing.

Yeah there's always a bad seed that starts drinking in 7th grade, but they don't account for the majority. Most kids around here start drinking in HS, which is 10th-12th grades.

Your brain is not always growing. It wasn't until about 2006 that we realized that we could continue to make neurons as we age. There are two ways to make neurons: learning something new, physical activity. No other way that we have yet discovered. However, making neurons doesn't make your brain "grow." And your brain is actually full size at 16/15/14 or so. Its your brain chemistry that is changinging until you're age 24/25/26. Parts of your brain don't start to develop until about 18 and finish around 23/24/25 and its very clear in case studies that these particular lobes aren't formed yet in children (anyone under 17ish) especially pre teens.

There isn't a lot of information about what long exposure to alcohol does to children's brains simply because its unethical to get children drunk for science. however, we're pretty sure its not good. 12/13/14/15 year olds brains haven't stopped "growing" since thats the word we're using. I really feel like drinking at these ages (in the way that this age probably drinks-to get drunk) will be very unhealthy in the long term.

The differences in the way that an 18 year old and a 21 year old view consequences are strong, but this is also part of the way that an 18 probably still lives with their parents and has almost no assets, whereas a 21 year old does. This makes it hard to say that the consequence lobes are forming, but not quite there yet.

I wish that instead of just this arbitrary age thrown on some "rite of passage" we should focus on education about what alcohol (drugs/etc) does to your body and less of a prudish attitude (as a society) towards alcohol. If our children didn't drink to "get drunk" and stopped after one or two it wouldn't matter what parts of their brain are mature or not, two drinks aren't going to cause any consequences that you should really be immensely worried about. But since as a society people want to drink to get drunk, we have to think about these consequences that come with young children getting drunk.

 

[thisonegirl]

I'm 14, and I don't drink. I just don't hang out with that crowd, and I don't want to hurt myself using it, because I'm a pretty crazy person without the alcohol(or drugs)...it's just not something I want to be caught up in, and I would like to be respected by others, NOT the obnoxious 'cool kids.'

And besides, I absolutely DETEST the smell of beer.

 

[-DisneyFreak-]

I'm 14. there are some kids around here that get drunk but their mostly into drugs.I am glad that I can honestly say I have never been under the influence of anything harmful to my body such as drugs or alchohal (sp). We usually have drug dogs go through the school once a year to check lockers.One day I was on the bus and this boy had a bag of pot.I went to the office and just for the record I'm not a snitch...I told our principal about it and she search him and said he didn't have anything on him.So when we got on the bus that afternoon he was explaining to his "buddies" how he hid it and how he was so cool and everything. But I have no desire to do anything of that matter. I think drinking is wrong and so is drugs. I will never put anything of that matter into my system.In my opinion they should ban alcholhal... but thats just me.

 

[minniemouse440044]

i have no problem with it. if you can control it and dont get out of control, then let it be. its our decisions to do it.


and the drinking here is crazy, my school is a "party" school, so everyone does it, except like the kids who keep to themselves. almost everyone does drugs to, which is awesome haha, theres a rumor going around that the band kids are all on shrooms. which i can highly believe. hahahah