Poll: Lower the drinking age to 18?

[crzyc]

<< This is not to say that everyone OVER 21 does so; however, I can't say that I have personally come across too many (if any) under 21. Bearing in mind, that when your goal is to &quot;Get Drunk,&quot; I don't consider that being &quot;responsible.&quot; ...or I suppose that everyone here is just a &quot;Social Drinker.&quot; >>



just got back from Italy, and nearly 100% of those under 21 drink responsibly

get rid of the Puritanism that plagues our country

 

[HardcoreRobot]

<< I hope you're prepared to watch alcohol-related deaths (both through poisoning and drunken driving) increase about 15-25% when young adults ages 18-20 are allowed to drink legally. >>


I dont really expect this would be the case... There are very few teens (and absolutely NONE that I know of) that do not drink because it is illegal. The bottom line is really that if you want to drink, you will drink, regardless. Following this reasoning, there should not be a significant increase in these statistics. Just because its legal does not mean I will drink more, nor does it justify drinking and driving.

 

[Linflas]

<< I hope you're prepared to watch alcohol-related deaths (both through poisoning and drunken driving) increase about 15-25% when young adults ages 18-20 are allowed to drink legally. >>


Support for this statement please? And please do not link me to any MADD propaganda, I will not bother to read it. Also before you cite studies showing that is how much deaths have gone down since the age limit was raised you need to take into account that the age limit was raised during the same time period that penalties and awareness of DWI took place so one does not necessarily lead to the other.

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

I doubt the law will pass because the federal government will cut the highway funds to your state if they do.I would like to see it happen though because 18 year old girls drunk at a bar are *easy*

 

[Bleeding Jawa]

How about this...raise the drinking age to 18....ANYONE caught behind the wheel with an illegal blood-alcohal-level AUTOMATICALLY loses their license for a minimum of 10 years. ANYONE convicted of ANY crime where alcohal was deemed a factor, is AUTOMATICALLY fined $10,000 &amp; 90 days in jail, in addition to the consequences of the crime itself.

I'd vote for that.

 

[Tauren]

<<By the way, if you're 18 and have a military ID, I believe you can legally drink.>>

Only on base.


They aren't going to lower the drinking age because the Feds give more funding to states that follow the 21 age limit. Florida was the last to go and think of all the kids that go there for spring break, so it must be some pretty good Fed perks.

 

[Colt45]

<< There are very few teens (and absolutely NONE that I know of) that do not drink because it is illegal. The bottom line is really that if you want to drink, you will drink, regardless. Following this reasoning, there should not be a significant increase in these statistics. Just because its legal does not mean I will drink more, nor does it justify drinking and driving. >>



exactly.. did the prohibition stop anyone? by the end of it more alcohol was being consumed than before it. the forbidden fruit is the greatest..

 

[crzyc]

<< How about this...raise the drinking age to 18....ANYONE caught behind the wheel with an illegal blood-alcohal-level AUTOMATICALLY loses their license for a minimum of 10 years. ANYONE convicted of ANY crime where alcohal was deemed a factor, is AUTOMATICALLY fined $10,000 &amp; 90 days in jail, in addition to the consequences of the crime itself.

I'd vote for that. >>



there is no sense in that, damn Puritanism

 

[Elledan]

Here in the Netherlands the drinking age is 16 year. You must be 18 to drive a car.

Makes more sense than vice versa

 

[crzyc]

<< Here in the Netherlands the drinking age is 16 year. You must be 18 to drive a car.

Makes more sense than vice versa >>




now that makes A LOT of sense, a lot more then locking people up for 10 years, that is insane

 

[Bleeding Jawa]

crzyc: This isn't Italy.

A family sitting down drinking wine as part of a traditional meal is not a native custom here. Just because we pass a law that would potentially allow such a custom does not mean that it will be used as such.

Unfortunately, in our country, the traditional use for alcohal, especially for those college-age &amp; under, has been to GET DRUNK. As fun as that prospect may be for some, the fact remains that when you &quot;get drunk&quot; you are essentially lessening the control you have over your what you think &amp; what you do. NOT SAFE....not safe for you, not safe for the people around your, and obviously not safe for anyone on the road if you are driving.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

<< How about this...raise the drinking age to 18....ANYONE caught behind the wheel with an illegal blood-alcohal-level AUTOMATICALLY loses their license for a minimum of 10 years. ANYONE convicted of ANY crime where alcohal was deemed a factor, is AUTOMATICALLY fined $10,000 &amp; 90 days in jail, in addition to the consequences of the crime itself.
>>



Hmmm, actual consequences for ones actions... I wonder how people would react... The current penalties for drinking and driving are ridiculously weak. A &quot;friend&quot; of mine was arrested for it. Hes only 19. He had to spend the night in jail, lost his license for 3 months, and had to pay some fines. THATS IT. I agree completely - loosen the restrictions on alchohol (drinking by itself is harmless) and tighten up on the abuses of it.

 

[Bleeding Jawa]

I said, &quot;lose their license&quot; for 10 years...not &quot;lock them up&quot; for ten year.

...maybe our drunk driving laws are too strict for you???

 

[HardcoreRobot]

<< now that makes A LOT of sense, a lot more then locking people up for 10 years, that is insane >>



The suggestion was take the license away for 10 years... before you bash a post, why dont you read it?

 

[Colt45]

<< Unfortunately, in our country, the traditional use for alcohal, especially for those college-age &amp; under, has been to GET DRUNK. As fun as that prospect may be for some, the fact remains that when you &quot;get drunk&quot; you are essentially lessening the control you have over your what you think &amp; what you do. NOT SAFE....not safe for you, not safe for the people around your, and obviously not safe for anyone on the road if you are driving. >>



its not just teenagers that get drunk.. you sound like you want alcohol outlawed completely.. and when i drink with my friends, we just sit around on the deck like &quot;resposible&quot; drinkers.. if there is such a thing. when the liquor stores sell somethin like bacardi 151 (75% alcohol) they didn't design it for taste..

 

[vi edit]

Deaths due to drunken driving WILL increase due to simple mathematics. The zero tolerance law is a pretty good deterant and DOES keep a lot of teenage drivers who have drank off of the road.

If you lower the drinking age, you have just opened up the door for several hundred thousand teenages to LEGALLY be on the road after consuming alcohol.

Statistically, the 16-21 age bracket are the most wreckless drivers on the road...AND THAT'S SOBER. I'd be scared to see what will happen if they can legally have 4 beers in their systems.

 

[Urinal Mint]

I think the real trick in all this mess isn't in what the government wants states to do with their drinking age... it wouldn't really matter at all what the legal age was if parents would sit down with their kids and simply be frank with them about alcohol.

As a child I grew up in a house with an alcoholic father. I love the man to death. He is my hero in many ways... if you make a joke about one of those ways being his drunkenness, I will break you in half. Anyhow, he and my mother were always really plain with me about drinking. My dad told me a lot of stories about the trouble he got into drinking, the dumb things he did, and mainly a lot of the problems it has caused him later in life (most of those health problems). My mother, on the other hand, drinks maybe one cocktail per month. She was a pillar of responsibility to me so far as alcohol was concerned, and I learned from her that you didn't need booze in your life in order to enjoy it.

Both of them sat down with me before I went to college (I was scared of alcohol when I lived at home because I saw how my father reacted to it) and they told me that I was a grown man, and could make my own choices... but that I'd have to live with those choices. If I wanted to drink, that was fine, but any trouble I got into drinking I'd have to deal with on my own and live with any repercussions resulting from it. They instilled alcoholic esponsibility in me before I made the choice to drink, and I think that has made all the difference today.

Just some food for thought.

 

[crzyc]

<<

<< now that makes A LOT of sense, a lot more then locking people up for 10 years, that is insane >>



The suggestion was take the license away for 10 years... before you bash a post, why dont you read it? >>



well put, now i think we can move on from that, i'll bash his post just the same, it is insane

 

[AppleTalking]

I know a lot of people under 21 who drink, and none of them drink responsibly. If you've ever been in Ocean City during &quot;senior week&quot; here in Maryland, you know what I mean. Teenagers who drink are not drinking to just sit around and have a beer with their friends, they're drinking to get drunk. And that can seriously impact their mental development. Not to mention cause a lot of alcohol-related deaths. They're not doing it just because it's illegal, they're doing it to get smashed. So, no, I don't support lowering the drinking age to 18.

Nick

 

[AaronP]

frankly, most 18 year olds these days are not responsible enough to be allowed to drink legally.

Now that I'm 23, I say screw em double hard. It seems like everyone younger than 21 wants it lowered, and people 21 or over don't. hehe

 

[Bleeding Jawa]

I better be careful around here....if I suggest &quot;consequences for your actions,&quot; I'll probably get flamed as an Ultra-Conservative-Religious-Fanatic by the more enlightened members of this great forum.

(Please: No more Republican vs. Democrat arguments needed here)

 

[Urinal Mint]

<< I better be careful around here....if I suggest &quot;consequences for your actions,&quot; I'll probably get flamed as an Ultra-Conservative-Religious-Fanatic by the more enlightened members of this great forum.

(Please: No more Republican vs. Democrat arguments needed here) >>



I think somebody shortened that to &quot;Puritan&quot; for you.

 

[Urinal Mint]

Just imagine how car insurance costs would skyrocket (even more) if the legal limit were lowered to 18...

 

[crzyc]

<<

<< I better be careful around here....if I suggest &quot;consequences for your actions,&quot; I'll probably get flamed as an Ultra-Conservative-Religious-Fanatic by the more enlightened members of this great forum.

(Please: No more Republican vs. Democrat arguments needed here) >>



I think somebody shortened that to &quot;Puritan&quot; for you. >>



Ha, well yea. I've been reading some european reactions to the whole jenna bush thing. Most notably, The Economist shamed American Puritanism. I agree.

 

[Linflas]

You put alcohol consumption on a pedestal higher than military service, voting, signing contracts, banking, getting credit, or driving a motor vehicle and you are surprised that teens get the idea there must be something very special about drinking? Perhaps the problem here is that once again we are dealing with the notion of &quot;demon rum&quot; rather than dealing with alcohol in a rational, sane manner. The fact is I got alcohol whenever I wanted it back under the first 21 year old limit and am honest enough to say I drove more times than I care to remember while under the influence. Then again the penalties then for getting caught were mild at best so there was little reason not to. Times and teens are much different now and I see no reason why they cannot be raised to understand both the benefits and dangers of alcohol consumption.