Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

[All_That_Chaz]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

The drinking age is where it is because having high school students legally buying alcohol is a bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad idea. I can only imagine what the drive home from school would have been like knowing that more than likely some quarter of the students had a drink or two before they left and maybe a tenth were drunk.

It is of course the job of the conglomerate of the parents, the schools, and the media to teach children about drinking, but there just isn't a good enough reason to put it in their hands at such a dangerous time.

On the smoking age, it definitely shouldn't be available to developing children for the reasons stated above. It doesn't matter if a kid knows the dangers and still wants to smoke. This is why so many statutes are in place to keep kids in school at this age. In this stage of life even the most independant of children are more than likely better off being taken care of. I certainly don't think I was capable of making great decisions back then and still don't in some cases. This sounds like saying, "the government knows what's good for you," which sounds stupid, but protecting children from themselves is important enough that america would elect people to do it.

[MrRubix]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

This much is indeed true -- I never saw alcohol much in high school, but in college it's everywhere. Having drunkards in high school would not be fun.

[All_That_Chaz]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

it was kind of eery how omnipresent alcohol became the second i got to college. maybe i was just sheltered in high school. =/

[devonin]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

Haha, here in Canada drinking age is 18 XD

Actually, in Canada the drinking age is 18 in Manitoba, Quebec and Alberta only. It is 19 everywhere else.

Being 18, you can vote, such as most of you should have gone out today and done. Allowing the people who can vote this "special privilege", the government can pollute the American population more.

I'm not really seeing how allowing someone the free choice to consume alcohol or not (Especially since they can consume it anyway if they've a mind to) "pollutes" the american population. If someone is so prone to alcoholism that the mere permission to do so will ruin them forever, then they are already an alcoholic, they just can't buy it themselves.

I am not fully educated on the subject but I think a lot of it has to do with statistical evidence behind external damages (as to why the age is not being lowered at the moment for drinking). I think it was during the 1970's when a lot of US states had an 18-year age requirement, and a lot of death/traffic accident rates started climbing, inevitably leading to the 21-age limit.

Not only did the instance of death via traffic accident drop, the instance of all alcohol related crimes lowered, well, except incidence of underage drinking, that skyrocketed.

I think the raising of the limit made almost no difference to the number of people drinking, it just made police more inclined than they used to be, to pull over younger looking drivers who were driving in a way that could look like they were drinking too much. And it made more drinkers under 21 move their drinking to friend's basements, and field parties in the country where they would sleep it off instead of drive home as from a bar.

sk8mastr: Out of all the most ridiculous things I've read on this site, your previous statement takes the cake. Congratulations on saying the most retarded thing I've heard in a while.

I feel bad for deleting it if it brought you such entertainment.

Haha I can only imagine what would happen if the drinking age was lowered to 18.

Well...seeing as this is a discussion and debate forum, perhaps you should either let us see what some of your imaginings are, that we can respond to them, or else consider holding off on posting until you have some actual claims to make. All posts must be -about- something.

I can only imagine what the drive home from school would have been like knowing that more than likely some quarter of the students had a drink or two before they left and maybe a tenth were drunk.

But schools make their own rules that, on school property, can supercede existing laws (That is, They can add additional limits to existing laws) and I can't imagine any highschool, even if some of the people were of drinking age, allowing drinking at school, on school property, or allowing students visibly drunk onto the grounds. Further, how many highschool students are 18? In Ontario, we're graduating a reasonable number of 17 year olds from highschool. This suggests that at best, a portion of your senior year will be of age. I would hardly assume that a full quarter of the students "had a drink or to"

This sounds like saying, "the government knows what's good for you," which sounds stupid, but protecting children from themselves is important enough that america would elect people to do it.

People to protect children from themselves, sounds an awful lot like some people I know, I call them Mom and Dad.

This much is indeed true -- I never saw alcohol much in high school, but in college it's everywhere. Having drunkards in high school would not be fun.

In Ontario, with the 19 drinking age, highschool would have maybe 5% of all students of age, and university would have about 95% of all students of age. That should more than account for the increase in drinking all on its own, though I will admit that "Freedom to do what I damn well want to" in college almost certainly contributes to the increase in the visible presence of alcohol.

[peckerxcore]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

i think its pointless
when u take something away from kids they only want it more
i started drinking at 13 or 14
and smoking then too
(since then i have quit smoking)
but drinking in moderation is going to happen
maybe not so much in middle school but def high school

[devonin]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

Please format your posts into complete sentences with proper spelling, grammar and punctuation from now on.

Also, this is absolutely not the first time you've been told this: Make that avatar smaller.

[All_That_Chaz]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

But schools make their own rules that, on school property, can supercede existing laws (That is, They can add additional limits to existing laws) and I can't imagine any highschool, even if some of the people were of drinking age, allowing drinking at school, on school property, or allowing students visibly drunk onto the grounds. Further, how many highschool students are 18? In Ontario, we're graduating a reasonable number of 17 year olds from highschool. This suggests that at best, a portion of your senior year will be of age. I would hardly assume that a full quarter of the students "had a drink or to"

It's against school policy to smoke on the grounds too, but that didn't stop every single smoking student, which made up a healthy minority of the student body, from either cutting class briefly or stepping outside between classes to catch a quick smoke. Luckily enough, the cigarettes don't hinder driving ability, but alcohol does. Bringing the drinking age down to 18 not only makes it more likely for those 18-year-olds to find it ok to drink on school grounds, it makes it infinitely easier to get their hands on it. Because even if the majority of the senior class was 17, everyone would at least know someone who was 18 and willing to buy. I find any reason to put more of a dangerous variable in the driving equation like alcohol in the hands of these teenage drivers to be absolutely unacceptable.

People to protect children from themselves, sounds an awful lot like some people I know, I call them Mom and Dad.

The laws are there because those parents elected people that would put those statutes in place. Kind of indirect parenting.

[peckerxcore]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

I tried before and it didn't work, but I have only been told once before. As for the punctuation and grammar I will work on it. I am not used to typing like this. By the way avatar fixed.


Guido edit: Fixed as I was searching for your name to change it for you. Good timing.

[Wow GG]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

Personally I don't drink or smoke. I have drunk beer but, it was only a sip when I was younger. I think its pretty stupid to lower the drinking age to 18. I just recently read something I didn't know about the age-21 law. In 21 states there is a law that states that no one under the age of 21 is allowed to buy alcohol, but in these 21 states there is no law stating that you have to be at least 21 years of age to consume the drink. So therefore in those 21 states if the drinking age was lower to 18, seniors in high school would be allowed to purchase alcohol and therefore distributing it to their underclassmen friends. Technically nobody would be breaking the law either.

Lets just say 19 year olds drink without hesitation. Thats two years under the legal drinking age. Now if we lowered the drinking age to 18, what would stop the "without hesitation" age to drop to 16?

Well that's my two cents.

[devonin]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

All drinking laws in the United States are state-created and state-enforced. The federal government doesn't have the ability to legislate with regards to drinking ages.

However, the US Federal government has a law which says that any state that does not enforce an age-21 drinking limit loses all federal funding with regards to roads and transporation.

[wwwJ4mmYcouk]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

In England we had the smoking age brought up from 16 to 18 on october 2007. Drinking age is always 18 (apart from if you are having a meal its 16).

[MissusRubix]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

21 is a terrible drinking age to have in the States. I think it stems from having people as young as 16 being able to drive in suburban areas (which you don't find happening as much in other countries).
the laws are so draconian in the US. it's stupid.
Hong Kong lets you smoke/drink at 18, no one ever cards.

[All_That_Chaz]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

Don't they also kill you if you're caught with weed? Or is that singapore?

[slipstrike0159]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

21 is a terrible drinking age to have in the States. I think it stems from having people as young as 16 being able to drive in suburban areas (which you don't find happening as much in other countries).
the laws are so draconian in the US. it's stupid.
Hong Kong lets you smoke/drink at 18, no one ever cards.

Always remember that circumstances are different in each country. Hopefully you realise, if the US was the same as all the other countries then it definitely wouldnt have all the freedoms it does now.

Also keep in mind the idea that if we change it to 18 (like previously discussed) the highschool seniors who are 18 would be able to buy alcohol for all of their underage friends at school with absolutely nothing stopping them. Plus there is the fact that alcohol is very easily accessed here in the US and it is adopted as almost a commonly accepted lifestyle to have a beer or two every day.

[devonin]

Re: Smoking and Drinking Ages - Pointless?

Lowering the age to 18 being bad because they could buy alcohol for underaged people is no objection, because at 21, people can buy alcohol for underaged people too.

I mean, on those grounds it is worse to add 3 years worth of people who can provide booze to underagers, but if some 16 year olds offered most 21-26 year olds 10 bucks to go buy them beer, you can't tell me they wouldn't do it.