Drinking age lowered to 18?

[rzr]

Originally Posted by awein999

it's true that's messed up but two wrongs don't make a right. There are already enough young drivers on the road getting into deadly accidents without alcohol being legalized for 18-21 year olds as it is. And there are still plenty of them drinking and driving as it is. Just imagine it when they can get their hands on alcohol legally. It was actually legalized for 18 year olds in the past for the reason you just mentioned, but it was almost immediately moved back up because the amount of deadly car crashes skyrocketed.

maybe they could make it legal for all soldiers in service but keep the drinking age at 21 otherwise...

The point remains that it's illogical to place an 18 year old in front of a bullet, but not in front of a bottle. The bottle can kill, but so can everything else in this world. And what about smoking? That's far more deadly than drinking and an 18 year old can do that.

P.S. Move to CT please...

[Chrissi]

In Canada it's 19 (and 18 in some provinces). And we don't have a ****load of car crashes or anything, or at least I haven't heard about it.

You could probably lower it to 19 or 18, doesn't really matter, it would stop people from driving over the border to drink, like devonin said, and driving back, posing a risk to everyone on the road at the time.

The solution to drinking and driving isn't raising the age - instead, it's presenting alcohol education and teaching kids about what happens to their bodies when they drink alcohol. HONESTLY, and unbiasedly. None of this DARE crap. And while they're at it, they could teach you about some other drugs as well.

Also, making alcohol illegal wouldn't be very productive, considering that you can inadvertently create alcohol by letting your grape juice box sit for a little too long.

[awein999]

maybe you are right that I am mistaken, I can not say I have any first hand experience with the drinking age lowered. But I think drinking is a nasty thing in general and nothing good can come out of lowering it. Your brain doesn't stop developing until you hit around 25 as it is. It stops developing earlier with too much alcohol or drug intake before that age. Foilman is right that it should be raised to 25 (and definitely not lowered) but it can't be because the general American population would override the government.

[Shashakiro]

I also feel the drinking age should be 18, and I detest alcohol.

On an ever so slightly related note, I believe that if anything should be limited to 21+, it's driving, not drinking. Cars are way, way, way, way, way more dangerous than alcohol.

To echo Rubix...will elaborate on either point if asked

[awein999]

Originally Posted by Shashakiro

I also feel the drinking age should be 18, and I detest alcohol.

On an ever so slightly related note, I believe that if anything should be limited to 21+, it's driving, not drinking. Cars are way, way, way, way, way more dangerous than alcohol.

To echo Rubix...will elaborate on either point if asked

yea that's a good point and please Rubix elaborate

[rzr]

I disagree, Chrissi. All the anti-drug and anti-alcohol programs they force us to go through simply annoy me.

The one thing that will teach a person not to do drugs or drink more than anything else is personal experience. I don't really want to go far into this, but I will if I must.

[TheGiantChicken]

Drinking Age = 18 in Manitoba, Canada.

Number of drunk drivers ramming into police skyrocketing, drunken killing at bars skyrocketing,

So it said on the Winnipeg Sun newspaper this morning...

[MystictheHedgehog]

Originally Posted by Chrissi

The solution to drinking and driving isn't raising the age - instead, it's presenting alcohol education and teaching kids about what happens to their bodies when they drink alcohol. HONESTLY, and unbiasedly. None of this DARE crap. And while they're at it, they could teach you about some other drugs as well.

Yeah, but how can we do that when in a lot of areas a normal education can't even be provided? I stated it an earlier post, I don't know how the education is wherever you may live, but here in Memphis, no, in fact, here in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, from where I have been, is absolutely crap. There is no funding for education, there is over-crowding in schools, and there is no money for new teachers or new schools. It got bad enough here, that one high school turned an elementary school into a freshman annex, and sent those elementary kids to different schools and then making them over-crowded.

Granted, it's all nice sounding when you say it your way, but the fact remains, in most of the south, there just isn't the funding to give a proper education period.

EDIT: Yeah, Shash and Rubix I would love for the both of you to elaborate.

[rzr]

Originally Posted by awein999

maybe you are right that I am mistaken, I can not say I have any first hand experience with the drinking age lowered. But I think drinking is a nasty thing in general and nothing good can come out of lowering it.

Again, it will lower the rates of organized crime. Without as much people going around underground getting liquor there won't be as many people saying "hahe you came here with your money for my booze now I'm going to kill you and take your money."

Your brain doesn't stop developing until you hit around 25 as it is. It stops developing earlier with too much alcohol or drug intake before that age. Foilman is right that it should be raised to 25 (and definitely not lowered) but it can't be because the general American population would override the government.

And they don't now? I know more underage drinkers than I do overage drinkers. It doesn't matter if the drinking age is raised to 25, the people will still drink. And it doesn't matter if the drinking age is lowered to 18, the people will still drink. At least if its lowered less people will be cluttering the jail cells. If they're all out buying liquor they'll mess up their lives, legally, and learn from it. Like I said, this personal experience is the best way to learn.

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by rzr

I disagree, Chrissi. All the anti-drug and anti-alcohol programs they force us to go through simply annoy me.

The one thing that will teach a person not to do drugs or drink more than anything else is personal experience. I don't really want to go far into this, but I will if I must.

They don't teach you honestly (in most places). All you get is DARE or DARE-like crap that's just "SAY NO" education. It works in a similar way to sexual abstinence education, and what I mean by that is, IT DOESN'T work.

When they talk about alcohol, they just tell you about its toxicity at high doses, and it's bad to drive while drinking. And they'll make up stories to scare you out of drinking alcohol or doing drugs.

I hate the way drug education is setup right now, and I could go into a very, very long rant on it, but basically, I firmly believe that if they would be HONEST, the education would work. Somehow, the government and educational institutions think that by lying to kids they can get them not to do drugs. But kids aren't dumb. They'll try drugs, find out the school is lying, and never trust them again. Then they'll do REALLY bad drugs to excess because they assume it's all okay because they were wrong about some of them.

When you claim harmless substances are harmful, and group them in with harmful substances, you've got a huge problem when it comes to education. It only works if you scare kids so badly that they never try drugs at all. And even then, you're cutting them short.

[-Yukari-]

Ahahahahaha, I just can't stop laughing at all the hypocrits I see in this thread. I see people saying the drinking age should be raised to __, and yet they were already drinking at age 18 OR LOWER.

Pathetic.

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by -Yukari-

Ahahahahaha, I just can't stop laughing at all the hypocrits I see in this thread. I see people saying the drinking age should be raised to __, and yet they were already drinking at age 18 OR LOWER.

Pathetic.

"Hypocrites" are just those who have seen the error of their ways.

[foilman8805]

Originally Posted by Chrissi

"Hypocrites" are just those who have seen the error of their ways.

I really appreciate this comment a lot. There is no better way to say it, and thank you for saying it.

[rzr]

Originally Posted by -Yukari-

Ahahahahaha, I just can't stop laughing at all the hypocrits I see in this thread. I see people saying the drinking age should be raised to __, and yet they were already drinking at age 18 OR LOWER.

Pathetic.

Proof of this is... Nonexistant?

P.S. Chrissi, I read your reply I just didn't have a rebuttal.

[-lolwut-]

Originally Posted by -Yukari-

Ahahahahaha, I just can't stop laughing at all the hypocrits I see in this thread. I see people saying the drinking age should be raised to __, and yet they were already drinking at age 18 OR LOWER.

Pathetic.

Well, i've never drank or done any drugs and never plan on doing so. If people are going to do it i really don't think most are mature enough to handle it until they're mid 20's.

[awein999]

"If they're all out buying liquor they'll mess up their lives, legally, and learn from it."

rzr: history shows that there are less incidents with the age line higher than lower. And what about the people that were the unforunate victims of a drunk person's crime? True the drunk person may have learned his or her lesson but at the expense of an innocent person?

[devonin]

If you're calling for the age of legality to be raised, and you've already been drinking underage, unless you feel you should voluntarily admit that you were doing something illegal to the police, you're being hypocritical. If you are calling for the age of legality to be raised, and you've never once consumed alcohol, I'd suggest instead that you simply don't understand the subject at hand properly.

[rzr]

Originally Posted by awein999

"If they're all out buying liquor they'll mess up their lives, legally, and learn from it."

rzr: history shows that there are less incidents with the age line higher than lower. And what about the people that were the unforunate victims of a drunk person's crime? True the drunk person may have learned his or her lesson but at the expense of an innocent person?

I wasn't too keen on getting personal, but I guess I should say this.

That innocent person could have one day drank or done drugs. But now what? That innocent person has seen its terrors first hand and now won't do it. That's why I won't.

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by devonin

If you're calling for the age of legality to be raised, and you've already been drinking underage, unless you feel you should voluntarily admit that you were doing something illegal to the police, you're being hypocritical.

Not unless they still think underage drinking is good and would advocate it for others.

Just because you do something doesn't mean you think it's a good idea. You can have underage drinkers who think the limit should be raised. These people have an alcohol problem and probably wish to reduce the number of other people who get it.

Maybe it's still a "hypocrite" but the word carries such a negative light that I don't feel comfortable using it to label any underage drinker who advocates raising the legal drinking age.

[-Yukari-]

Originally Posted by rzr

Proof of this is... Nonexistant?

rzr, you've already affirmed you are one of these people because I wasn't even talking to you in that post. I didn't mention your name; I didn't mention ANYONE'S name. So the very fact that you got so defensive about a completely non-personal remark leads me to believe that you, as well as pretty much everyone else in this thread probably, have already drank alcohol. Chances are also good you drank enough to get drunk, and maybe even enough to have a hangover. Chances are good most people in this thread have done the same.

Again, pathetic.

EDIT: Devonin posted what I posted in more detail. Nice post, Devonin, I enjoyed it.