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Poll

Should the drinking age be reduced to 18 years of age?

Hell yes!44%44% - 80
Absolutely not!44%44% - 79
Undecided / Need more information11%11% - 20
Total: 179
2006-10-04 15:30:38
starman7
Member
+15|6981
Honestly, I think not.
Even at twenty-one, you are still somewhat of a child, but hopefully college will somewhat mature people.
18 and you're still a hothead to an extreme.  Even high-school seniors are still dumb enough not to realize that yes, pulling the fire alarms during the finals WILL cause a massive disruption of said tests, and WILL get them expelled (personal experience).

What would be far better, though, was if the culture of drinking disappeared.  In European countries, it may not be a problem, because being drunk/heavy drinking is frowned upon.  Here it's practically the norm.  You don't see many non-tourist bars in Israel (for the purposes of the discussion, Israel has a sufficiently similar culture), do you?
2006-10-04 15:32:31
Slickdawg8
Visit TAW.NET
+58|7034|Long Island
either way, everyone in high school drinks here in the USA.  So if the age was lowered, it would make no difference so just leave it the way it is.  Also, no matter how low it is there will always be people below age drinking.  Lowering it would just make society start drinking lower in what, say 6th grade?

Last edited by Slickdawg8 (2006-10-04 15:33:22)

2006-10-04 15:33:17
Capt. Foley
Member
+155|6844|Allentown, PA, USA
Yea, 18 sounds good because hell if you can die for your country at 18 its pretty much the same as voting was before Vietnam.
2006-10-04 15:33:43
Slickdawg8
Visit TAW.NET
+58|7034|Long Island

Capt. Foley wrote:

Yea, 18 sounds good because hell if you can die for your country at 18 its pretty much the same as voting was before Vietnam.
everyone says that.
2006-10-04 15:36:31
Harmor
Error_Name_Not_Found
+605|6804|San Diego, CA, USA
I say it should be 18, but you MUST have a High School diploma (or equilvalency) before then.  On your license it should have a little mug icon letting the officer know you can drink.

I don't want Seniors in High Schools drinking on their Proms.  That's what Freshman College is for.
2006-10-04 15:39:21
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|6837|SE London

Is there anywhere else where the drinking age is 21?
2006-10-04 15:45:35
<[onex]>Headstone
Member
+102|6958|New York

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Yes, all the way.

Old enough for the military and heavy weapons is old enough for alcohol. I'm a teetotaler, but this is still my opinion. And if age is any indication of personal responsibility, then how come so many middle-aged folk are guilty of DUI's?
By the same token how come Drinking and driving by UNDERAGE Teens is the number one killer of our youth in america? Even more so than the military? Sad part is, The drunk teen usually walks away while his or her 5-6 friends are wraped around a tree or strewn around the highway.

Been a fireman/EMT for too many years to argue this point with anyone. Volenteer all the way, I dont need to be paid to help my fellow man!
2006-10-04 16:04:58
Harmor
Error_Name_Not_Found
+605|6804|San Diego, CA, USA

<[onex]>Headstone wrote:

By the same token how come Drinking and driving by UNDERAGE Teens is the number one killer of our youth in america? Even more so than the military? Sad part is, The drunk teen usually walks away while his or her 5-6 friends are wraped around a tree or strewn around the highway.
The reason is because they aren't introduced to it earlier in their life.  Overseas in Europe, for example, they have a lower drinking age and in France they even give their kids small amounts of Wine.

Now I'm not advocating giving alcohol to children to make them drunk (but it would be fun to watch), since doing so it a crime (Deliquency of a Minor), but if they are introduced to it at a younger age they wouldn't necessarily BINGE drink like they do now - where they can't control themselves and thus die in car accidendents...etc..
2006-10-04 16:07:31
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|7022|Cambridge (UK)

Bertster7 wrote:

{XpLiCiTxX} wrote:

I'm going to assume you want the drinking age to be lowered to 18 and be able to aquire a license at 18. Wow, what a combination that would be. The day people get their licenses they can go to the liquor store. Have fun getting that bill to pass in office.
The drinking age in the UK is 18. You also need to be 18 to get a drivers license (I think, it was 17 back when I took my test, but I think it's gone up).

Yet there is no huge drink driving problem in the UK. In fact the UK had best record in the world for reducing drink-driving between 1980-2000.

I don't think you could put that down to the British not drinking much, because that simply isn't the case.

{XpLiCiTxX} wrote:

ts-pulsar wrote:

Everything seems to be fine in canada, so what's the prob?
The problem is that Americans are crazier when it comes to alcohol.
As bertster7 implied, here in the UK we're even crazier than the Americans when it comes to alcohol - we on average drink stronger beer than in america, we also on average drink greater quantity than in america.

However, as bertster7 stated, though drink-driving used to be a problem, we also used to have the best record in the world at reducing drink-driving and the main reason we don't still have that record is due to how effectively drink-driving has been reduced.

Drink-driving is a problem of attitude, not alcohol per-se...
2006-10-04 16:09:40
TDRE666
Member
+5|6737

{XpLiCiTxX} wrote:

TDRE666 wrote:

Lower the drinking age in the U.S.

Raise the age you can get a drivers license at.


Learn to hold your booze before you get behind the wheel
This is the worst rebuttle I've ever heard.

Yeah, lets raise the age to get a license. Brilliant, so mommy and daddy can pick you up from school and drop you off at work after you take the bus to school senior year.  People NEED to get places by themselves without having to rely on others, that's the reason the drivers license was created.  You're an idiot on so many levels it's hard to understand how you can pull that out of your ass and post that.

Here's a genious's mind at work: Let's teach everyone how to drink and hold their booze so when they get behind the wheel they'll be fine.  You want people to train their livers and stomachs to hold their alcohol? What? Listen moron, think before you post please.

I'm going to assume you want the drinking age to be lowered to 18 and be able to aquire a license at 18. Wow, what a combination that would be. The day people get their licenses they can go to the liquor store. Have fun getting that bill to pass in office.
zomg i won't sleep tonight because you called me an idiot on so many levels. 

And holy shit man, it's just the internet grow up.
2006-10-04 17:04:21
KevMunro
Bring a Towel
+8|6687|Brisbane
A lowered the drinking age reduces binge drinking. It's a fact, TIME magazine reports.
2006-10-04 17:06:52
CommieChipmunk
Member
+488|6826|Portland, OR, USA

Ty wrote:

There needs to be NO drinking age.
I'm not just saying that to be cool either, 'cause I'm above the legal drinking age here.
Unfortunatly there's a psyche that alcoholic drinks are awesome because there's an age limit. Without an age limit, there would be no problem as alcohol would no longer be a huge thing. People would be educated through their lives and it wouldn't matter. Most likely people woldn't get into drinking until they're in their mid-teens at least anyway - think back, when you were a kid did you like the taste of anything alcoholic? I know I didn't.
Unfortunatly this would take a huge re-modeling in society, it couldn't b implimented straight away because a lot of twelve-year-olds would get alcohol poisioning. As Alcohol is something that kids, (and older under he drinking age - 21, honestly USA...) are apparently forbidden and thus want, (human conditon - you always want what you don't have,) drinking wll remain a problem.
Your logic is great but in reality it would take ages to implement... and the costs to society would be great.. IMO.  But i like to think of alcohol and drugs as a "survival of the fittest" or "natural selection" thing.  The morons wind up dead or damaged if they take it in excess and thats natures way of getting rid of idiots.

The downside to your arguement is the fact that alcohol is really bad for kids, it messes with brain development and a lot of other stuff.  So why the hell would you want to drink a substance that will make you feel like shit for a couple hours and have harsh effects on you later? idk
2006-10-04 17:37:48
{XpLiCiTxX}
Ohh skeet skeet
+143|6726|New York

Slickdawg8 wrote:

either way, everyone in high school drinks here in the USA.  So if the age was lowered, it would make no difference so just leave it the way it is.  Also, no matter how low it is there will always be people below age drinking.  Lowering it would just make society start drinking lower in what, say 6th grade?
No, it would make a difference. The 18 - 20 range would drink more because know they're not worried about getting caught.

By lowering the drinking age society would start drinking at a lower age, 6th grade, yeah most likely.
2006-10-04 17:40:41
{XpLiCiTxX}
Ohh skeet skeet
+143|6726|New York

TDRE666 wrote:

{XpLiCiTxX} wrote:

TDRE666 wrote:

Lower the drinking age in the U.S.

Raise the age you can get a drivers license at.


Learn to hold your booze before you get behind the wheel
This is the worst rebuttle I've ever heard.

Yeah, lets raise the age to get a license. Brilliant, so mommy and daddy can pick you up from school and drop you off at work after you take the bus to school senior year.  People NEED to get places by themselves without having to rely on others, that's the reason the drivers license was created.  You're an idiot on so many levels it's hard to understand how you can pull that out of your ass and post that.

Here's a genious's mind at work: Let's teach everyone how to drink and hold their booze so when they get behind the wheel they'll be fine.  You want people to train their livers and stomachs to hold their alcohol? What? Listen moron, think before you post please.

I'm going to assume you want the drinking age to be lowered to 18 and be able to aquire a license at 18. Wow, what a combination that would be. The day people get their licenses they can go to the liquor store. Have fun getting that bill to pass in office.
zomg i won't sleep tonight because you called me an idiot on so many levels. 

And holy shit man, it's just the internet grow up.
::rolls eyes:: I was expecting that answer. Grow up? Nah, I'm fine where I am now, smarter than you.
2006-10-04 17:59:35
13rin
Member
+977|6735
I would like to see it abolished all together.  Now I'm not writing about letting toddlers and infants get sauced.  But IMO there should be no drinking age.  Change the entire social context and stigmata of drinking.  No longer would one be a magic age of maturity ready to handle alcohol and its effects/consequences.  Many Americans (including me) were introduce to alcohol in movies like 'Animal House'.  The mentality of "LETS GET WASTED AND OUT OF CONTROL" message is hammered home over and over again in the American youth.  Granted, you have your AA/MADD commercials -but what the kids really see and remember is that Toga Party video clip.  Alcohol is a depressant, it should make you more relaxed, not a raving psycho.  The context of how one behaves when inebriated learned.  Here in America and unfortunately for us, the wrong types of behavior is taught. 

Another example of social behavior applied to drinking is how one acts when one consumes different types of alcohol (Beer vs. Tequila).  People who say that they are a mean Tequila or Vodka drunk as opposed to as being nice when drinking beer are wrong.  Alcohol is Alcohol.  It is the same chemicals in the different spirits/beer that make you feel that way.   They are just derived and concentrated differently.   

Believe it or not the drinking age was 18 at one time.  But apparently more  elder people voted for canidates who beleived that the drinking age should be raised.
I stood in line for four hours. They better give me a Wal-Mart gift card, or something.  - Rodney Booker, Job Fair attendee.
2006-10-04 18:24:48
midnitebassist
Countersniper
+11|6785|here
"I never understood why at age 18, a man can die for his country, yet he can't have a beer."

I agree with the above statement.

Lord knows, I don't drink, I never have, and frankly, I don't plan on drinking any time soon.  However, I do agree wholeheartedly with quoted statement.
2006-10-04 18:27:33
cospengle
Member
+140|6743|Armidale, NSW, Australia

Ty wrote:

There needs to be NO drinking age.
I'm not just saying that to be cool either, 'cause I'm above the legal drinking age here.
Unfortunatly there's a psyche that alcoholic drinks are awesome because there's an age limit. Without an age limit, there would be no problem as alcohol would no longer be a huge thing. People would be educated through their lives and it wouldn't matter. Most likely people woldn't get into drinking until they're in their mid-teens at least anyway - think back, when you were a kid did you like the taste of anything alcoholic? I know I didn't.
Unfortunatly this would take a huge re-modeling in society, it couldn't b implimented straight away because a lot of twelve-year-olds would get alcohol poisioning. As Alcohol is something that kids, (and older under he drinking age - 21, honestly USA...) are apparently forbidden and thus want, (human conditon - you always want what you don't have,) drinking wll remain a problem.
Well I agree with you, if people are educated by their (responsible) parents then they will be better equipped to make appropriate choices when they grow up. I'm in Australia, where the legal age is 18. i.e. it's illegal to supply liquor to anyone under 18, even if it's your own child.  I remember when I was 18 and started university, there were people vomiting/soiling themselves almost every night. That's not how it should be done and if they were used to drinking moderately when they left home they probably wouldn't get into that situation.

I think it should still be illegal to sell liquor to minors, but parents should be allowed to buy alcohol for their children to drink, like in restaurants or at home when guests come for dinner etc. It would allow the kids to learn under supervision, just like driving...

Of course there's some parents that aren't responsible and it doesn't seem to matter whether it's illegal or not. I see kids drinking in the park at night without any parents and I doubt their parents even care where they are let alone if they're drinking too much.
2006-10-04 18:43:30
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|6837|SE London

There are only 4 countries in the world with a drinking age above 18. Those are: South Korea - 19, Japan and Iceland - 20, the US - 21.

The majority of countries have a drinking age of 18, except for most of Europe (and Antigua), where it is 16 (in the UK it is 16 in restaurants).

This article makes a few good points
2006-10-04 18:45:23
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|6837|SE London

cospengle wrote:

I'm in Australia, where the legal age is 18. i.e. it's illegal to supply liquor to anyone under 18, even if it's your own child.
Really? I'm sure in the UK your parents can give you alcohol. I think you have to be over 5 with parental consent.
2006-10-04 18:46:17
ROCKowmCo
I'm your huckleberry
+9|6778|Centrally Located NC

zer0fus10n wrote:

Rofl.. I seen a picture of a guy without a shirt that passed out a party got a tux drawn on his skin with a texta, ...
You mean this one ....
https://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3613/drunk7nt8.jpg
2006-10-04 18:53:12
{XpLiCiTxX}
Ohh skeet skeet
+143|6726|New York
ROCKowmCo - Oh god, that's some impressive work who ever thought that up.

I've seen that before on either entensity or break. Good shit there.
2006-10-04 18:58:06
ROCKowmCo
I'm your huckleberry
+9|6778|Centrally Located NC
Personally I like these ....

again the effects of alcohol on the young .... (I'm just glad there's no pics like this of me when I was that age....I hope)

https://img426.imageshack.us/img426/7362/drunk4au7.jpg

https://img426.imageshack.us/img426/7202/drunk3oc7.jpg

Last edited by ROCKowmCo (2006-10-04 19:00:11)

2006-10-04 18:58:19
<[onex]>Headstone
Member
+102|6958|New York
So essentially The MORAL World is OK with giving Kids a Drug like Alcohol?

After All this Moral PC crap on this site and the arguing, people are actually Condoning Kids drinking?

NOW Ive seen everything. I can see 18, But WTF, Some of you are talking about children. Alcohol is as addictive if not more addictive than Cigarettes or any other drug. Thats just Insane. Noone Knows Anyone addictive Threshold, so then by all accounts we would have allot more alcoholics running around than we do now.

Whelp, Guess the Liver donor lines would be a bit longer.

FFS
2006-10-04 19:05:01
ROCKowmCo
I'm your huckleberry
+9|6778|Centrally Located NC
FWIW

"Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48106-1248.

This study has two separate but related purposes: (1) to delineate cross-sectional differences among U.S. high school seniors and young adults that may be due to variations in recent years in state-level minimum drinking age laws and (2) to examine the effects of recent changes in minimum drinking age laws on alcohol consumption and other relevant attitudes and behaviors. Analyses used existing data collected by the Monitoring the Future project, an ongoing study involving annual, nationally representative surveys of high school seniors and annual follow-up surveys by mail of recent graduates. A separate, coordinated study used time-series analyses of official reports to examine effects of increases in the minimum drinking age in several states on rates of fatal crashes. Time-series results were compared with findings from self-report data. The major findings include: higher minimum drinking ages were associated with lower levels of alcohol use among high school seniors and recent high school graduates, even after multivariate controls; lower levels of alcohol use were observed across a number of demographic variables; the lower levels of use persisted into the early 20s, even after all respondents were of legal age; and lowered involvement in alcohol-related fatal crashes among drivers under 21 appeared due to lower alcohol consumption rates--in particular, less drinking in bars or taverns."
2006-10-04 19:10:17
<[onex]>Headstone
Member
+102|6958|New York
^^^^^^^^^^^Thank You^^^^^^^^^^ Point well made +1

 

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