Enough is Enough, Why can not the US Drinking age be at least 18!!!

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outrun

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I mean common lets think about this.

I can be 18, pick up an M16 and die for this country, smoke a cigarrette, etc.

But I can not gamble, go to most gentlemans clubs or have a beer.

It boils down to this....are these laws really protecting me?

Or is just the vestiges of Puritanical Christianity and the shadows of Proibition?

The rest of the world starts drinking at 16...and here it seems like bloody murder if a kid has a drink.

What does it says if the goverment and media are hostile to alchohol but all you have to do is come down to the university and everyone is drinking age or not.

There is a serious disconnect here i think-

Phooey-
 
Oh yes, *lol* I am over 21 thank god for that
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If anything it should be drinking at 18 and cigarettes at 21. I mean, 1 pack of cigarettes and you're addicted for years if not life. 1 case of beer and you have a fun night.
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I don't care much though, I'm 18 and I make my own vodka.
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No active duty personel are turned away on the Fort or Base at the NCO Club or Officers Club.

You might consider joining the military if drinking is that important!

Louisana(sp) was the last state to give in to 21 as the legal drinking age. If memeory serves me right it has only been 3 years or so. They were simply loseing out on too many fedral tax dollars for their roads.

For what it is worth I agree with you! I am also for insanely sever penalitys for driveing under the influnce though as well!
 
Hard to say if the 21 YO limit helps or not...real stats would be hard to come by.

Please do not insult Christianity, compare maybe to Islam where alcohol is a bigger no-no. I think moderation is a good thing, responsible alcohol consumption learned at home is a good thing, too.

Try to console the family with a loved one killed by drunk driver of any age is bad enough, but a family member lost do to a 18 YO hot head on 6-8 beers....I'm not saying an 18 YO drunk is any worse than a 28 YO drunk, but statistically younger drivers do have more accidents and take bigger risks...
 
I think choice would be good, either you can drive at 16 or drink at 16, you pick. Personally I think driving at 16 should be banned as there just isn't enough developed brain matter yet.
 
I agree with Pablo. Quite frankly, most 18 year olds aren't responsible enough to make good choices concerning alcohol, drugs, tobacco, finances, or just about anything else..........I know I wasn't. There are exceptions to the rule, but not many can argue with the facts. If I had been caught for everything I did before the age of 21, I would probably have spent the better part of my life in prison.........and alot of people could say the same. When I was 18, I used to complain about this same topic, but now......I think it is for the best. They say that the older you are.........the wiser your parents become.

But I also agree with the original statement, and I would be completely open to raising the draft age, to 21.
 
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Originally posted by sbc350gearhead:
If I had been caught for everything I did before the age of 21, I would probably have spent the better part of my life in prison
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What'd you do?
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I think you should be able to get a drinking license. Take a test proving you know the bad stuff about alcohol, and how much it takes to make you unable to drive. Maybe show some nasty videos. And parents could say no drinking license if they wanted too...

Like I said before, I'm 18, and I don't know anyone who doesn't drink only because it's illegal...(and I can name a good 10 people that have gotten an M.I.P and couldn't care less)
 
I don't think that kids that age, 18-20 yrs old, are truly mature enough to moderate their own drinking, and that lowering the drinking age will have significant -- if not serious -- social ramifications, including drunk driving, binge drinking, etc. Personally, I'm in no great hurry to see it lowered from 21.

But yet, I've always had the same nagging, guilty concern you have. How can we order an 18 yr old kid to take up a rifle, get shipped to a foreign country, and then get his head shot off...yet tell him he can't drink a beer..? Sort of flies in the face of logic, or at least fairness.
 
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Originally posted by ZmOz:


I think you should be able to get a drinking license. Take a test proving you know the bad stuff about alcohol, and how much it takes to make you unable to drive.
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Old enough to know better, but still too young to care.
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Most teenagers drink, at ages younger than 18, but the number would grow tremendously, if legalized. I am only 28, so I can easily remember 18..............and drinking, was the least of my bad habits when I was a teen. I bet I smoked my own body weight in dope, by the time I was 21........but eventually, you either get smart, or you let your cheap thrills destroy you.
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I am of the age group that had the drinking age at 18, early 1970's. Was kind of a problem, at noon time the kids in high school old enough would go down to the bar and have a few before coming back to school. Of course there is always the ones who supplied the younger ones and I remember many kids passed out during class. Not like the zero tolerance today, after all we were old enough to go to "Nam" so we could do what we wanted was the mentality.

And of course there was always the increased accidents.

After all this the drinking age was raised back to 21. They gave it a try and it did not work. Not to say there is not the same amount of underage drinking today, just a little harder.
 
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Originally posted by TC:
I don't think that kids that age, 18-20 yrs old, are truly mature enough to moderate their own drinking, and that lowering the drinking age will have significant -- if not serious -- social ramifications, including drunk driving, binge drinking, etc. Personally, I'm in no great hurry to see it lowered from 21.

But yet, I've always had the same nagging, guilty concern you have. How can we order an 18 yr old kid to take up a rifle, get shipped to a foreign country, and then get his head shot off...yet tell him he can't drink a beer..? Sort of flies in the face of logic, or at least fairness.
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I think the logic is it's OK to ship them to another country to kill, we just don't want them here killing us through alcohol.
 
the under 21 law does not matter much. you can have friends buy it for you, just like cigs.

my dad bought me booze when i lived with him and was under 21.
 
quote:
Originally posted by TC:

But yet, I've always had the same nagging, guilty concern you have. How can we order an 18 yr old kid to take up a rifle, get shipped to a foreign country, and then get his head shot off...yet tell him he can't drink a beer..? Sort of flies in the face of logic, or at least fairness.
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Originally posted by V6 Diesel:
I am of the age group that had the drinking age at 18, early 1970's. .
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Any one here old enough to remember when 18 year old Michigan men could be drafted but weren't old enough to vote?

The illogic of sending guys too young to vote into combat was one reason for Michigan to lower the age of majority from 21 to 18. For nearly everything else, being an "adult" at 18 worked just fine. Legally buying alchohol at that age just didn't work, so the state changed it.

I am the mother of a young man who just turned 18 and registered to vote and for Selective Service. I'm glad he can vote and equally glad he can't walk into the grocery store and buy a 6 pack. (I'm not sure how I feel about him being old enough to get a credit card, but if he does, it's nice to know that I am no longer responsible for his debts
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I think V-6 Diesel made a good point, we tried it, and it was a disaster. Ask George Bush. Worse yet, now that the law often has returned to 21, it is poorly enforced. I don't think the laws ever were strictly enforced. I remember as an underage kid buying beer for an old drunk the bar wouldn't serve. As a freshman at Grove College in 1961, we were told don't drink, and don't throw beer cans on the roof of Ketler dining hall. The latter, since it couldn't be ignored, was better enforced.

Unfortunately I am afraid there is so much under age drinking going on every where now, the weight of the cans might cave in the roof. Excessive alcohol does cave in the roof for many of our youth. Too many die one way or another. Those that live through 4 or how ever many years of college, still are not ready to take their place as productive citizens. Unlike Bush, many abuse alcohol all their life.

Not only do we need the law to be 21, we need to enforce it. I shared alcohol with my children as they were growing up, but in appropriate amounts, and know of no problems with it. Children that drink with their parents are less likely to drink excessively behind their backs. The law needs to hold adults that furnish large quantities of alcohol to minors for unsupervised consumption accountable. Perhaps as somebody suggested, a license to buy alcohol. Get caught buying for minors, and lose your license.
 
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Was kind of a problem, at noon time the kids in high school old enough would go down to the bar and have a few before coming back to school.
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Kids did that in the late-80's when I was in high school... it just wasn't legal, or in the bars.

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Those that live through 4 or how ever many years of college, still are not ready to take their place as productive citizens.
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I agree 100%. I graduated from collage in 1993 (at age 21), and it is really funny how some people in my age group STILL cannot stand on thier own two feet, and the EXPECT thier parents to bail them out of every situation. It seems that more and more kids are "leaving the nest" way too late these days.
 
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