Drinking Age

arm721 · October 2008

What do you think the legal drinking age should be?

Here it is 21 and I think that if you can fight for your country at 18 than you should be able to have a beer.

Parks2Be · October 2008

I say keep it at 21.?

vanillacourage · October 2008

A higher/lower drinking age is not the answer. A more relaxed and global view of alcohol is.

ABMcKinney · October 2008

21... if you can die for your country, you should be able to drink.

ABMcKinney · October 2008

I meant 18.

I also agree with Vanilla

lvisser · October 2008

21... 18 year olds don't have the maturity level to handle it.

KimiCas · October 2008

18. If you can rack up a credit score, you should be able to drink. The problem with it being 21 is it's much more open for teens to be 'sneaky' and drink before. Making it 18 will give them 2 years before the 'I drink at 16', getting it out of their system faster.

GRKaters · October 2008

Leave it at 21. I have never understood the connection between going to war and having a beer. Why are those always compared?

?

ShanJosh777 · October 2008

lvisser:
21... 18 year olds don't have the maturity level to handle it.

Many 21 year olds don't either. Neither do some 40 year olds. I don't think it really matters what the legal age is. People will always be irresponsible.

Buckets of Moonbeams · October 2008

21 is fine with me. I've known too many teenaged alcoholics (and I'm serious about that) to be okay with lowering the drinking age.

chalmette · October 2008

18

wishin&hopin2008 · October 2008

Keep it at 21, I understand what you are saying, but I don't think most people are mature enough at all to be drinking at 18. I know many people do, but I still don't think it should be legal.

twopeasinapod · October 2008

A higher/lower drinking age is not the answer. A more relaxed and global view of alcohol is.

please explain this theory?

Marie Tourville · October 2008

lvisser:
21... 18 year olds don't have the maturity level to handle it.

But they have the maturity to go and take a bullet for us?

rab41380 · October 2008

18!

arm721 · October 2008

If an 18 year old is not mature enough to drink alcohol than why are they a legal adult?

KittenGator · October 2008

vanillacourage:
A higher/lower drinking age is not the answer.? A more relaxed and global view of alcohol is.?

IAWTC. If alcohol wasn't so forbidden, it would probably have less abuse. Children in other countries drink wine. Our societal view of alcohol is that it's something you drink to get f*cked up. I tried a beer on my 18th birthday mostly because I knew I wasn't supposed to and I was too young for it.?

KimiCas · October 2008

KittenGator:
vanillacourage:

A higher/lower drinking age is not the answer. A more relaxed and global view of alcohol is.

IAWTC. If alcohol wasn't so forbidden, it would probably have less abuse. Children in other countries drink wine. Our societal view of alcohol is that it's something you drink to get f*cked up. I tried a beer on my 18th birthday mostly because I knew I wasn't supposed to and I was too young for it.

.

Exactly Kitten.

Alcohol has never been taboo for me because I've been drinking wine since I was 8 and we went to Italy. It's like juice, but for special dinners/occasiones.

CoastieWife08 · October 2008

I did a huge research paper on this in college, so I am obviously an expert here (lol). I don't remember citation or details exactly, but here's what I do remember.

Most states went from 18 to 21 as the legal drinking age because they wanted federal funds for road improvements. They would be excluded from the funds if the drinking age was not changed to 21.

Also, in the years following the switch, the number of deaths from drunk driving/drinking did not decrease dramatically. I think it was less than 10%.

And please, an 18 year old is not mature enough to legally drink a beer, but they are mature enough to see the horrors of war and possibly loose their life, limb, eyesight and make the ultimate sacrifice? That's some fed up logic, imo.

jenifairies · October 2008

There are many 18 year olds who are not mature enough to make the decision to join the military either.

larseann · October 2008

21

CoastieWife08 · October 2008

jenifairies:
There are many 18 year olds who are not mature enough to make the decision to join the military either.

I know a few 25 year olds who aren't mature enough to make that decision.

There are immature people at every age.

jenifairies · October 2008

CoastieWife08:
jenifairies:

There are many 18 year olds who are not mature enough to make the decision to join the military either.

I know a few 25 year olds who aren't mature enough to make that decision.

There are immature people at every age.

I agree. I think the drinking age should be the same as voting age, enlisting age, etc. The military/maturity thing is a whole 'nother thread.

IckyThump · October 2008

Keep it at 21.

Honestly, what is the advantage in lowering it, other than on some effed up principle (the whole "going to war" argument)?

arm721 · October 2008

CoastieWife08:
.

I know a few 25 year olds who aren't mature enough to make that decision.

There are immature people at every age.

I completely agree.

MrsSavannah · October 2008

18 makes sense to me - since that's considered a legal adult.

Alcohol was never forbidden in my home so drinking wasn't a big deal to me. If I wanted a glass of wine I could have it.

d.f · October 2008

vanillacourage:

A higher/lower drinking age is not the answer. A more relaxed and global view of alcohol is.

Ditto!

iHeartJoe · October 2008

i don't really think it would make a difference either way, unless our view of alcohol was different. i basically agree w/ the pps who said similar things.

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