The "new" drinking age?? 18-21?

Question

What does everyone think about the drinking debate? I am 24 years old and I do not agree that the drinking age should be lowered. I think the driving age should be raised to 21 and drinking should remain the same!!

Answer 1

Yeah, that'd be retarded. Teenagers need to drive in most of the US, it's the only way they can get around. As for drinking, there is no way that the government should be able to regulate what an adult citizen can put into their body. 18 is the maximum I think the drinking age should be.

Answer 2

yeah, why bother to lower the drinking age? in the usa its easier to get drugs, the kiddies may as well stick with that... cuz its not bad for your liver and the govt cant get taxes off them...

Answer 3

THEY SHOULD raise the age of the people that can drink because kids that are 18 yeaers oldd could drivr went they are drank so tat is why they should raise the age,

Answer 4

Here's a good idea when answering your question. Let's look at countries where the drinking age is 18 and see what the consequences are. Then we can correlate those consequences with the ones being hysterically predicted across the states right now.

Switzerland. Drinking age 18. Low rate of teenage pregnancy. Low rate of admission to hospital due to alcohol abuse.

France: Drink age 18, but kids introduced much earlier to the delights of cheese and fine wine. Once again, major socio-economic indicators related to alcohol are in line with Switzerland.

Netherlands: Drinking age 18 and weed officially tolerated. Ditto.

Compare and contrast...

USA: Drinking age 21. Massive alcohol abuse amongst college and university students. High rate of teenage pregnancy and delinquency.

Mismatch? OK, so I am oversimplfying things. But the reasons for these contradictions are academically well studied and understood. If you don't understand it, you really owe it to yourself to do some further research. The point is that youth these days are disenfranchised and are not given any responsibility. If they are old enough to vote, they are old enough to drink. The former is a far more important process and yet they are given this before they are given alcohol.

Answer 5

The debate has been started by college presidents, and their logic goes a little like this:

College students and kids their age drink - regardless of what the law says.  And since it's illegal for 18-20 year old students to drink the way adults do, they choose to binge drink at and before parties since they can't go out into public to have a few beers.  

Basically, they're saying that the older legal drinking age creates an environment where the problems of drinking - i.e. drunk driving, binge drinking, alcohol poisoning and alcohol related deaths - are exacerbated.  

And that's really the point - drinking in itself isn't the issue.  The issue should be framed as a discussion about how to best limit the negative consequences of drinking on younger people.  After all, that's what raising the drinking age was supposed to do in the first place.  

Blanket statements about maturity, morality and voting, etc have no place in the discussion.  The issue should be all about how to best protect young people - and society at large - from the negative consequences of people consuming alcohol.  If the facts show that lowering the drinking age does this - it should be lowered.  If not, it should be kept where it is, or even raised.  

Lets also keep in mind that the folks making this argument in the first place are both well respected and very considerate folks (for the most part) who have been charged with protecting and improving the lives of young folks - so they at least deserve some consideration.

Answer 6

An 18 yo today is sexually overmature and mentally immature.  It should probably stay the same.  Voting should go to 30.

Answer 7

Uh Well Lets See, 18 Is Considered As An Adult Therefore At 18 You Can Be Trialed As An Adult, Everywhere Else On The Globe 18 Is The Maximum, As Young As 15 Is Legalized In Some Places. So If 18 Is Considered A Legal Adult They Shouldnt Be Restricted From Drinking. and if you think the driving age should be raised then you are plain out nuts

Answer 8

i dont see why it shouldnt be lowered , if the state can try u as an adult for crimes , and the army can draft u in case of a war at 18 u should be allowed to drink at age , n raising the driving age is ridiculous, being 3 years older at 21 wont make u a better driver  

Answer 9

I fully agree with you and the recommendation you gave