NationStates Jolt Archive

What should the drinking age be? Stay at 21? Go lower?

In my opinion it should be lower then 21, 18 to be precise; I don't mean drop suddenly to 18, but a gradual change. After all, at 18 we can drive machines weighing several thousand pounds at dangerous speeds on sometimes uneven surfaces, inhale smoke that causes tar to coat our lungs and develop cancer, join an organization that teaches you how to handle dangerous firearms and kill other humans, and vote for the person who best sells their image on TV as the 'leader of the free world', but we can't legally enjoy a nice Jaeger or Cap'n Morgans?

What should the drinking age be? Stay at 21? Go lower?

In my opinion it should be lower then 21, 18 to be precise; I don't mean drop suddenly to 18, but a gradual change. After all, at 18 we can drive machines weighing several thousand pounds at dangerous speeds on sometimes uneven surfaces, inhale smoke that causes tar to coat our lungs and develop cancer, join an organization that teaches you how to handle dangerous firearms and kill other humans, and vote for the person who best sells their image on TV as the 'leader of the free world', but we can't legally enjoy a nice Jaeger or Cap'n Morgans?
I'm assuming that the drinking age you're asking about would be in the United States....in which case I go with my grandad's theory. "Old enough to know his/her limits is old enough for me".** But there's no real option on the poll for that, so I guess I"ll go with the flexible one....

**'Course, this is a guy who used to console me through breakups of superfluous high school relationships with wine and cheese.....and wine-drunk is a BAD drunk to be.

I don't think there should be a drinking age. If children are exposed to alcohol early, in moderation, then they are less likely to be binge drinkers when they are adults. And there would be less of a problem with teenage drinking - as the taboo wouldn't be there. I've seen so many people who drink like crazy, until they turn 21, and then don't drink at all. Wonder why? Because breaking the law is fun for many people - they're doing something that others say is wrong. It isn't the drinking, but the breaking of the rules, that they really liked.

It should be lowered to about 13. Same goes for voting, smoking, driving, joining the army, and so on. *nods*



Seriously, I think 16 or 18 is far enough. 21 is a bit unreasonable IMNSHO.

To be honest, I really don't care. 18 seems fine to me. If you wanna drink yourself silly, do it.

Although for you guys I voted 21 just to be mean. XD

Simonist']I'm assuming that the drinking age you're asking about would be in the United States....in which case I go with my grandad's theory. "Old enough to know his/her limits is old enough for me".** But there's no real option on the poll for that, so I guess I"ll go with the flexible one....

**'Course, this is a guy who used to console me through breakups of superfluous high school relationships with wine and cheese.....and wine-drunk is a BAD drunk to be.

Well, you could've picked the fourth or sixth option, whichever mood you were in... :D

21 is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. It should be much lower. Drink up kiddies its good for you.:D

edit: Im not encouraging underage drinking;)

18.

19 years, four months, 17 days, nine hours, 42 minutes, and three seconds.

Seems as good an arbitrary line as any other.

I'm a fan of bringing it back to 18. (BTW I'm 31) I think that if you're old enough to smoke, drive, vote, and have sex with someone your age or older, and be executed without a special hearing, then why not throw in alcohol too?

I think the drinking age for ale and wine should be 12, while hard liquor should be not permissable 'til age 15.

However, I also don't believe anybody should be allowed a driver's license 'til age 24.

21, because there are more inmature and reckless people than there are responsible...

21, because there are more inmature and reckless people than there are responsible...

Then we should just ban it altogether!

Then we should just ban it altogether!


bah, nonsense. at least by the age of 21 it gives young teenagers a chance to grow up and understand the consequences of alcohol....

Then we should just ban it altogether!

Agreed!!

...With the sarcasm. Not the whole banning liquor thing...

I know the drinking age is 21, but I liked the uncouth barbarians answer best, anyway. :)
I don't think it's a BAD idea to have things in stages... driving at 16, voting at 18... that sorta thing. You don't want to pile everything on at once. Otherwise there's nothing to shoot for later! That said, our drinking age here is 19, and it works just fine. Better to get some years of experience driving before you start drinking, so you get it drilled into your head that drinking and driving is bad... not that everyone learns that, anyway...

Limited drinking at 16 Full drinking at 18
Voluntary voting at 16 Compulsary voting at 18
Age of consent at 16
Driver's license at 18

If we lived in a perfect world... btw i notice you had a very yankeenormative introduction. Not all of live in the states.

Limited drinking at 16 Full drinking at 18

how would your enforce limited drinking?:confused:

18. If you can die for your country, vote, sign contracts, ect. you ought to be able to drink alchohol. I don't think that 18 year olds would be very responsible drinkers, but most 21 year olds I know aren't very responsible either.

There should be some way to remedy that, but I don't know what it is.

how would your enforce limited drinking?:confused:

I'd say not being able to buy drinks, but not being able to be prosecuted for drinking them. I think that system would work fine.

If we as a society decide that full weight of the responsibilities of citizenship come at a certain age the benefits should come as well.

I don't think that 18 year olds would be very responsible drinkers

Pish. 18 is old enough to be responsible.

bah, nonsense. at least by the age of 21 it gives young teenagers a chance to grow up and understand the consequences of alcohol....
How can you 'grow up and understand the consequences' when you can't legally drink it until 21? There's a reason teenages often engage in drinking way too much

I'd say not being able to buy drinks, but not being able to be prosecuted for drinking them. I think that system would work fine.

interesting idea i guess...

Pish. 18 is old enough to be responsible.
yeah. I think so too, but my experience leads me to believe that even though it is technically old enough to be responsible, that the actual level of responsibility is rather low (in areas outside of drinking also) but then again I grew up way too fast so at 18 I was responsible for stuff that most people don't have to do until they are out of college, so I can't gauge well what's a normal amount of irresponsible behavior. At 15 I was working full time and paying all my bills, so when I see 18 year olds whining about having to take the garbage out or how their parents didn't pay the car insurance on the car they got for their 16th birthday (as a gift) I get annoyed, I get even more annoyed when they whine that their car is 3 years old :eek: My first car was older than me, and I paid cash for it myself.......but that's a whole other rant.

how would your enforce limited drinking?:confused:
I think they do it in Britain. You have to order ships or something with chips at a pub.
Anyway, I’m for there being no drinking age whatsoever. I don’t want to ban drinking; I want anybody to be able to legally drink.

I would prefer that the "drinking age" be abolished entirely, and that the penalties for failure to consume responsibly (drunk driving, etc.) be far more severe. I don't buy this idea that responsibility or maturity magically appear with age (too many idiot, irresponsible, and immature adults running around out there). Neither do I think people should be punished before any crime has occured, which is what age restrictions of this sort essentially amount to.

Edit:


I don't think there should be a drinking age. If children are exposed to alcohol early, in moderation, then they are less likely to be binge drinkers when they are adults.


Indeed. Age restrictions of this sort do nothing more than create ignorance of responsibility. These restrictions do not stop "underaged" drinking, but only cause the "underaged" to try to hide their consumption, further destroying responsibility and making the activity that much more dangerous.

How can you 'grow up and understand the consequences' when you can't legally drink it until 21? There's a reason teenages often engage in drinking way too much

would a 16yro teen know what to do if they got drunk? what if they passed out? i know there are plenty of dumb people over 21, but there is a certain amount of resposibility that comes with alcohol. alcohol is not like smoking and its not like voting. alcohol influences your mind and body. drinking too much will cause alcohol poisoning. how many teenagers would know when to quit?

yeah. I think so too, but my experience leads me to believe that even though it is technically old enough to be responsible, that the actual level of responsibility is rather low (in areas outside of drinking also) but then again I grew up way too fast so at 18 I was responsible for stuff that most people don't have to do until they are out of college, so I can't gauge well what's a normal amount of irresponsible behavior. At 15 I was working full time and paying all my bills, so when I see 18 year olds whining about having to take the garbage out or how their parents didn't pay the car insurance on the car they got for their 16th birthday (as a gift) I get annoyed, I get even more annoyed when they whine that their car is 3 years old :eek: My first car was older than me, and I paid cash for it myself.......but that's a whole other rant.

Yeah, but some people are just spoilt brats. If they're raised a spoilt brat, they're probably going to be irresponsible whether they're 16, 18, 21, or 65. :p

I'd say *most* 18 year olds are responsible when it comes to alcohol. Many people around my age don't even drink...and very few of the remainder drink until they throw up. (Though I could simply be inobservant with regards to that one, considering I don't normally drink with people who can't handle their booze :p)

I say give a choice:

Legal Drinking License or Driver's License.

Can't have both.

Otherwise, raise it to 25.

I say give a choice:

Legal Drinking License or Driver's License.

Can't have both.

Otherwise, raise it to 25.
ohh I like that......I like that a lot......

teacher can I change my answer? pleeeeeeeeeeaaasssssssseeee????

I say give a choice:

Legal Drinking License or Driver's License.

Can't have both.

Otherwise, raise it to 25.

I pick option A!

(I use public transport anyway. Ha!) :D

how many teenagers would know when to quit?

Most or all, if the community (mainly parents) is willing to teach them, instead of relying on restrictions like the "drinking age" to conveniently foist responsibility on to someone else thereby making it easy to ignore the problem. (Edit: The problems associated with alcohol will go away once the family and community decide they are ready to deal with them, instead of just trying to pass the buck on to someone else).

Limited drinking at 16 Full drinking at 18
Voluntary voting at 16 Compulsary voting at 18
Age of consent at 16
Driver's license at 18

If we lived in a perfect world... btw i notice you had a very yankeenormative introduction. Not all of live in the states.

I would not trust a 16 year-old with the vote. I've seen too many student goverment elections.

Pish. 18 is old enough to be responsible.

Most college students aren't that responsible.

Most college students aren't that responsible.

Which is the problem of the people, not the rule. If you're not mature by 18, you probably shouldn't be allowed to dress yourself.

I would not trust a 16 year-old with the vote. I've seen too many student goverment elections.

Yeah, they tend to resemble real political elections.

"less homework and more recess! oh, and I'm pretty and popular!"

"less taxes and more subsidies and welfare! oh, and I'm pretty and popular!"

I think 16 year-olds would handle the switch just fine.

19 years, four months, 17 days, nine hours, 42 minutes, and three seconds.

Seems as good an arbitrary line as any other.

... Arbitrary? I think not ...

I would not trust a 16 year-old with the vote. I've seen too many student goverment elections.

Most student governments are rather irrelevant, so I don't think it's comparable.

Eliminate it completely.

Not only going from a libertarian point of a view, but a practical one as well. Look at places like France. There is no big drinking laws(If I remember right, drinking at 14 except for a little wine and whatnot is allowed before, buying is 16), yet kids aren't dying left and right. Something being taboo just makes people, especially teens, want to do it more.

Sure, I'm only 17, but whenever I get money I can get drinks no problem. However, when I do drink, since its still a hassle, and we have to get rid of it fast, we just drink it quick, and try to get as drunk as possible, to make it worth it. Its fun as hell, but still...

The greatest thing is california. Me and my friends can just go down to this mexican pool hall, and buy drinks. They aren't cheap, but its no problem getting them. Last week, some random mexican was buying us beer and nacho's, for the hell of it. He was awesome.

I'm gonna have to go the feminist/religous route and say BAN ALCOHOL! Prohibition 2006!

So many great men have lost theirs lives due to alcohol, whether from drinking themselves to death (ala Bon Scott) or just plain getting in drunk driving incidents.

would a 16yro teen know what to do if they got drunk? what if they passed out? i know there are plenty of dumb people over 21, but there is a certain amount of resposibility that comes with alcohol. alcohol is not like smoking and its not like voting. alcohol influences your mind and body. drinking too much will cause alcohol poisoning. how many teenagers would know when to quit?

Probably not - I didn't know what to do the first time I got drunk, or how to tell when I was drunk. Of course, if I hadn't had to hide the fact that I was drinking at all from all the responsible adults, maybe I could have had one around to make sure I didn't go too far....

Luckily, the one and only night I blacked out was my first night of drinking, and I was with other girls (admittedly one who had a crush on me) and a gay guy - all whom I trusted.

Perhaps if I had been exposed to at least some alcohol consumption earlier in life, I would have been more aware of its effects on my body.

I started drinking when I was 15. I probably started drinking later than most of the kids I knew, who were drinking or smoking pot by the time they were 10-12. When I went to the bar, I always sat away from the barkeeper and had older friends order drinks. I almost never got ID'd until I turned 19, when I no longer cared about being ID'd.

It doesn't matter when you legalize drinking, kids are going to do it anyways. From my experiences in school the people who dealt with alcohol the worst were either the people who were either chronic drunks by the age of 8 or the ones that waited until they were celebrating graduation before getting completely plastered beyond recognition.

The important thing is to keep people from drinking and driving, and teaching people to drink responsibly. Instead of having a school nurse waive her finger at the class they should have some street people come in and give the students a healthy dose of reality.

The Bruce

i don't believe anyone should have to live in conditions that would inspire them to impare their own judgement or that of others. nor that there should need to be any sort of government imposed age apathied on anything.

you've got to see that in context though. one in which no one has to drive anything either, or at least not everyone and no one all the time.

we have no paved roads and no mass production of cars or guns so if someone wants to drink as long as they don't get belligerant, and if they do, belligerance itself may be an offence that impared judgement is not an exceptable excuse for if the imparement was fully vouluntary.

so i'm saying, if we want to talk about 'should' there should be no age of majority at all. no statutory, no age based cerfuw, no contributing to the deliquency of, et c. et c.

legaly binding contracts are the only, as i can see, reasonable exception, and anyone past the sixth grade in the cameroian education system, ought to be able to handle that as well.

of course you may need to be familiar with r.a.lafferty's description of the cameroian education system to see what i'm getting at there.

=^^=
.../\...

bah, nonsense. at least by the age of 21 it gives young teenagers a chance to grow up and understand the consequences of alcohol....I don't know my limits because I turned 21, I know my limits because I tested them.

The idea here in Germany is that kids get used to alcohol first and then get to drive, instead of the other way around. Beer and most wines can be legally bought at age 16 while harder stuff is available at age 18. Driving is at age 18.

I find it rather irresponsible to allow kids to drive, get a feeling that they can control their cars and then give them the opportunity to lose that control at age 21, without really being allowed to experience first hand what it does to you.