Do you remember your first taste of alcohol? How old were you? Twenty-one? All 50 states currently demand that their citizens reach age 21 before they can legally drink. But there's a growing movement that says mandatory minimum laws may do more harm than good. When determining the right date when a young person can take one of their final steps towards personal responsibility and freedom, what's the right answer?
wowwww. This is some of the stupidest replies i have ever seen in my life. Its sorry that most people in the US sit on their behinds in doors or working from home or not even working at all. While other people like the men and women who fight for our lives are out there serving for our country losing arms and legs in every kind of weather. Most of you are self centered and inconsiderate. Newsflash! Not every young adult abuses alcohol. Yea there is a certain amount of idiots out there but there is the same amount as 40 year olds as well. Just a little input for all of you who think that this law even really applies- with the way social newtworking and technology is, it is not hard to find someone over 21 to buy an underage person alcohol. there are thousands ways around it. fake identification- very easy. jsut as simple as calling up someone 21 and saying hey meet me at the store i need a 6 pack. they buy it and put it in the car and then you meet them somewhere else to get it. wow that was hard huh. go to a party and theres plenty for everyone so keep the drinking higher it doesnt really matter. raise it to the age of 30 , it still wont matter. i am not speaking for myself because preferably i do not like the way alcohol taste, it is disgustiong, but i will speak for the men and women who do like and deserve it. because 18-20 year olds are adults and they deserve just as much freedom as anyone else. k thanks.
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the constitution guarantees the full rights of a united states citizen at age 18; this includes the ability to enter into contract and to vote. At 18 you can die for your country but you can't enjoy a beer? If a case were ever to come before the supreme court the law would be struck down so fast.
yes the drink age should be lowered from 21.Because below 21 a person is not fully matured for drinking.
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your brain is not done delevoping at 18, and changes signifigantly until it finishes developing in your mid twenties. your lungs are done developing at 18, so if you want to smoke and ruin them, then go ahead. also, the federal drinking age is 18, so if your in the military you can drink on base if your under 21.
lowering the drinking age would also encourage more teenagers to drink at parties, and increase the accident rate of people under age 21.
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Drinking laws are nanny-state nonsense. The government should drop all laws that involve private, personal, individual choices. The state is a coercive third party that should protect its citizens' rights, not violate them by banning a peaceful, non-criminal activity.
I think 21 is a fairly arbitrary limit. We tell 18 year olds that they are old enough to smoke cigarettes , vote , serve in the military , serve on a jury, be held fully responsible for their actions, but not drink. One of the comments said that lowering the drinking age to 18 would encourage 15-17 year olds to drink, but in reality many of these kids already do.
For many people, part of the attraction of drinking is that it is not allowed. I think it also encourages kids to excess when they are able to get a drink and this is an even more dangerous state than a few drinks. I think we should continue to prohibit intoxication, but allow adults the right to make adult decisions. I think they are doing it anyway.
Most states in the nation adopted a minimum drinking age of 21 soon after federal passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which required states to maintain a minimum drinking age of 21 in order to avoid a reduction in federal highway funds. The original intention of the law was to reduce the incidents of alcohol-related accidents among people under 21. But since passage of this legislation, and the raising of the drinking age in many states, the percentage of people who drink between the ages of 18 to 20 has skyrocketed. Many say the prohibitions have actually encouraged secretive binge drinking, more dangerous behavior, and less educational programming targeting this age group. Respected law enforcement officials and university presidents have recently called for changes in the federal law to permit states to lower the drinking age.
It's time for the nation to repeal these Prohibition-era laws and adopt a more intelligent, progressive, and educational approach to drinking among younger adults. These laws simply don't work, they aren't enforceable any longer, and if anything they are counterproductive. Literally millions of responsible young adults are already consuming alcohol and that's not going to change . What we need to do is stop wasting the taxpayers money chasing, charging and prosecuting responsible young adults who want to have a beer, and start putting the money where it ought to be, in promoting smart education about responsible drinking, and in pursuing far more serious criminals, including those at all ages who drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs .
--
Eric Paine
President & Founder
Drink At 18
www.drinkat18.com
The best argument I've heard for the drinking age to be 18 is.
You can go to war at 18, I think you should be able to have a beer too.
It's hypocritical to hold people criminally responsible and possibly draft them into the military at age 18, but to then turn around and tell them they're too young to have a sip of wine or beer at a baseball game for three more years.
You can kill yourself with Tabacco legally before 21 and you can be thrown into an uneeded war and be killed before you are 21. Either lower the age or change the system.
yes we all know the argument, age of majority vs safety of citizens. or or examine the argument with the core democratic values of
for lower age=pursuit of equality, liberty, Justice vs common good and Life=current age.
Now when does the law go too far into the rights of people??? Yes this law is used to save people so it says and lets say that tougher enforcement, idea of dd and realization that drunk driving is bad, change in alcy advertising had no effect on the lowering of fatalities and that is all based on the drinking age even if canada had similar effects even though no change in drinking age happened.
Ok lets hold this true. Now everyone who uses this as there major arguement let me ask u if u would also support all this legistlation with the same idea as the 21 year old age based on the safety of people based on there psych/physiological needs. Heres my idea: Any person with prehypertension(above average blood pressure) or is classified as unhealthy would be not allowed to buy or consume: fast food , soft drinks, candy, cigarettes etc and is shown on their license whether these things can be bought or not.
AGE DISCRIMINATION is what the drinking age is and what I have proposed is HEALTH DISRCIMINATION which doesnt exist yet IT IS THE SAME CONCEPT but should be even more acceptable bc the health benefits are great but the right to freedom is limited. but people would then buy these things for there unhealthy friends and then penalties would be stiffened and bam its the same idea as drinking age lol. but MANY MORE TIMES people would be saved by this law extending life expectancy by years. and if u can say that that idea would work then wow freedom is not something of any importance to you.
The truth is there is immature people at every age who make mistakes and people die oh yah lets not forget eveyone dies anyways but people die and
underage adults and adolescents will always drink and you know why bc its an excuse to be.., and just like in other adults drinking Moderately, increases extroversion, open to new experience, agreeableness and lowers neuroticism (Big 5 personality) allowing people to be more social thats why many a people underage or not drink simply put its fun
Either the age of majority should be raised to 21 or the drinking law lowered to 18. A minor is not considered to be responisble for their own actions, their parents/or guardian are,
But an adult is presumed under the law to be able to handle their own affairs so by what system or moral ethics is used to refuse to allow an adult citizen the oportunity to purchase a legal substance?
I am from Kentucky we hold on to grudges til the die of old age, then have them stuff and mounted
You could technically say porn is legal for 18 year olds, but I think it is worng period.
What I am trying to say is that even when they turn 21, they get crazy and go binge drinking. What does 18s do with beer?
It does not hurt to wait a little longer.
18 year olds are allowed to buy and smoke cigarettes and seeing the adults around them and organizations like truth and "live above the influence" keep them from abusing this right. People die of lung cancer from smoking all the time and teens learn about this early on through parents, teachers, counselors etc. Knowing this one cannot automatically assume that 18 year olds will abuse alcohol if it was made legal to them. I think it would help them learn earlier on not to abuse the right because the adults around them will teach them before they go off to live on their own. We can't expect anyone who has been sheltered from something for so long all of a sudden be allowed to do it without abusing it. It's like when a 16 year old gets his/her license, before the license comes the permit. The permit helps them learn right from wrong so that when they do have their license and are put out with innocent pedestrians they have more of an idea of what they're doing and how to do it in the safest way possible. Be keeping all alcohol from anyone under 21 were putting people more at risk of abusing the drug. Even if the law isn't changed from 21 to 18 I believe it should at least be altered to where 18 year olds are allowed to drink when around adults at least.
If you can enlist in the army and die for your country at war at the age of 18 then you should definitely be able to enjoy a beer with some buddies.
Your brain isn't fully developed until you're 25. Don't you think that you should wait until you're at least 21 before you start messing it up?
This is the only good argument on the "NO" side of this issue, however 18 year olds are allowed to smoke cigarettes. How is that less harmful?
Come on. We can't be responsible for our debt. We can't be responsible with fetuses. Do you really think an 18 year old, still young at heart, would say no to a binge drinking party?
I'm 19 and a freshman in college. I'm surrounded by drinking all the time. While I drink on occasion, I would say "No" to a binge drinking party. It's stupid and unsafe. I'm responsible enough to make that decision. It's not that hard. On the contrary, I know adults who drive under the influence of alcohol more often than any of my peers. Age does not determine responsibility. My parents taught me how to be responsible and make safe choices, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun now and then. I believe that if the age were lowered, parents would be more apt to teach their children safe drinking habits, rather than complete abstinence from alcohol, which clearly isn't working.
Well good for you for surrounding yourself with good people.
BUT they are too young to drink, and they still have not fully become adult yet, psychologically wise. They are still prone to peer pressure. You can't take the risk
In your first argument, you list perceived problems with (presumably) your generation. It is not the exclusive realm of young people to be irresponsible with their debt. I don't know how you can be irresponsible with a fetus,as they tend to be pretty hard to lose, but even so, abortion is hardly the sole realm of those under 21, though they certainly have much more reason to have an abortion. The fact that Americans are irresponsible does not justify punishing young people. Your point that many young people would not say no to a binge drinking party is detrimental to your argument. How many people under 21 die of alcohol poisoning because his friends didn't want to rat him out to authorities that could have saved his life? How many people under 21 attepmt to drive themselves home when they are too drunk because they are afraid of getting caught when they call a cab, or a friend, or their parents, to get home? The artificially high drinking age kills people. As far as peer pressure goes, is there a magic age when you stop caring about peer pressure? I have seen old men peer pressured into doing things they didn't want to. Everyone is prone to peer pressure, not just young people. Your arguments would be better suited to a total ban on alcohol. If you are old enough to live on your own, sign legal contracts, smoke, be tried criminally as an adult, and fight, kill, and die for your country, you are plenty old enough to have a couple beers.
The drinking age used to be dependant on the state, but the fed's got involved and passed an act where they would reduce the federal highway funds to any state that didn't raise their age to 21. My guess is that this was probably the result of lobbying by Mothers Against Drunk Driving or some similar group. This is just one more incident where a small number force their will on the masses. We need to settle on an age for legal maturity and 18 seems to be it for everything but drinking. Sure, drunk drivers kill. My brother was killed by a drunk driver. But I think changing the drinking age doesn't help. Education helps and more enforcement helps. While traffic fatalities have remained fairly constant over the past 25 years, the percentage of alcohol related fatalities have been reduced. I believe this has been because of years of education and enforcement rather than the age change. http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html
I say this because the reduction was gradual over many years, not a big spike after the age change.
i think it should be lowered but not to 18 i think it should be 19 so most are at least out of high school
i am not 21 but im not dumb i can tell when i've had enough i dont drink to see how drunk i can get and i never even think of getting in my truck
we just go out to our camping spot and sit around a fire and bullshit
i know there are a lot lf stupid people out there but there are also a lot of responsible ones
it doesnt matter how high the legal age is people will always be able to find buyers
We've heard all these arguments before. When Massachusetts lowered the age from 21 to 18 back in '73 or so, the bars overflowed with teenagers. I know..I was one of them. It was a disaster. Don't we learn from our own history? It's like Bill Clinton's repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act back in 1999 -- which was put into place in 1933 to prevent a repeat of the stock market crash of 1929, which ushered in the Great Depression -- we're now repeating those days with another financial disaster in the making! This is insanity! Drinking alcohol is not the same as serving in the military! Or voting!
Serving in the military is much MORE dangerous. People are trying to kill you and you are trained to become a killing machine. An un-informed voter has its own dangers, particularly the inclination to follow cults of personality and charismatic leaders. If we truly believe that 18 year olds are adults, then they should have the right to drink.
..seriously, let's look at what this guy believes and you'll soon see just what a whack-job he really is!
He believes earth is 6,000 years old (unrelated to this debate but needs to be brought up). Debunking science with irriational faith? Strike one.
He believes that despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, alcohol is detrimental in any amount. Debunking science with irrational faith once again? Strike two.
He doesn't believe cops are doing their job. Well..truth of the matter is, the legal intoxication limit continues to go down. Strike three.
That's just how irrational this guy is and anything he says should be taken very lightly and laughed off.
These are not just limited to red wine either. The alcohol itself has several heart-healthy benefits, including increase in HDL cholesterol levels, which in turn reduces risk of heart disease and stroke (by as much as 40%), and in the event of a heart attack or a stroke, reduces mortality risk by about 20%. Also moderate, regular drinkers are less likely to have hypertension and tend to have better longevity than their abstaining counterparts. Note, however, I said moderate drinking. Drink heavily definitely negates these effects and introduces new risks.
Of course there are exceptions to this. Pregnant mothers should not drink alcohol, as well as people on certain medications such as prescription sleep aids, and/or those with a predisposition to abuse.
I take a drink per day, not just because I like the refreshing aspect of it, but I drink as much for my health as I do because I enjoy a nice drink. Lowering said drinking age would give more responsible individuals access to these health benefits, which has a positive effect overall, as there are far more responsible drinkers than abusers.
I agree with the comments that something must be done to take away the excitement of drinking. As someone who's family was raised in England, I was drinking beer around the house, with parental supervision and permission, long before I was 21. When visiting relatives in England we routinely went out to pubs with cousins who were over 18 but under 21. Did this make me a more responsible drinker? I think so, although there were definitely times when I had more than I should while at college, however, I was not driving at the time. One thing I did notice in England the last time I was there, was that even hardcore drinkers did not risk drinking and driving, as the punishments were very harsh. I agree with the suggestion that colleges cracking down on on-campus drinking will just push it off campus where there is more likelihood of people driving. Perhaps a middle ground is permitting persons over 18 to drink beer and wine (I'm not sure about harder alcohol because it is much easier to drink large quantities of it faster) but make the punishment for drinking and driving draconian. Most on-campus students wouldn't care as they would be pedestrians for the evening. I realize there are laws against drinking and driving but obviously, at 250 lbs, I can have a beer or two on the way home from work and it will make little difference to my BAC and driving ability. Not so for a 120 lb to 170 lb college student. And there is no law against me doing so, although there are legal limits for BAC. I say make it illegal for a person between 18 and 21 to have ANY alcohol in their system while driving and then ENFORCE the law. First offense they lose their license for a year, second they lose it until age 21. That of course will not stop the people who drive without licenses, just as people do without insurance but that is another issue. I think the above solution walks the middle ground. 18 yo's COULD drink, but could not drink and drive..at all!
If young adults nationwide are ignoring the legal consequences of underaged drinking when the cap is at 21, what happens when we lower the cap to 18? Will proponents a decade from now argue that young adults are ignoring the cap of 18, and that the legal age should be 14? Play off of argument lowering the legal age: "We should have students learn about responsible drinking from their parents before they enter high school (instead of college)." I think the legal age has a graduated effect, a 3 year cushion that is ignored, but lower than that it is considered unacceptable. There is anecdotal evidence to the contrary, but on the absolute terms the legal age keeps teenagers from buying alcohol over the counter and lowers overall access, which is the goal of the law, to keep alcohol out of the hands of most young adults so that it doesn't become an addictive part of their life as they transition to adults. Its a popular argument that a lower age limit would also decrease the "excitement/deviant" aspect of alcohol consumption, but this should remain a stereotyped/speculative/anecdotal response unless there are significant statistics to back it up.
Okay, folks we have been down this road before when it was 18-----then the gov't wamted it raised to 21 save lives on the highway and would punish states that did not stay @ 21 by taking away their road fund money....
So have all the lives that needed saving "BEEN SAVED" AND the college presidents and others now "they are drinking anyway" so lets lower the age and let them get leagal earlier so they have more change at road deaths etc,,,,,,Where is the justice for the DEAD & INJURED? Most may not have insurance.....who pays????? the families or will the insurance companies get in the game and now yu need insurance aganist the "drinking driver who is under age". That really should put some money where it counts...still not in the victim's pockets.
So who pays for roads now; underage drinking drivers or EVERYONE??????
Protect Lives------Save our ROAD dollars---don't MIX insurance and drinking--------
21 may be legal but with limited life experiences under the belt!!!!
18 is not legal and is in the process of learning life which consisit of laws and rules---stay clean and 21 will come soon enough.
------------LETS GIVE A CHANCE FOR 18 YO TO LIVE UNTIL THEY ARE 21----------
I thought about addressing this issue with my "professional hat" firmly in place, but am choosing the simpler path of addressing it wearing my over riding "parent hat". As a Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Professional, I could quote you lots of stats that indicate lowering the drinking age makes no sense whatsoever, but evidently a group of well-educated college professionals are not swayed by clear black and white information.
As a parent of 5 now adult children, perhaps this question will be more impactful: What about your average 18 year old makes you think this young man or woman would make a more responsible choice at the age of 18 than at the age of 21?!! I was 18 once, my husband and children were all 18 once. Our experience as individuals was that eighteen on alcohol can't possibly be less dangerous than eighteen without the effects of this mind altering drug.
Think, people! My best method while holding on to the reins of a racing team of hormone happy teens was to delay onset and hang tough for as long as possible.
And excuse me, what do voting and joining the military have to do with drinking? These are 3 totally different rights and responsibilities. The right to each is not in any way related to the right to the other two.
There are so many more promising methods (some we've even tried and found to work!) to curbing under age drinking. Lowing the drinking age to 18 would be foolishness. How about we try some things that work!
llv
"black and white information'..while numbers can be convincing, they are also usually misleading. I am so sick of hearing "21 has saved X number of lives since 1984". You can make numbers say whatever you want, my friend. I could statistically prove that Lady Gaga is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ if i wanted to.
I am really offended by a couple of your terms. For example "hormone happy teams". I happen to be a teenager, and I feel that this is very rude. I understand you are a parent, but, being a parent, you should know HOW MUCH OF AN IMPACT YOUR ACTIONS AND WORDS HAVE ON YOUR CHILDREN. YOU are the number one role model. I don't care for alcohol , and yet my parents have offered it to me on more than one occasion, and I am well below the drinking age. This doesn't mean anything though, because they are trying to teach me to be responsible with substances that can impair judgement. If the parents would educate their kids , not that alcohol is bad, but that alcohol should be taken in moderation, as with everything, then all of these alcohol-related accident statistics would be lowered. I believe that the drinking age should in fact be lower than the driving age, because then the children know how to handle alcohol before they drive a vehicle drunk. If the alcohol age is 5 years above driving age, then those who have just become legal for drinking will be overconfident in their driving abilities, and THIS will cause accidents, not the over-consumption of alcohol. It is the overconfidence of those who are legal drinking age.
One concern I have is how dropping the legal age to 18 will increase underage drinking among youth under 18. I gather that if the minimum legal drinking age is 18, 18 year olds would be able to legally purchase alcohol. This increases the number of people who might be willing to purchase alcohol for underage drinkers, and these new proxy buyers will closer to the age of teenagers to young to drink legally. I am confident that lowering the legal drinking age to 18 will have the unintended consequence of increasing underage drinking among younger teens.
in my school i know countless kids who are under 18 and drink. dont be blind. lowering the age will not have an effect on kids drinking underage, because they already do. hell i know a 13 year old who drinks with his parents, and he isnt a bad person, he is smart and gets better grades than i did when i was a freshman
By your reasoning:
We are punishing one group of individuals because another group may become more likely to commit a crime. Children under 18 have more societal support mechanisms (i.e., parents) and less opportunity to do damage to others if they do become drunk. With the current law, illegal drinkers are too far removed from non-legal methods of intervention to identify and correct a problem before it becomes serious. There is also less likely to be a moderating force that the person will listen to (or who will speak up) when the do become intoxicated and start acting irresponsibly.
From this standpoint making drinking legal when children enter high school as opposed to their senior year would give the parents and children more time to work through issues (legally) and hopefully have those children ready once they leave home at 18. The danger to ones health can be handled via the FDA and not via Congress via labels and advertising.
I am against lowering the drinking age in America. Other societies have less issues with this because they do not HAVE as much as Americans. We are an addictive society .. we want more and more; larger quantities; whatever we can get. Other societies don't have this mindset or the availability of the quantities of things that we have. Secondly, I disagree on the premise that binge drinking happens because it is illegal. On the contrary, binge drinking happens because kids are free to make decisions for the first time and have not been trained by their parents, ministers, teachers .. society, how to make good decisions. When we start teaching everyone that there are consequences for their behavior, we will be in a much better way.
The decision to "binge drink" most likely has many personal and environmental concerns but the Legal 21 law and most of the supporting studies are more concerned with "drunk driving" as opposed to "binge drinking". As a matter of reality this fact (multiple concerns and an "addictive society") makes the abolishment of drinking impossible (nor is such abolishment necessarily a desirable outcome). As a consequence there will be abuse and death. The resources spent to lobby, legislate and enforce Legal 21 would be better spent devising better ways to prevent bystanders from becoming victims of the decisions of others. Those who leave themselves defenseless and in a vulnerable situation are only slightly less "culpable" than those to perpetrate the crime. Admittedly, this is a societal problem as well since we encourage individuals to rely on others to keep them safe (through deterrence and prevention) as opposed to expecting individuals to affect a meaningful self-defense.
I'm suspicious of why many colleges are coming out in favor of a lower drinking age. I know that local colleges provide transportation to bar crawls, and are involved in other events where alcohol is served. I can't help thinking that their potential liability would be reduced if they didn't have to worry about an under 21 year old individual getting drunk and injuring themselves or others, after drinking at an event they were sponsoring or somehow facilitating. I think that is all there is too it.
My daughter was at a party not long ago and the poloice intervened. Everyone at the party was forced to take a breathalyser test. My daughter's test was negative. I still received a call from the police about my daugters attendance at the party. I asked the officer the age of my daughter he replied "19". I then reminded him that she was an adult and hung up.
i wish you were one of my parents lol
Hoorah!
You don't need to go to Europe to prove that a lower drinking age has no ill effects. One could just travel to Canada where the drinking age is either 18 or 19 depending on the province. Canada has a lower mortality rate then the U.S. due to DUI.
I live 7 miles from the Quebec border and have watched the effects of raising the drinking age on the local youth.
Now, one only needs to take a 20 Min. trip to one of the border towns in Quebec on a Sat. night. There you will find where our towns young population spends their nights. They are dilligent about always having a DD. In this regard the educational system has paid off.
We have men and women that have served 2 tours in Iraq and are now married with children. They can be arrested for possion of a beer. What a joke!
There are many ways to look at this subject. One being, if 18 year old kids can go off to war carrying firearms, etc. to fight and die for our country, they should be considered adults, and be allowed to buy alcohol. I would be interested in finding out what the age related statistics are concerning drunk driving accidents and deaths, or any alchohol related deaths.