Poll: Drinking Age.

And since you were "a fucking idiot" at 18 then all 18 year olds are as well. Got it.

 

I voted 18, but I could be tempted to have some conditional access to beer at a younger age. Like 'Legal with parental supervision'. Because it's certainly not a good thing for kids' first exposure to beer to happen at a frat party in college.

 

What I was getting at was the misconception that 21 year olds are substantially more responsible with alcohol than 18 year olds, in reality, they choose to binge-drink and drink intoxicated at about the same rate as one another. From there, it's all a cost-benefit analysis, if the US has decided that the benefits outweigh the costs for 21 year olds to be able to drink, then logically they should come to that same conclusion for 18 year-olds.

 

Drinking age - 21.
Exceptions - anyone under 21 in the military or anyone who has served in the military and been wounded or honorably discharged.

I grew up when the drinking age was 18 in NY but went to college in CO where it was 21, except for 3.2 beer [really another name for session beer]. I was bummed but was still able to get my fill of alcohol by making friends with older students. I just couldn't go into a bar and have a drink since I never had enough balls to get a fake I.D.
And yes, when you say somebody can't have something, they tend to get it anyway and perhaps overdo it but I firmly believe there are too many 18 - 21 y.o. out there who are not mature enough to handle legal drinking before 21. As there are many out there who are not mature enough to handle legal drinking at any age but there has to be some sort of cutoff and to change back now would be a fight that the industry would have to wage. Problem is - that fight would be like trying to get the warning labels off alcoholic beverages. It just won't happen.

 

If you can fight for your country at 18, you should be able to drink a damn beer.

 

The lowering of drinking ages by states in the late 1960s/early 1970s was part of a larger political movement to lower the age of majority from 21 (which includes the ability to vote, sign contracts, etc.) to 18 based on the social argument that minors (those under 21) were serving in the military and dying in Vietnam (often against their will) but we unable to enjoy the full benefits of society (e.g., vote for politicians they supported).

I personally support a drinking age of 18, but would be okay with 21 if the age of majority was also increased to 21. The contradiction in public policy that says an individual is old enough to do almost anything we as a society deems legal except for drink a beer is absurd.

 

Making it 19 won't "keep it out of schools". If kids want to drink, they'll drink.

 

No you can't! You can have guns if your parents let you shoot them, and mostly supervised. You can also drink if your parents let you without much issue...Shooting a gun doesn't create hours worth of impairment that might get your ass killed in a car accident. This logic is ridiculous; and I support gun ownership and lowering the drinking age. I don't support untenable arguments, though...

 

Right, I would agree, and I do support the lowering of the drinking age. However, the problem is one that nobody is isolating. They can drink, fine...BUT THEY DRINK AND DRIVE IN MUCH LARGER NUMBERS, SUBSEQUENTLY CRASHING AND KILLING IN MUCH LARGER NUMBERS. If we, as a society could make alcohol less taboo and more normalized, maybe that wouldn't happen, but we haven't yet. I support a drinking age of 18 as long as 18 year olds can prove to be more responsible. You can drink, just don't fucking drive. This is the issue because it kills a lot of people. Really, this IS THE issue. If someone could prove that it isn't the case and that 18 and 21 make no difference as far as drinking and putting people's lives at risk, there would be no argument because there couldn't be. I don't know how people don't realize this...

 

Random thoughts on a bunch if comments, some of which meant to be devil's advocate (wrong site? ):
For those referring to other (especially European) countries, I simply ask to ponder the public sentiment in the referenced country (vs what is often described as a "me" society in US), AND the fact the automobiles (and guns) are perhaps a larger part of our society (Detroit//large country/suburbia/2nd Amendment) that can magnify mistakes.

Agree with an alternate threshold under supervision (i.e. Otherwise under aged child with parent, soldier on base).

I don't think any answer is ideal, but the debate is good. I'd probably go with 19, mainly on the tenuous "out of high school" argument.

 

If you can brew it, you can drink it.

 

OR, they come to the conclusion that since the benefits don't outweigh the costs for allowing 18 year olds, then they shouldn't for 21 year olds and the drinking age logically goes up to err on the side of public safety. It goes either way based on that logic...The funny thing is I wish we could lower the drinking age in the US. I was going to debate your statistics more with you, but I am tired. The point is that kids at 18 drive drunk more often and kill more people...we tried it in the US and it had to be switched back because of that exact reason. The stats from that time period are there. If it weren't true, don't you think big business (brewing especially) would've lobbied that there was no difference and won? As soon as they changed it the fatalities lessened. I am telling you this from the point of view of wanting to lower the age, but realizing we need to change culturally a little more first. Canadians act more responsible at younger ages with drinking...not so in the US...however, Europeans act even more responsible than Canadians...we need to reach a point that we haven't reached in the US...

 

A high drinking age solves nothing. Responsibility comes from making mistakes and learning from those mistakes not age. Keeping grown adults from being able to drink and learn how to handle alcohol responsible helps no one.

 

Prohibition no matter what age does not work and it was proven to not work with our failed experiment during the 1920's. Same goes for marijuana. Most high school kids that were polled that admitted to drinking and/or using marijuana or other drugs said it was much easier to obtain illegal substances than alcohol. When alcohol was illegal in the US it was pretty easy to get as well. Hell I read a piece that said most politicians including FDR (who wisely worked with congress to lift Prohibition) had a secret stash of scotch and rum in the upstairs closet. If a kid is interested in drinking they will get it, if they are interested in getting heroin they will get it. All prohibition and limitations do is create a black market that increases crime and safety concerns. Alcohol and tobacco are legal because they are taxed. Like I said legalize or decriminalize every drug and tax the hell out of it, because it all boils down to money anyway. Safety is the illusion they want you to believe is the reason but the real reason is always about who gets paid!

 

21! Unless your in the service!
Having said that I don't believe there is a perfect age as some 18 year olds can drink with no issues as some 40 year olds should not drink at all! Since you can't possibly go case by case I believe 21 works as well as any age?

 

This. The responsibility gap between 18 and 21 is negligible as an earlier poster noted. Responsibility is learned, not gifted arbitrarily from one year to the next. Whether you learn to drink at 18 or 21 is arbitrary. People tend to grow up very quickly if they have to.

 

REALLY? Maybe we shouldn't even tell people what alcohol does, let them drive cars as soon as they can manage to get it into drive and they can figure out drunk driving and death all over again every generation for us...I think I understand your point, but it needs a little refinement...

 

Based on personal observation on site in more than one European country I'm thinking what makes the difference between here and Europe is the quality and availability of public transit and proximity to places to drink rather than growing up more responsible. E.g., In some English villages there are multiple pubs within walking distance of almost any place one can live. In addition, the is a difference in the laws in that most European countries are much more stict/stringent than the US. The consequences of drunk driving/failing a sobriety test can be very different. Also the acceptable levels of blood alcohol are much different in several European countries.

 

I was more mature when i was 18 then most other people my age. And it was still not mature enough to realize the consequences of drinking and driving. That is the single most important thing. When youre 18, you've had your license for a year, so youre most likely an uneducated driver. Throw some alcohol in there, and its a terrible mixture. Sure, there are outliers and people that CAN handle it. But mozart also wrote a symphony at 7 yrs old or w/e he was. Deosnt mean any 7 yr old could do it.

 

18