Lower legal drinking age?

[2cpuminimum]

Check statistics on alchohol related crime before and after the american drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 nationally. Did DUI increase right afterwards? If so, that would suggest that prohibition is ineffective at acheiving its alleged goals, and therefore has no true justification whatsoever.

 

[MajinWade]

I did one of these before. Don't forget to mention the extra revenue of state tax money from the added sales of alcohol. States love more money.

 

[ThEFeAR]

Originally posted by: Loic2003
At 18 you should be able to make your own decisions. However:


quote:

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o They teach responsibility when drinking
o Less likely to binge drink

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is wrong. It doesn't. Check out the UK! huge amounts of binge drinking and little responsibility. Some say it's because pubs close at 11, but I donn''t believe this is the case.

I couldn't agree more, binge drinking in this country is reaching stupid levels. You can't go anywhere on a Friday or Saturday night without seeing roaming gangs of drunken idiots. Even worse is that people under 18 get their hands on it as well, so you end up with drunken packs of kids hanging around street corners.

Ho-hum...

 

[Coquito]

Promote family bonding. Nothing like a cold one with mom & dad over warm sunday grill.

 

[schmedy]

Originally posted by: VoteQuimby
ok

- Legal age (18) for voting/military but not old enough to drink
o Old enough to die for our country
o Old enough to vote for office

- No longer a rebellious trend
o Polls show that after you reach the age of 21 drinking looses it appeal
o Removes binge drinking from college campuses
o No longer leads to abusive drinking habits


- Allowed in bars
o Responsible drinking environment


- Other Countries
o Most have a drinking age of 18 or lower
o They teach responsibility when drinking
o Less likely to binge drink

Your argument on the serving in the military and can't drink doesn't really hold water. When I was in the Marine Corps you were allowed to drink on base while 18. Mind you this was granted by the CG, and at times if there were problems with certian units drinking out of control it would be revoked for a period of time and/or they might not be allowed to drink in the barracks only in the EClub.

 

[C'DaleRider]

Originally posted by: schmedy

Originally posted by: VoteQuimby
ok

- Legal age (18) for voting/military but not old enough to drink
o Old enough to die for our country
o Old enough to vote for office

- No longer a rebellious trend
o Polls show that after you reach the age of 21 drinking looses it appeal
o Removes binge drinking from college campuses
o No longer leads to abusive drinking habits


- Allowed in bars
o Responsible drinking environment


- Other Countries
o Most have a drinking age of 18 or lower
o They teach responsibility when drinking
o Less likely to binge drink

Your argument on the serving in the military and can't drink doesn't really hold water. When I was in the Marine Corps you were allowed to drink on base while 18. Mind you this was granted by the CG, and at times if there were problems with certian units drinking out of control it would be revoked for a period of time and/or they might not be allowed to drink in the barracks only in the EClub.

I was about to say the same thing......drinking over 18 while serving in the military has pretty much been the defacto standard. It still is on bases here in GA where the legal civilian drinking age is 21. The GIs just drink on post at the PX/BX or enlisted/NCO club. So the argument is baseless at best.

 

[sourceninja]

as long as we can raise the legal driving age to 21, lets do it!

 

[C'DaleRider]

Originally posted by: her209

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

There's your answer.

Actually, that's NOT the answer since drinking age law is left up to the States to establish and enforce on their own. That section refers to the States nullifying a Federal statue/law, not a law that has been left to each individual State to establish and enforce.

 

[Kelemvor]

I'd just site lots of facts about other countries that have lower or no drinking age and the fact that most of them have much less drinking problems than we do here.

 

[Byte]

Most underage drinkers drink because its illegal and give them an edge. Once they become 21 the rush is no longer there and its meh.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider

Originally posted by: her209

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

There's your answer.

Actually, that's NOT the answer since drinking age law is left up to the States to establish and enforce on their own. That section refers to the States nullifying a Federal statue/law, not a law that has been left to each individual State to establish and enforce.

Which worked well until the Feds muscled the states into raising the age by threatening to withhold highway funds much the same way they did with the 55 MPH speed limit and seat belt laws. As far as I am concerned we as a society need to decide at what age you become an adult. 18 seems to be the accepted age for such important things as voting in elections to determine who runs the country, entering contracts and legal agreements, and signing up for military service to name a few. If you are an adult at 18 then you should be able to consume alcohol responsibly the way any adult in this country does.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
You seem to forget that the drinking age in a lot of places used to be 18, at least it was when I was 18. The problem is that with each passing year young people become more and more irresponsible and less able to handle priveleges like drinking so the age was raised. It is worse now than ever especially with young people's entitlement mentality these days. Who are you trying to convince.....because it is not going to work if they are over 21.

prove it