People dont need to be drinking under the age of 21 .. or gambling... nor do they need to be smoking before 18.

Well, technically, people don't need to be doing either, at any point in their lives. Its whether or not you are willing to give them a choice and at what age.

Okay, we shouldnt be giving them the choice before the age of 21. Dont circle around the statement, you know what was meant.

The reason why they have the drinking age at 21 is they said the brain is completely matured on an average of age 21. Since drinking kills brain cell, they dont want people drinking when they're isn't fully grown.

But I doubt anyone under 21 will drink to the point that their brain wont function. After their first hangover, Im sure they wont be drinking for a while.

lol bullshit, bullshit, and more bullshit

brain is completely mature at 21? my ass, explain DUIs by 40 year olds.
have you ever been to a frat party?

Mature: having completed natural growth and development; having attained a final or desired state

Circle around the statement? Your statement was just an opinion with no facts.

Why not? Do you deem age to be the dictator of maturity?

That really just makes you ignorant.

If that's your logic, let's not be considered adults until age 45. We'll really have matured by then, so up until that point we shouldn't really be trusted to vote, fight, or drink anyway.

I guess you can't wrap your little mind around my last post so I'll dumb it down for you. Your brain isn't finished growing until 21. Your brain is still growing cells. They dont want people drinking if your brain hasn't grown fully, because drinking can kill brain cells. Why kill brain cells if you're still growing them?

A 40 year old's brain has matured. His character shows immaturity if he has a DUI, but that is his character only.
So there is a difference.

A 40 year old's brain has matured. His character shows immaturity if he has a DUI, but that is his character only.
So there is a difference.

uh, YES. You cant honestly tell me that a person who is 21 or 35 or 76 or 55 is more mature and knows more about what is going on than a 14, 15, 16, 17, or 18 year old?

Why do I need "facts" to say that? Its common sense that it takes time for people to not only understand the world, but it takes time to understand the political system.
Im taking classes at college just so I can understand politics..I wasnt even aware that we had local elections when I was in high school. High schoolers just dont pay attention to that type of stuff.

What makes it unsafe for an 18 year old to go to a bar in this country more than any other? What makes it safe at 21? It's an arbitrary line.

Ah I can't wait for Sharia Law, that'll be the day alcohol is banned in America.

We tried that once, dude. It was called Prohibition. I'm not going to give the whole history, but I'll spoil the ending: it didn't really work out that well.

And with good reason: drinking is an individual right. If you want to follow Islamic law, no one's stopping you.

Well, no, not knowing there were local elections in high school is total ignorance. No better word for it.

What makes it unsafe for an 18 year old to go to a bar in this country more than any other? What makes it safe at 21? It's an arbitrary line. If I'm an adult, I'm an adult.

well you are pretty sad. because almost everywhere else in the world has their drinking age at 18, while US keeps it at 21. you must think you're pretty immature?

Wow, you love the word 'ignorance' dont you?
The problem with you is that you demand that everything be backed up by fact, and that fact must be backed up by fact, and that must be backed up by fact.
Its called common sense. We cant lower the drinking age to 18 because it does take age to mature and figure out how to do things safely. You have to be protected by your partents so they can prepare you for life. You dont just throw your kid out into the world, you keep them under your roof and then with time, they mature and figure out that the things they do have consequences...
Not only that, but everything in America has a chain reaction. We lower the drinking age to 18, and then we lower the drinking age to 16. So on and so on.

Maybe I am speaking vaguely but you see my point. You obviously dont think that anything has consequences and that everyone is inherently "good." You live in your own little bubble. Dont you watch the news?

Sending an 18 year old to a downtown bar is worse than sending a 21 year old to a bar because they are younger and more vulnerable to the disgusting people who are in those bars.

Sending an 18 year old to a downtown bar is worse than sending a 21 year old to a bar because they are younger and more vulnerable to the disgusting people who are in those bars.

Have you ever been in a bar? Unless you're talking about the rare run-down "dive", most people in a bar are normal -- not disgusting.

Uh...there is no such thing as "common sense" in a valid argument.

Answer me this: why is 18 a reasonable age for us to be held accountable for our actions as adults, but not to drink? Why do you think that it's not the government's job to help people monetarily, but they have the right to babysit us when we are supposed to be responsible for ourselves? It's not about thinking people are "good," but I do feel that I should point out that the news is going to cover the anomalies, not the majority.

This is why I don't get Republicans. They're all about keeping the government out of our lives when there's money involved, but when it comes to any other personal freedoms it doesn't matter at all.

I honestly don't think that if the drinking age were 18 there would be much of an outcry for it to be lowered. It would be consistent with most other countries, and most other age restrictions. Legal adulthood is the main issue here. If I am to be taking control of my life as an adult at 18, the government has no right to tell me I can and cannot consume. If I am not a child, I should not be treated as a child. The double standard on drinking versus everything else is unreasonable.

But for f*ck's sake, don't tell me I live in my own little bubble when I have undoubtedly experienced a lot more of life than you have.

There is common sense. If you go into a place and there are disgusting people, leave. An 18 year old can live independently away from home and is bound to run into "disgusting" people in more places than just a bar.

How is a drinking age a personal freedom? Alcohol isnt something that takes no effect on a person. What I dont get about democrats is that you all live in a little bubble. You think nothing has repercussions. You dont send kids who just learned how to drive 2 years earlier to a bar where there are 45 year old lonely men there waiting to flatter them.

but you send them to another country to kill people and get shot at

Could you explain?

If you can send someone off to war and fight for their country then by all means they should be entitled to drink.

Screw all those other countries with their drinking ages.

screw you

Click here for drunk driving statistics for 2005; 2004; 2003; 2002; 2001; 2000.

Below are some statistics on drinking and driving in the US. After reading this list, please read about Alcohol Alert to find out what you can do to help stem the tide of drunk driving deaths in your neighborhood...and make money at the same time.

All 50 states in the US and Puerto Rico now apply two statutory offenses to driving under the influence of alcohol. The first (and original) offense is known either as driving under the influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated/impaired (DWI), or operating [a motor vehicle] while intoxicated/impaired (OWI). This is based upon a police officer's observations (driving behavior, slurred speech, the results of a roadside sobriety test, etc.)

The second offense is called "illegal per se", which is driving with a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Since 2002 it has been illegal in all 50 states to drive with a BAC that is 0.08% or higher.

In 2006, there were 13,470 fatalities in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver (BAC of .08 or higher) – 32 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year.

16,005 people were killed in the United States in alcohol-related* motor vehicle traffic crashes (BAC of .01 or higher).

In 2006, 1,794 children age 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Of those 1,794 fatalities, 306 (17%) occurred in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Children riding in vehicles with drivers who had a BAC level of .08 or higher accounted for half (153) of these deaths.

The 13,470 alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities in 2006 were almost the same as compared to 13,451 alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities reported in 1996. Ten years of progress.

The 13,470 fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes during 2006 represent an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality every 39 minutes.

The rate of alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes was four times higher at night than during the day.

The percentage of drivers with BAC of .08 or above in fatal crashes was highest for motorcycle operators (27 percent), followed by light trucks (24 percent), and then passenger cars (23 percent). The percentage of drivers with BAC levels of .08 or higher in fatal crashes was the lowest for large trucks (1%).

In fatal crashes in 2006, the highest percentage of drivers with a BAC level of .08 or higher was for drivers ages 21-24 (33%), followed by ages 25-34 (29%) and 35-44 (25%).

Drivers with a BAC level of .08 or higher involved in fatal crashes were eight times more likely to have a prior conviction for driving while impaired (DWI) than were drivers with no alcohol (8% and 1%, respectively).

In 2006, more than 8,200 (55%) of the drivers involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking had a BAC of .15 or greater.

As in previous years, in 2006, males comprise a majority, about 81 percent, of all drivers involved in fatal crashes with a BAC=.08+.

Like Bob Marley said, "alcohol is the destruction of a nation."

The full quote, of course, is "Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction," so we should legalize marijuana, too.

I'm down with legalization of marijuana. But at the same time ban alcohol. Shit isn't good for your mind nor liver, nor the actions you take while you're wasted.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2009) - Long-term daily drinking, rather than weekly binge drinking, is by far the biggest risk factor in serious liver disease, according to a new report from the University of Southampton.

The study, published in the journal Addiction this week, concludes that increases in UK liver deaths are a result of daily or near daily heavy drinking, not episodic or binge drinking, and this regular drinking pattern is often discernable at an early age. It also recommends that several alcohol-free days a week is a healthier drinking pattern.

In the study of drinking patterns, dependency and lifetime drinking history in 234 subjects with liver disease, 106 had ALD (Alcohol-related Liver Disease) - 80 of whom had evidence of cirrhosis or progressive fibrosis - the team found that 71 per cent of ALD patients drank on a daily basis.

In contrast to the patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis or fibrosis, patients with other forms of liver disease tended to drink sparingly with only 10 subjects (8 per cent) drinking moderately on four or more days each week.

The study also explored lifetime drinking histories of 105 subjects and found that ALD patients started drinking at a significantly younger age (on average at 15 years old) than other subjects and had significantly more drinking days and units than non-ALD patients from the age of 20 onwards.

Lead author of the study Dr Nick Sheron, consultant hepatologist and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, comments: "If we are to turn the tide of liver deaths, then along with an overall reduction in alcohol consumption - which means tackling cheap booze and unregulated marketing - we need to find a way to identify those people who are most likely to develop alcohol-related illnesses at a much earlier stage, and perhaps we need to pay as much attention to the frequency of drinking occasions as we do to binge drinking.

"The transition from a late teenage and early 20's binge drinking pattern to a more frequent pattern of increased intake may prove to be a useful point of intervention in the future, and the importance of three alcohol-free days each week should receive more prominence."

If it makes you impaired... that's bad enough. And I know you'd like to tell us that marijuana does the same... but it's no where the same as the impairment caused by alcohol.

I love Science.

Why is that "bad enough"?

Apparently you don't love logic, though, because there's nothing in that article that suggests that lowering the drinking age will invariably lead to the consumption of a couple drinks a day.

Why is that bad enough? Wow.
Anyone here with half a brain can tell you why...

Oh here we go... I don't have logic because I posted a scientifically proven article about drinking alcohol that didn't meet your criteria. Unfortunately you don't see the bigger picture in all this. Yet I don't have logic.

Get lost.

What makes being impaired by alcohol, good? What are the pros of an individual being drunk?

I find alcohol needless, as I personally cannot find any good in drinking alcohol. Socializing isn't good enough of a reason to drink alcohol. You and I are able to socialize without alcohol... many years prior to ever gettin a taste of alcohol.

Turning the question around on me still doesn't prove your assertion that it's bad.

But just to bite: it's fun.

Great. Good for you. Lowering the drinking age doesn't compel you to drink, so you may still abstain if you wish.

There's a lot more to it than just lowering the age to drink. It can make a drastic impact on society. Again you're not putting all the pros and cons into your line of thinking. Instead you're just tryin to prove how fun and joyful it is to drink and that younger adults should join the fun.

No. What I'm trying to prove is that people should have the individual right to do what they please in the privacy of their own residences, assuming it doesn't affect other people. We already have laws to deal with alcohol-related actions that can affect others (e.g., drunk driving, or assault and battery), but people should have the right to engage in actions responsibly on their own time.

You argue that lowering the drinking age will result in higher incidences of, e.g., drunk driving. But after analyzing other cultures around the world, e.g., many European nations, we see that people are generally more responsible drinkers. Maybe if America wasn't so uptight about alcohol, people would enjoy it more responsibly. Did you ever factor that idea into your line of thinking?

It has become accepted wisdom in the United States over two decades that raising the drinking age has reduced alcohol-related traffic deaths. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates the number of lives saved since 1975 at 23,000. Alcohol remains a leading cause of traffic deaths for young people. Nearly a third of the 3,657 drivers age 15 to 20 who died in car crashes in 2003 had been drinking, the agency found.

How is a drinking age a personal freedom? Alcohol isnt something that takes no effect on a person. What I dont get about democrats is that you all live in a little bubble. You think nothing has repercussions. You dont send kids who just learned how to drive 2 years earlier to a bar where there are 45 year old lonely men there waiting to flatter them.
Ugh. Its about protecting people. Sure, we cant put a stamp on an age that produces maturity. But we shouldnt put anyone in danger either. We are not born with instructions on how to deal with the bad in the world. We learn as we grow and we dont throw people out into a bar while they are still learning or a man is going to give a girl a beer with a date rape drug in it and that girl is going to think that he is just being nice.

Seriously, there is more reasons to keep the drinking age at 21 then there is to lower it to 18. Why must we change all these laws? Screw all those other countries with their drinking ages. Do you live there? No. You live here and here our drinking age is 21. Do we really have to change things that dont need to be changed to feel in control?
Maybe you at 18 would know to leave. But some people wouldnt.