Should America Lower the Drinking Age?, 21 to 18? Rating Options

[smile4me]

well, if kids are accustom to drinking before they are driving, will not they be more responsible drinkers?

how will they become more responsible when adults aren't responsible themselves?
when the laws for the drinking age was passed, statistics showed that it helped. there were less crashes due to drinking...by a lot.
and about the reverse psychology...like i said before, it would just make it easier for a younger population to drink.

[iheartjohn]

adults have the option to drink... its legal for them to drink lol just wanted to correct you on that note.

Does it really make a difference?


EDIT //

And I never said it was illegal for adults to drink.

[pandamonium]

eleeza,Dec 8 2004, 8:02 PM] What does it matter, anyway? People drink illegally. In fact, more teens drink illegally than adults do.

yes ya did. you should of said "In fact, more teens drink illegally than adults drink."

and dont make it a big fuss i was only correcting what you said so people wouldnt think of it wrong. i didnt mean to be rude

[*mSz_dOrk_anGeL*]

Come on.
Please, can this country have any more stupid thoughts!?

First use of alcohol usually begins around the age of 13.
Junior and senior high school students drink 35 percent of all wine coolers sold in the U.S.; they also consume 1.1 billion cans of beer.
31.9 percent of youth under 18 years old in long-term, state-operated juvenile institutions in 1987 were under the influence of alcohol at the time of arrest.
Among sexually active teens, those who average 5 or more drinks daily were nearly 3 times less likely to use condoms, thus placing them at greater risk of HIV infection. Among all teens who drink, 16 percent use condoms less often after drinking.
Alcohol abuse and its consequences have been estimated to cost our society $86 billion each year - $26 billion more than the cost of Desert Storm.

All of what I just wrote right there tells you...
NO MORONS DON'T LOWER IT!
If anything needs to be done, it's to put a cork in underage drinking. If your an adult, don't be so transparent and buy kids drinks.

[Rachel]

i dont think any thing would happen if they lowered/highered it

teenagers will drink no matter what...sorry parents who think their children dont drink, most high school age and now even middle school kids will try alcohol at least once

[ryfitaDF]

No ofcourse they shouldnt lower drinking age...

people at age 21 are already drinking irresponsibly ..

example: think what would happen if 16 year olds (who can drive ) drinks.... alot more accidents caused by drunk drivers...

if it weren't illegal less people would do it. drinking won't be cool, no one will do it, and less accidents will occour.

[ryfitaDF]

but see drinking and clubbing are two different kinds of cool. clubbing is cool because of people's instinct to find a mate. drinking is cool because it's risky. people do it the the thrill of possibly getting caught. take away the reason they'd get caught, it won't be cool anymore and dumbass teenagers will have to proove their worth through accomplishments instead of how wasted they can get.

[ryfitaDF]

lol. yes i guess i gave a bad example.... but like what u said Alcohol Is Risky right?? but making in Legal wont Make it less risky...... again. it would just make it easier for people to buy it.... more and more people would use it and more accidents would occur...

it is risky as in how dangerous it is to one's health, but the risk i meant was the one of gettign caught. kids have an instinct to rebel, rebeling is doing things against the law, such as drinking. make drinking legal, it won't be rebelious, it will sease to be cool, no one will do it, problem solved.

[heyyfrankie]

no. if anything, it needs to be raised! so many people get drunk and kill people.

[weirdness]

no. if anything, it needs to be raised! so many people get drunk and kill people.

I guess it doesn't matter, because even if it was raised or lowered, people would drink alchohol anyway

[audory]

no, it shouldn't be. we already have enough drinking and driving accidents as it is. making underage drinking legal will cause even more problems. sure, people already drink illegally, but making it legal will cause more people to drink and drive.

[KissMe2408]

No way...if anything they should raise it. Kids get drunk when they are like 15...cuz they get alchohol from their older friends or somthan....it's not good.

[nevernothere]

I wouldn't care if it was lowered to 18... Until recently, I had no clue that it was 21 since everyone drinks anyways... I think you should drink for the fun of it though, not to get drunk.

[runforfun529]

I guess they could lower it. Close to no one obeys those laws anyway. I say lower it to "when you get out of high school or 18, whichever comes last" that way there isn't 18 year old seniors who can drink, but everyone in college can.

[sadolakced acid]

in fact: any state can lower thier legal drinking age. the only thing is, if they do, the US government on longer gives them money for roads.

in other words: states are bribed to keep the drinking age 21.

[sweetxsimplicity]

Yeah..I always though the legal drinking age was 18..
Okay..I'm slow. ><

[demolished]

i think it should the age should ne rasied so your body can be strong enough to handle the beer.

[callie828]

There's really no benefit to lowering the drinking age, but there's also not much benefit to keeping the drinking age where it's at.

Issues with alcohol have very little to do with laws and everything to do with personal accountability. There are different types of people in this world... responsible people and irresponsible people, smart people, stupid people, and really stupid people, etc... I am 21 years old so it is legal for me to drink. And I, like a lame-o, waited until I was 21 to drink. Why? Because I found it more lame when my friends drank alcohol just for the hell of it. Yes, it's way cool to be out of control and puking all over the place and waking up next to someone you don't know...

However, now that I'm 21, I drink socially and I drink at parties. And if I feel like getting wasted, I do. Does that make me stupid? Maybe on those nights it does. But it's MY life. I know the risks and I'm pretty sure that in this day and age, everyone else does too. So if I die from drinking, then I guess Darwin wins and another idiot has been weeded out.

You can't protect people from themselves. Firstly, it's not fair to say that if the drinking age is lowered, more people will drink and drive. In fact, it's kind of stupid. First it assumes that people who want to drink don't because of the drinking age. I can honestly say I have never met ONE person who WANTED to drink but said "Nah, it's not legal." Because almost no one actually gets in trouble for underage drinking. And secondly, it also assumes that being a teen automatically makes you irresponsible, stupid, and dangerous. Well my sister was 21 when she drove drunk and got arrested. And none of my friends who partied when they were 16, 17, 18, ever drove drunk. It's not about an age or a specific group of people. It's about stupid individuals, be them young, old, black, white, male, female, blah blah blah... And we can't keep spending taxpayers money trying to protect people from themselves. Where I live, you can get fined up to $500 for not wearing your seatbelt. And now police can pull you over SOLELY FOR NOT WEARING YOUR SEATBELT. You don't have to have any other infraction, like speeding or driving recklessly. How stupid is this? Why shouldn't people be able to decide if they want to be safe or not? If you want to be stupid and risk your life, I don't see why everyone should be so concerned about saving you from yourself. It's not illegal to skydive or bungee jump or walk in the middle of the street at night... so why is drinking such a huge issue as though it's somehow worse than any other form of potentially dangerous action? Because people could drink and drive and injur others? Well people stab other people too, but we can't make it illegal to buy steak knives, can we?

Drinking should either be legal or illegal. It's stupid to think that people magically transform into responsible adults the day they turn 21. People are either responsible drinkers or they're not. Period. If they want to get loaded all the time and kill their liver, hey, that's up to them. And don't think that if alcohol didn't exist, stupid people wouldn't find some other reckless way to pass their time...


Callie

[emmalie]

Do you really think the US and how much of tight asses they are , are going to LOWER the drinking age when all we see on TV is not to smoke and drink..thats crazy , whoever got this info is totally whacked out.

[heyisti]

doesnt matter bout the age, if u like the taste of it, then drink it...tell ur older friend to beer a 6pk

[burnoveride]

i think it should stay at 21 but controlled way more because i almost got hit by a drunk driver and it is sad that a 21 year old cant act like a 21 year old and be responsible and know when his limit is and have a sober friend drive .

[crocodilo]

Alcohol consumption is Evil. Alcohol is pathetic.
WTF is so fun about using it to incapacitate your body and diminish your senses?
People who consume Alcohol are narrow minded and are subjected to peer pressure. Alcohol is hella Lame and consuming it just wastes your life as instead you could be achieving something such as traing for Abu Dhabi grappling championships or something productive and Konstructive

[sadolakced acid]

Alcohol consumption is Evil. Alcohol is pathetic.
WTF is so fun about using it to incapacitate your body and diminish your senses?
People who consume Alcohol are narrow minded and are subjected to peer pressure. Alcohol is hella Lame and consuming it just wastes your life as instead you could be achieving something such as traing for Abu Dhabi grappling championships or something productive and Konstructive

are you your 21 posts like this?

use facts, not opinions.

[iheartsimba]

If anything raised because of drunk teenagers who don't seem to have the ability to know how much is to much..why would it be lowered if you take looks at statistics..

[Nerve_Agents!]

Hello!

I am from the UK and the age is 18 here, i am younger but getting hold of drink is not a problem. I think our law should stay because in all honesty you dont need to look that old to be served!

but for u kids in the USA tht suck so much as*s for you!!!! I beleve once you are 18 (in the eyes of the law an adult) you should be prepaired to make your own decision about drinking.

think of all of the dangerous things you can do like smoke at 16 in the UK ( sory dont know wat that is in USA) that will kill yo but you can do it when your body is just developing!

yet agin another stupid law by the goverment to save money for the country and take it off the people who work!

thank you for your time

Rach