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Thread: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

  1. #11
    Border Rebel RudieCantFail's Avatar
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    Joining the military doesn't necessarily have to do with brain development from 18 to 21. It could be a positive experience, since a son of one of my dad's friends joined the Marines and gotten straightened out as a person. He became less goofy and he grew up.

    Driving, voting, working, and joining the military don't chemically affect people directly other than causing stress. Alcohol and drugs do affect your brain and cognitive function.

  2. #12
    Stuck on the Border WalshFan88's Avatar
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    Quote Originally Posted by RudieCantFail View Post
    Joining the military doesn't necessarily have to do with brain development from 18 to 21. It could be a positive experience, since a son of one of my dad's friends joined the Marines and gotten straightened out as a person. He became less goofy and he grew up.

    Driving, voting, working, and joining the military don't chemically affect people directly other than causing stress. Alcohol and drugs do affect your brain and cognitive function.
    Well you can get cigarettes (and in CO - marijuana), while they might not make someone crazy like other drugs and maybe alcohol, are still addictive and to me addiction is the same no matter the "vice", it's the same. Some say some are harder to kick than others but I think they're all the same. It's been my second hand experience and little research that addiction is addiction. You could find someone with a food addiction that is just as lethal as a heroin addiction. Maybe the time frames are different, but maybe not if the food addict eats more than the heroin addict shoots up. And just maybe, it's the same regardless of time. Addiction is addiction and all of them can be lethal and all are the same to me.

  3. #13
    Border Desperado MortSahlFan's Avatar
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    I still don't understand how alcohol is legal, but marihuana is not.

    I'm sure bars contribute to many of those traffic deaths, and in ANY other scenario, the argument would be used, but because of money, it's not.... People have to drive to get to the bar, then they drink at the bar, then they drive again.

    I guess I never understand how a few people make the decisions for 329 million, especially when it's something serious, when the change in law could mean going to jail or not.

  4. #14
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    When I was a teenager in the 70's Illinois changed their legal drinking age to 18. Missouri was 21. Since we lived 25 miles from the state line it was very common for us to drive over, do our drinking or buying, then drive home. Yes, it was very stupid for us to do, but at that time, everyone did it. There were a couple discos that we went to too. I can remember driving home and being drunk and now it scares me to death that we did that. We were lucky we didn't have a wreck or get caught. Lucky. I even remember driving the wrong way down a one way street in town once. The cops around here would tend to look the other way or if they stopped you, tell you to get home instead of arresting you. But, a couple years later, Illinois changed their law back to 21 and we were under age again, so that was over, and has been that ever since.

    Today, it's still 21 and I hope they don't change it. Kids still somehow get alcohol and get in to trouble and law enforcement is sooooo much stricter now. We don't go out to the bars anymore to drink because you cannot even think about driving the 12 miles home. It's just not tolerated anymore at all. Which is good.

    I do think they need to do something stricter about texting. My new car has uconnect which means it comes in through the car radio and is hands free. But I still see kids texting and driving in town.

    ETA: I do see your point about being drafted at 18 though.
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  5. #15
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    I believe that if you are considered old enough to vote and to die for your country, you are old enough to choose to drink alcohol. I also believe that excessive consumption of alcohol is serious health problem for people of all ages.

    Where I live, the legal drinking age is 18 and has been for all of my adult life. I now have sons aged 19 and 22 and so I'm aware of some of the issues. It does seem that when they have a night out, they drink to excess and, of course, this bothers me. It's part of the culture and it applies as much to young women as young men. Outside of this occassional binge drinking, I don't think either of my sons are heavy drinkers so hopefully this is a phase that will pass as they get older and settle into adult life.

    One thing that is not an issue is "drunk driving", at least amongst my sons' friends. It means I'm likely to find a few of their friends in the living room the morning after the night before but the message of "don't drink and drive" seems to have sunk in. It wasn't always like that as when I was their age, people of my parents' generation frequently drove home after a night out. Government statistics back this up with a reduction in alcohol-related road deaths across all ages, with it being particulary low in the 18-25 age group. So in the UK, raising the legal minimum drinking age would have very little impact on DUI numbers. I expect this can be attributed to many years of public education campaigns combined with enforcement of the laws on drunk driving. The high cost of car insurance for young drivers also plays a part, I'm sure.

    Getting to the US, I had a conversation with my son, who had just spent the summer in the US, aged 20. Like any nervous mother, I had worried about him moving to a more dangerous country and had thought at least the chance of being killed on the road had to be lower in less densely populated country. But no, road deaths were about three times higher. Why? My son's explanation was that it was down to DUI. That when he and his friends go out in the UK, they are close enough to home that they can walk or take a taxi after a night out, but in the US, people travel further and tend not to use public transport, which means they are more likely to drive home after a night out.

  6. #16
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    Default Re: United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post

    Getting to the US, I had a conversation with my son, who had just spent the summer in the US, aged 20. Like any nervous mother, I had worried about him moving to a more dangerous country and had thought at least the chance of being killed on the road had to be lower in less densely populated country. But no, road deaths were about three times higher. Why? My son's explanation was that it was down to DUI. That when he and his friends go out in the UK, they are close enough to home that they can walk or take a taxi after a night out, but in the US, people travel further and tend not to use public transport, which means they are more likely to drive home after a night out.
    I think he's right, UtW. In the rural areas it seems there are dui's given out every day or two on the news. People don't have the option to take a taxi or any public transportation. I wish they would just get a clue and not drink if they have to drive or at least have a designated driver. And, many people my age (60) still drink and drive. They don't seem to have the accidents that the younger ones do, but still, it could happen. I guess they think they're invincible.
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