United States-Should the drinking age be 18 again?

[travlnman2]

My opinon is that.

Here are things we are allowed to do at 16/18

Drive a car.
Vote
Buy Marriguana(Where Legal ;) )
Buy Lottery Tickets.
Join the Military
Get A Job
Buy Cigaretts.(Not actually doing this myself)

So like we are allowed to join the millitary and even die for the country but not allowed to drink Alcholol?
Now my father is from Italy and in Europe threy have no Drinking limit and Imo it allows parents to educate children when they are young and kids my age wont be currious and do something stupid. Its called the Forbidden fruit syndrome

[WalshFan88]

I'm actually with you on this TM2. And I have no dog in this fight (I'm already over 21 and don't drink but once a year or so)...so I have nothing to gain by saying I think drinking age should be 18, or everything at 21. I don't understand why someone at 18 can do all of the things you suggested but can't drink.

And again, I really don't have anything to gain by wishing for it but I do wonder about that now and again.

[travlnman2]

I am sure some of your favorite Eagles did some underage drinking ;)

[WalshFan88]

I am sure some of your favorite Eagles did some underage drinking ;)

Ya think! lol

I have nothing against alcohol if done responsibly (meaning no harm to others, and no drunk driving and no acting out in the open in public.

I'm all for the drinking age being 18. Just so you know, I'm with you on that.

[RudieCantFail]

In several states, there's an outright ban on alcohol consumption under 18, but in most other states, you just can't purchase it if under 21. You can drink at home under 21, and personally, I don't think it's good. However, you're at home, so you're hopefully not going to go anywhere. If you're out and about drinking, then I don't think being under 21 is good.

The brain is still developing at 18 years old, so I don't think alcohol or marijuana really helps it at all. I think it stunts it to an extent but more so w/ marijuana's long term effects. The part of the brain that's affected is the prefrontal cortex, which is where you may or may not make impulsive decisions. Alcohol is bad for that, since people can do dumb things that they don't normally do under the influence.

I'm 18 years old, and I haven't consumed a serving of alcohol. I've taken small tastes and I don't really like it. Although it sounds like I'm a stickler for it, I don't mind as long as it's an occasional drink. However, I don't trust people my age to make it a once in a while thing, and I wouldn't want them to be more susceptible to abusing it. Then again, there are those who are doing god knows what at college. It would affect those like me who aren't that inclined to drink in the first place, since the barrier has been lowered and we might start earlier than 21. For those who want to, the age doesn't matter, since they're going to do it anyways. Let's face it, teenagers and those slightly younger than 21 do drink.

[Glennsallnighter]

In Ireland its 18. Although officially illegal many kids do manage to procure alcohol and drink it if they want to. Its illegal to drink in public bars before 18 but in the privacy of your own home its at the discretion of your parents/guardians. You can be carded up to about age 25. I was amazed I was carded in Albuquerque during the summer!! Lets say i'm the wrong side of 40 and I had 2 teenage kids with me!

I think 18 is a reasonable age. 16 might be too young but if you are legally an adult at 18 (ie you can sign stuff in your own name, take a mortgage, be drafted and really qualify as an adult in everything else) I think its unreasonable to have to be 21 to be able to drink. JMHO!!

[Delilah]

In Texas, it is legal for underage people to consume alcohol in the presence of a parent or guardian.

There is no question that traffic fatalities decreased among young people once the 21 age limit was implemented by all the states (granted, under threat by the feds to withdraw highway funds from those states that didn't). Today, there are even more risks are on the roads, with the ever present texting and driving as well as an increasing population of older drivers (the population of individuals 65+ is expected to double in the next 40 years, while the subset of "elderly" 90 and over is one of the fastest-growing age groups, see https://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p25-1138.pdf).

I sympathize with all the reasons why the drinking age should be lowered to 18, but from a public health standpoint, the current age restriction helps to save precious lives.

[buffyfan145]

I say to keep it at 21. Of course I'm in my 30s now so it doesn't effect me but if I ever have kids it would. From what my parents have told back when it used to be 18 most of the alcohol wasn't the hard liquor that is out now. They mostly drank the cheap beer at that age which was what they could afford and it wasn't even as high in alcohol content as it is today. Plus teens/early 20 year old drivers are already distracted from texting and using their cell phones while driving that we don't need this as it would increase drunk driving.

Also, my city Columbus is getting ready to vote to raise the age to buy tobacco products to 21 and it's likely to happen as a lot are for it and some of the local suburbs already have passed it.

[Victim of Love]

I say keep it at 21. Although there are some responsible young people under that age, I feel that for the most part too few have the ability to make sound, reasonable, mature choices when it comes to alcohol/liquor in this day and age. Years ago many states only allowed the sale of what was called 'low beer' (3.2% alcohol content) to be sold to anyone 18-20 while beer as we know it today was restricted to 21 and older. "Kids" would buy pitchers of 'low beer' and sip it thru straws to get buzzed faster and nobody had ever uttered the phrase 'designated driver' yet we seldom heard reports of alcohol-related fatalities because young people were taught the risks and understood the potential consequences. Sadly that is no longer the case in too many instances. Just my opinion.

[WalshFan88]

Then I think at the least the rest of everything TM2 mentioned should also be moved up to the 21 age mark... I mean to me if someone can join the military or be drafted and die for the country, but yet isn't "mature enough" to drink, I have a problem with that. I think all of that stuff should be at the same age level be it 18 or 21.

[RudieCantFail]

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.

[WalshFan88]

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.

[MortSahlFan]

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.

[Brooke]

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.

[UndertheWire]

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.

[Brooke]

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.