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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Lac The only reason why they changed it to 21 is becuase the stupid 18 year olds don't know how to drive while intoxicated ahah.. Look at europe they have no problems because they start drinking earlier and by the time they get their license they know not to drive drunk rofl or either that they know how to drive the streets blindfolded. In other words they are more mature then Americans in responsibility issue. It's a fact cuz America has the worst DUI in the world. Before America was fine having it at 18 then all the people who started driving around 16- 17 and start drinking at 18 became stupid. Read it up its all there on why they changed it from 18 to 21. They will never change it down to 18 since there are more accidents now then before. When will people learn. They still do the same shit even when their car gets taken away from them. They even ride their bike and get into accidents.

exactly

I will support an 18 year old drinking age under 2 conditions:

A) Raise the legal driving age to 21.

B) Make it considerably harder to excercise the privledge of obtaining a driver's license. because it is a privledge not a right. It is too easy to get a driver's license in this country and people need to work harder at learning how to drive and do it responsibly.

Do that and the Drinking and Driving problem is lessened, so it balances out.

MrS

here in aus its 18 sucked in to all you USA ppl nah jks

when you're on your P's (probationary licence which you have for 3 years before you get your full licence) if you get caught with any amount of alcohol in your system while driving you get a 6 month ban. once your on you're full licence you can't have a blood alcohol reading of over .05. if you're caught with over .05 then you get a 6 month ban and a fine of 1000 bucks i think? but this is all only first time offences. 2nd time maybe a year ban of ur licence and a way higher fine and i think 3rd time maybe forever?

everyone of my mates (we're mostly 19) and everyone i know are very responsible when it comes to drink driving, if they have driven to a party, theres no way they would drink and drive. drink driving here is seen as a very very stupid thing to do. so i guess that helps.

i hear the US doesnt even have breath testers? haha, they still go on the 'walk in a straight line' 'stand on one foot and touch ur nose' bullshit? i cant even do that when im completely straight let alone drunk lol

quote:

Originally posted by wick i hear the US doesnt even have breath testers? haha, they still go on the 'walk in a straight line' 'stand on one foot and touch ur nose' bullshit? i cant even do that when im completely straight let alone drunk lol

No they do use them...they just don;t always use them in the field. The cops here can pick out a drunk very very well with a field sobriety test.

If you refuse a breathlizer it is automatic suspension and gine most places.

MrS

i am not entirely sure the drinking age should be lowered. i mean, in theory it should be, but i dont think this country raises their children with enough responsibility to drink safely. so maybe if there was a different culture here it would ok, but there isnt and changing the law wont stimulate a chagne in culture.

I was just thinking about this, but the law in every 50 state says you have to be 21 to purchase alcohol.. but what about consuming alcohol?

Im not sure if every state now you have to be 21+ to drink, but I do remember that some states you could be 18 to legally consume alcohol. Louisiania and West Virginia are the two that come to mind... but I have no idea if they changed those laws or not.

quote:

Originally posted by butterfly i am not entirely sure the drinking age should be lowered. i mean, in theory it should be, but i dont think this country raises their children with enough responsibility to drink safely. so maybe if there was a different culture here it would ok, but there isnt and changing the law wont stimulate a chagne in culture.

when i was in Italy in '99, i noticed that all the local teenagers who lived by the hotels we were stayin at didn't seem to have any interest in alcohol at all. and some Irish guy livin there told us that they're more interested in their little crappy 1.0 fiat uno (cars) & their little mopeds.

anyways. i went into an off licence (aged 15) and ordered 2 bottles of vodka.

so, the chic in the shop proceeded to lift a few bottles down from the shelf. wipe the dust off them, give another dusting, then handed it to me.

it was rotten.. but that's besides the point.
point is: Italian kids had no interest in drink!

quote:

Originally posted by MrSquirrel I will support an 18 year old drinking age under 2 conditions: A) Raise the legal driving age to 21. B) Make it considerably harder to excercise the privledge of obtaining a driver's license. because it is a privledge not a right. It is too easy to get a driver's license in this country and people need to work harder at learning how to drive and do it responsibly. Do that and the Drinking and Driving problem is lessened, so it balances out. MrS

you should add in another saying that we should change the current education system to teach how to drink responsibly.

I say we make those changes first, then move onto changing the age.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider He could use elements from that massive argument we got into about age restrictions a few months ago

Well that's what I was thinking, but then I realized that he'd be a bit of a hypocrite to use any of my arguments from that thread since he's advocating an arbitrary age (albeit a lower one) at which a "right" is acquired, which is exactly what I was arguing shouldn't exist at all.

Are u guys nuts?
Lowering the drinking age is an insane idea. When will people learn that prohibition works? NOBODY under 21 drinks in america u know. Lowering the drinking age would cause binge drinking, drink driving, teenage sex, non-compliance and total chaos basically. Those hypothetical problems dont exist yet, of course, but try lowering the age and u will know all about it, let me tell u.
Lowering the drinking age is equal to telling children that alcohol is absolutely harmless, when its actually quite dangerous. Its not in the same league as deadly substances such as ecstacy or, worst of all, cannabis, but legalising alcohol to people of such a young age is sending the wrong message. I propose that the age should actually be increased to say 30 or 35. That way all the problems caused by young people drinking will disappear overnight. I guarentee it.
Think of the childrun.

As Boomer said, using a correlation between drinking and going into the military just doesn't work. It's look as though you're just reaching for reasons why it should be lowered, and not looking at it objectively.

I for one don't think it should be lowered. While most people drink under the age of 21 anyway, I just don't feel the maturity level as well as a sense of responsibility is there yet. For a lot of people it's not much better at 21, but 18 just seems too young. If there was a way that bar/clubs had personal taxi services to take people home when flagged, I may consider it being ok.

The majority of the kids I know under 21 have fake ID's though, so the law is essentially shit on.

Legal Drinking age in ontario is 19 & I don't see much more problems here than in america. sadly, I also notice that most 19 year olds around here have roughly the same maturity level as most american 21 year olds. The way I look at it, the sooner you are given certain responsibilities, the sooner you become responsible. in theory, lowering legal drinking age would make people more responsible at a younger age.

quote:

Originally posted by Omegasox As Boomer said, using a correlation between drinking and going into the military just doesn't work. It's look as though you're just reaching for reasons why it should be lowered, and not looking at it objectively.

Well, its like this. The government would rather send a 18 year old to war to probably die than to let him get a drink.

quote:

Originally posted by albertoR Well, its like this. The government would rather send a 18 year old to war to probably die than to let him get a drink.

So Marijuana should be legal because the government would rather send you off to die than let you smoke? You can't compare the two no matter how you mince words.

Speaking from personal experience, I would say that lowering the drinking age to 18 would significantly cut down on the (already low) number of times that my friends and I would drive under the influence (we never do it completely drunk).

Last semester, when I was still living in the United States, my friends and I drank mostly at parties, sometimes in our dorms. The main thing about parties is that you usually have to drive to them. They're out of the way, whereas the bars that we can't get into are within close walking distance.

This semester I am living in the UK, however, and I never drive drunk. Granted, I don't have a car to drive here, but if I did I still wouldn't drive drunk because I can just walk to and from the pubs. Additionally, even if I couldn't walk home (wow), the UK has decent public transportation that could get me near to home.

Additionally, and I'm speaking merely for myself here, but now that I can legally drink, it's not as important as it was back in the US. Personally, I don't drink that heavily anyways. However, I know that a lot of my friends in the US drink a lot when they go to parties because they don't really know when the next time will be that they can drink. Here in the UK, however, that's not a problem. The biggest problem with having the drinking age so high is that the illegality of it makes people want to do it even moreso. In any event, I also think that it's ridiculous that you can't drink until something like 1/4-1/3 of your life is already over. What a waste!

The legal drinking age where I live is 18. Crazy albertans.

quote:

Originally posted by Omegasox So Marijuana should be legal because the government would rather send you off to die than let you smoke? You can't compare the two no matter how you mince words.

yeah marijuana should be legal too

quote:

Originally posted by Omegasox So Marijuana should be legal because the government would rather send you off to die than let you smoke? You can't compare the two no matter how you mince words.

yeah, I guess there should be no speed limits either, and stealing should be legal too, I mean, if you can die for your country, you might as well be able to steal and speed.



apples and oranges. drinking and war are two different animals.

drinking age USA : 21

drinking age Germany : 16
-------
driving age USA : 16

driving age Germany : 18
--------
deaths per 100,000 due to car accident in USA : .84

deaths per 100,000 due to car accident in Germany : .74
--------

result : germany has lesser drinking age by 5 years, only 2 year difference in driving age, no speed limit on the autobahns, and STILL they have a lower fatality rate on the road. clearly, the gov't had no understanding of drinking, and driving.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Lac The only reason why they changed it to 21 is becuase the stupid 18 year olds don't know how to drive while intoxicated ahah.. Look at europe they have no problems because they start drinking earlier and by the time they get their license they know not to drive drunk rofl or either that they know how to drive the streets blindfolded. In other words they are more mature then Americans in responsibility issue. It's a fact cuz America has the worst DUI in the world. Before America was fine having it at 18 then all the people who started driving around 16- 17 and start drinking at 18 became stupid. Read it up its all there on why they changed it from 18 to 21. They will never change it down to 18 since there are more accidents now then before. When will people learn. They still do the same shit even when their car gets taken away from them. They even ride their bike and get into accidents.

well, in europe, a great majority of people dont drive. they walk or use the very dependable public transportaion. so you can get drunk there and most of the time, not have to worry about driving.

but in america, eveerything is miles away, the food store is like a 10 minutes drive from your house, and then, school is like 15 minutes away. that is why USA has school buses, because kids cant get to school from parents niether can they themselves go using bike, walking or public transportation.

also, public transportation in america is shitty. you have to wait 30 minutes for the damn bus. in tampa, there is no train or subway, and i rarely ever see a bus. cabs are like .75cents every 1/4 miles. i know because i had to take one home last week from school.

what shopuld be done is raising the driving age to 18, making getting the license a tad bit harder, because in germany, it costs 1500 Euros and 15 hours of driving school to get a license. you also cant have a criminal record and have to have graduated from high school. then lower the drinking age to 16. haha, germany is a fine model. do what they do.



P.S. Brazil has NO drinking age at all. do u hear them complaining of problems over there NO!

quote:

Originally posted by Heinz well, in europe, a great majority of people dont drive. they walk or use the very dependable public transportaion. so you can get drunk there and most of the time, not have to worry about driving. but in america, eveerything is miles away, the food store is like a 10 minutes drive from your house, and then, school is like 15 minutes away. that is why USA has school buses, because kids cant get to school from parents niether can they themselves go using bike, walking or public transportation. also, public transportation in america is shitty. you have to wait 30 minutes for the damn bus. in tampa, there is no train or subway, and i rarely ever see a bus. cabs are like .75cents every 1/4 miles. i know because i had to take one home last week from school. what shopuld be done is raising the driving age to 18, making getting the license a tad bit harder, because in germany, it costs 1500 Euros and 15 hours of driving school to get a license. you also cant have a criminal record and have to have graduated from high school. then lower the drinking age to 16. haha, germany is a fine model. do what they do. P.S. Brazil has NO drinking age at all. do u hear them complaining of problems over there NO!

hell yeah, you can tell our politicians have had a lotta support and funding from auto companies. They would lose so much money if they invested in better public transportation.

no votes from the UAW would kill a candidate.

I'd be happy w/ the 21 drinking age if they raised the draft age to 21. You might not be mature enough to drink at 18, but you should have the right if your country can send you off to die.

I remember being in Germany though and the kids there go out and get drunk but they know when to stop once they're drunk which is the opposite of parties I go to in America where people drink themselves out of their minds. Not to say no Germans abuse alcohol but I saw much less abuse compared to the US.

Re: Drinking Age in U.S. lowered to 18?

quote:

Originally posted by A_M_8 I'm doing a paper for government class about the drinking age in the United States (that it should be lowered to 18 instead of 21) and I could use some ideas so please post your opinions (even if you're aginst it). Thanks!

what the hell, you got me all excited.. haaaaha

Re: Re: Drinking Age in U.S. lowered to 18?

quote:

Originally posted by SuckUpMySenses what the hell, you got me all excited.. haaaaha

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAH my bad! ahahha

Haha, you guys should live in Holland. Beer is allowed from the age of 16. I started drinking at party's when I was 14/15, hehe

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