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not like 12, but I think 18 is reasonable. Me personally, I, in this past year from June '13 to June '14, have had 4 beers, all with my parents. It used to be 18 then someone decided to ruin the fun of being a teenager. You can say " oh well, they can't handle booze at that age. They're immature" You know who's 21? That Miley Cyrus, is she mature? no. If anything leave it up to the parents. My parents know I'm a good kid and know that, if it was 18, I wouldn't be at the bar nightly getting hammered. If your kid is dumb and irresponsible, keep them away from it as best you can. No one magically matures on their 21st birthday, plenty of people of legal age are morons. I was watching that " What would you do" show and 1 episode had 2 soldiers both 20, try to get a beer and they were refused. Really? So you're telling me at 18, I'm allowed to buy a house, get married, buy cigarettes, adopt, get shot at in battle and go to strip clubs. But drinking a beer is a no-no?
Technically, you're allowed to drink with parental permission in your own home. I think you may even be allowed to drink wine at a BYOB with your parents, but that one may vary. So as far as trusting the judgement of the parents, the law pretty much does that... if the parents are there.
You suggest the parents of kids who are dumb and irresponsible should keep their kids away from alcohol should make sure that at no point while the kid is out of site, are they buying alcohol, but how would they do that if it were legal for 18 year olds to buy alcohol?
One of the main reasons the age was moved up is because of the early drinker situation. For you to drink at 18, you have to know someone who's 21. There's a good chance of that at 18, especially once you get to college. But what if the legal age was 18. Now you only need to know an 18 year old, and that includes most kids in high school. Consider how common underage drinking is in college and now imagine it in high school. That's actually exactly how it used to be.
The push to 21 is really just a push to keep the early drinkers sober until they're out of high school. If you're 18 and near a college and can't find a drink, you're not looking very hard.
Like I said, if your parents trust you as much as you say they, then you can drink with them in most states, but without that, the person selling the alcohol has no way of know if your parents trust you or if you're an irresponsible child who forged a note from mommy saying you can drink today.
I think 18 makes more sense. There's the old bit "old enough to die for their country in a war abroad, but not old enough to order a lite beer at a family restaurant at home."
I experimented with alcohol as young as 11 or 12. The liquor and wine cabinet wasn't locked. My mother also used to make me a "hot toddy" which was whisky, lemon, honey, ginger ale, spice, and sugar. By the time I was 18, errrr 21, I kind of knew what alcohol felt like, what I could take, how stupid it could make me, how it really isn't all that great, etc. When other kids were losing their sh|t in Freshman / Sophomore year, I had more maturity and responsibility around it.
Personally, at age 39, I drink a little pinot grigio here and there and I enjoy a craft beer a few times a month and that's about it. I find alcohol to be kind of a nasty drug with a crummy body load, no real introspective value, deleterious side effects, and a safety profile that's not that great. There are better drugs than alcohol that could permeate every inch of culture, but this is what we're stuck with.
However, after some research and knowledge with time, I understand that the human brain does not stop developing until around age 25. Tampering with that delicate brain chemistry with external drugs, like alcohol, leads to greater problems down the road at a higher percentage then we have problems with adults who began drinking at a later age.
Same with marijuana and other drugs.
With that in mind, and what I've told my son, he is forbidden from using any drug, beer, cigarettes, pot, whatever until he is 21 years of age. While he still has 4 years of brain development left, there is some flexibility, as some mature faster then others.
I was just thinking today that, knowing what we do about brain development, we should raise the age of adulthood until 25 years old. That likely won't happen.
I used to agree with the OP, but now I agree with Memphis. I was fond of statements like, "old enough to vote or fire a weapon in a war zone is old enough to drink." The problem with those statements is that the soldier holding the weapon has undergone extensive training on what to do with it; there is no such thing as classes in how to drink responsibly.
As for pot, every study used by the anti-drug types that shows links between pot and brain development was done on adolescent smokers. I am not aware of a single study conducted anywhere in the world that shows any link between adult smoking and mental problems.
It was 18 in many states, some had always been 18 while others lowered it using the "old enough to vote/serve in the military/etc. argument.
What happened was that MADD started lobbying Congress and various State Legislatures to raise the age, using the fact that drunk driving accidents/fatalities were increasing in the 18-21 year old age group in those states with an 18 year old limit. Congress punted it back to the states, stating it was a state issue. What Congress did do, though, was tie a decrease in Federal Highway Funds to those states with the lower age (I think the penalty was 10%).
Many states then raised the drinking age back up to 21.
Ironically, maybe, college and university Presidents are now lobbying for a lowering of the age using the logic that they don't want to be the alcohol police with their students.
I, too, was once in favor of the lower age. That is until I turned 21 and figured I really didn't want to be sitting in a bar with high school students.
not like 12, but I think 18 is reasonable. Me personally, I, in this past year from June '13 to June '14, have had 4 beers, all with my parents. It used to be 18 then someone decided to ruin the fun of being a teenager. You can say " oh well, they can't handle booze at that age. They're immature" You know who's 21? That Miley Cyrus, is she mature? no. If anything leave it up to the parents. My parents know I'm a good kid and know that, if it was 18, I wouldn't be at the bar nightly getting hammered. If your kid is dumb and irresponsible, keep them away from it as best you can. No one magically matures on their 21st birthday, plenty of people of legal age are morons. I was watching that " What would you do" show and 1 episode had 2 soldiers both 20, try to get a beer and they were refused. Really? So you're telling me at 18, I'm allowed to buy a house, get married, buy cigarettes, adopt, get shot at in battle and go to strip clubs. But drinking a beer is a no-no?
I have mixed feelings about the issue. I understand the governments viewpoint; like it or not, underage drinking is a problem. A HUGE problem.
At the same time, I joined the Marine Corps at age 17. When I graduated Boot Camp my mom and then girlfriend (now wife) picked me up. I wanted pizza and we went to a pizza place in San Diego. My mom got up and came back. She had a picture of beer with her. She said, "Well boy, you are old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to get drunk in it." One of the greatest memories of my mom and I. However, what she did was illegal, however she was correct.
If a man or woman enlists to fight for this country, I see no reason why they cannot purchase alcohol. That is the dilemma I have.
There is no reason for the drinking age to not be 18, if the issue is drinking and driving then increase the penalties for it, middle aged people drink and drive too, some are repeat offenders, targeting the 18-21 age group based on what they might do makes no sense.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the drinking age is 16 in Germany, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!
Yup! It's MADDness that's at root here!
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