Drinking age lower to 18? (buying, school, live)

[Mattias]

Most of the countries has age limit of 18 for drinking and buying alcohol. Many Arab countries ban alcohol drinking and purchase because muslims are not allowed to drink or purchase alcohol. Few countries has an age limit of 15 or 16. In the United States, the age limit is 21 (although it was 18 before). Canada's and Mexico's age limit is 18, so is Europe.
I think that we should lower the age limit back to 18 as many other countries. Why wait 3 more years to join clubs, buy alcohol etc.?

[lndigo]

The U.S. has one of the lowest rates of alcoholism in the developed world. Whether that's worth it or not, the age limit does some good.

[Raphael07]

The only reason the voting age is 18 is because the draft age was 18.

[Gtownoe]

Originally Posted by lndigo

The U.S. has one of the lowest rates of alcoholism in the developed world. Whether that's worth it or not, the age limit does some good.

Where did you hear that? Most European countries have a much lower drinking age and a lower alcoholism level.

Kids are taught how to drink responsibly by their parents and alcohol isn't taboo to teens and young adults.

If you can die for your country you can have a beer. Would anybody disagree with that statement?

[cpg35223]

I think the problem with alcohol in this country is that we treat it as if it were the end-all, be-all Holy Grail for teenagers. Kids don't learn to enjoy it under the supervision of an adult. Instead, the learn all about it in the no-holds-barred environment of a fraternity mixer.

I have a 13, 11, and 9-year-old. My wife and I enjoy our nightly glass of wine (Two on weekends if we're feeling frisky). However, while we do not allow our children so much as a taste at this point, we probably will allow our children the occasional glass of wine when they reach 16. For the last thing we want to do is treat alcohol as forbidden fruit.

[Raphael07]

Originally Posted by Gtownoe

Where did you hear that? Most European countries have a much lower drinking age and a lower alcoholism level.

Kids are taught how to drink responsibly by their parents and alcohol isn't taboo to teens and young adults.

If you can die for your country you can have a beer. Would anybody disagree with that statement?

Because at 18, the body is still in the final stages of development, and alcohol causes massive damage to that development.

[destinedtodave]

I agree with Gtownoe.

not to mention how unconstitutional the interstate funding blackmail perpetrated by the federal government was.

Or how discriminatory it is for the government to tell a certain portion of the adult population they can't do something everyone else can.

Or how unsuccessful the ban has been keeping 18-20 from drinking and in fact making it more dangerous since they have to do it secretly.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

Because at 18, the body is still in the final stages of development, and alcohol causes massive damage to that development.

Your right, and in a perfect dream world, illegal means the substance disappears and everyone abides the law, but unfortunately, it costs a massive amount of money to enforce any form of prohibition or regulation. People way younger than 18 are going to get their hands on it anyway, and the fact that it's "illegal" only adds to the mystique for "underage" drinkers. They are introduced to it by some scumbag at school at a party rather than by their parents, or at least through a less sleazy method, so self control is an afterthought. Most countries with less regulations actually report a LOWER incidence of alcoholism and binge drinking because there is a higher level of responsibility.

Yes, drunk driving, consumption, blah blah might increase for a year or two, but once the initial "woah, I can drink legally!" is over, most of those problems aren't going to get any worse because the underaged are going to get their hands on it either way.

I'm not saying there are no negatives, but I think they don't outweigh the positives.

[SurekRZA]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

I think the problem with alcohol in this country is that we treat it as if it were the end-all, be-all Holy Grail for teenagers. Kids don't learn to enjoy it under the supervision of an adult. Instead, the learn all about it in the no-holds-barred environment of a fraternity mixer.

I have a 13, 11, and 9-year-old. My wife and I enjoy our nightly glass of wine (Two on weekends if we're feeling frisky). However, while we do not allow our children so much as a taste at this point, we probably will allow our children the occasional glass of wine when they reach 16. For the last thing we want to do is treat alcohol as forbidden fruit.

I completely agree. I would much rather teach my kids how to control their alcohol intake then have it be forbidden just so they can later in life go out with their friends and have an accident or even ruin their lives. Teenagers view alcohol as the "cool thing to do" because its always banned or prohibited from them.

[LoneStarJerry]

Leave it as is, that's all we need is to make it easier for more people to have alcohol and increase the drinking & driving that's already out of hand these days.