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Absolut-ly not. Dammit, if I had to wait til 21, so can everyone else.
What 16 or 17 yr old kid could not get alcohol back in the 80s and 90s though? LOL
21 was just the legal age, we all knew where to buy if we wanted alcohol back then though, Im sure kids today know how to get it as well, probably easier with social media and everyone being so connected.
I think it definitely needs to be lowered to 18, Id imagine the beer and alcohol companies would agree too, right now they can only sell that 3% mix stuff to people under 21, they would have a whole new demographic ready to throw money at them.
I was around many years ago when some states did lower it to 18. Although I was pretty young at the time, I could clearly see that it was a mistake. Well the states had to learn the hard way. It caused its share of problems especially on the roadways. It clearly drove up the stats and they eventually put it back to 21.
Many lives were lost...
Back when the drinking age was 18 for both sexes in my state from 1976 to 1984, one serious problem was that not even the cops were all that concerned about driving after drinking. One time back then I drank a pitcher a beer and promptly left the bar to drag the strip. I rolled up to a stop sign and was stopped by cops. Even though I surely had the smell of alcohol on my breathe, all I got was a ticket. I guess I talked clearly, so they didn't think I was drunk. But fast forward to these days, if I did that again, the cops would smell the beer and ask that I take a sobriety test.
Since the danger of drunk driving is taken a lot more seriously these days, I don't think it would be too dangerous to lower the drinking age to 18. One reason why drunk driving was not taken as seriously back then was because the blood alcohol content was .10%. But has been lowered to .08% for a long time. So the danger of drunk driving is taken a lot more seriously than decades ago.
It's the ones that danger the roadways to themselves and others "before" they get stopped or caught is what the big concern is.
This is a good example where good 'ol Common Sense plays it's part.
The question is:
If lowered to 18 will the roadways out there be just as safe?
And the obvious answer is...
Not to mention a lot the of other Alcohol related problems that are out there today. Why give society a green light to an earlier start to it?
We definitely need to get back to cops using common sense when dealing with underage drinking.
I remember a time when I was about 18 or 19, a friend and I were driving home about 2am, we both had been drinking and a cop pulled us over, he saw we had been drinking and told us to park the car in a nearby lot and to walk home, he said if that car moved the rest of the night, he would come and arrest us both, This was around the mid 90s.
I think the law needs to be consistent. You're either an adult or you're not. An adult can buy beer, tobacco, firearms, register for selective service, join the military, enter into legal agreements and vote in elections. If you're not responsible enough to drink a beer, you shouldn't be voting. If you're not responsible enough to own a revolver, we shouldn't be willing to hand you an actual machine gun at basic training.
My eldest brat got a ticket for underage drinking when he was eighteen. They charged him as an adult because he was eighteen. That's illogical. You are either an adult at eighteen or not. Make it nineteen ( some kids are still in H.S. at eighteen ) or twenty and call it a day. 21? Who came up with that number and why? The human brain is fully adult at 25, not 21. Seems arbitrary to me.
My eldest brat got a ticket for underage drinking when he was eighteen. They charged him as an adult because he was eighteen. That's illogical. You are either an adult at eighteen or not. Make it nineteen ( some kids are still in H.S. at eighteen ) or twenty and call it a day. 21? Who came up with that number and why? The human brain is fully adult at 25, not 21. Seems arbitrary to me.
I actually was caught with alcohol in a friends car ( I was learning to drive a stick shift at the time), and I kept stalling it at a green light, cop pulled us over and we had beer, the passenger and I were 18, there were 2 17 yr olds in the car as well.
I ended up being charged with 'possession of alcohol by a minor', and had to attend some classes, but that is STILL on my record! and Im 43 now! LOL
When I applied for my job 8 yrs ago, when they completed my background check, they actually jokingly asked me about this, even they couldnt believe this was still on my record! It has never impacted my ability to get a job or do anything else, but its still on there and I do have a record thanks to this one incident.
Something like this should automatically come off after so many years (maybe 10-15 years). I know I can get it expunged, but its not worth the time and money for this type of conviction.
No other country (other than Islamic countries) has such strict alcohol laws, and most of them don't have nearly the amount of alcohol related issues among young adults that the US has.
When you treat people like infants who can't make smart decisions and moderate themselves, don't be surprised when they live up (or down) to that.
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