Comments on: A Spirited Debate On A Lower Drinking Age

More Than 100 College Presidents Say Reducing Drinking Age From 21 May Cut Binge Drinking

[dkhorse1]

The reason drinking is held to a higher age standard is because alcohol intoxicates, all the other %u201Cadult at 18%u201D activities are done sober, at least in theory.
With all the dumba**es on YouTube and the stories in the news all the time, it%u2019s hard to justify giving young adults a three years headstart (legally) to lower their inhibitions and do even crazier, dumba** things.
Sure there are some out there that could be responsible, but laws and rules are there because of the few rotten apples that spoil the whole bunch.

[honestabe8]

Sorry for the double post. I stutter.

[honestabe8]

Legalize pot and the alcohol issue largely disappears.

[honestabe8]

Legalize pot and the alcohol issue largely disappears.

[bks59]

18 YO eligible to: vote, sign binding contracts, be drafted to US military, join US military, marry, divorce. In most every aspect is leaglly an adult, except that they can not pruchase any alcohol beverage. there are prosecutors that have no problems holding those younger than 18YO as an adult, depending on the crime. It is a bit hipocritical to maintian a 21YO drinking age don''t you think.

[mclam010]

I have a question, Why are we passing the responsibilities of under age drinking to the universities, colleges and the goverment? It is each parent''s responsibitity to teach the responsibilities of drinking and the price that you will face if you drink and drive, binge drinking, etc. I am tired of everyone blaming someone else when they make a mistake. I say remove alcohol from the campuses all together. Oh but, that want solve the problem either they will just go off campus. It is the Student''s and the Parent''s responsibility.

[workingchump]

500,000 fulltime student injured in alcohol related accidents? 1700 dying? I thinks is pretty clear that the university''s want to lower the age so they can''t be liable. They could care less about the students....as long as their check clears.

[myopinion381]

Posted by ibzjem at 02:11 PM

Totally agree with you. My mother allowed me and my friends (with their approval) to have a wine cooler at the house once in awhile while I was still in high school. One thing was that none of us were allowed to leave the house and the other parents knew that their kids were staying at our house unless they wanted to pick them up. Made us feel like we didn''t need to sneak around to have something. Once I turned legal age, didn''t seem like anything exciting.

I am raising my daughter basically the same way.

[rytom64]

A lobbyist group in Washington would never let this go through. They give a lot of money to poiticians running in government. I beleive they are called MADD.

[ibzjem]

The problem with things like this, whether it be drinking age, driving age, smoking age, etc., is that when they reach the legal age, the flood gates open and they go wild with it. If these things were introduced to kids and they were guided by adults BEFORE the legal age, then these "adult" things wouldn''t seem new and exciting and we wouldn''t see binge drinking and wild, reckless behavior as much.

That''s how it worked for me. My parents introduced me to sips of beer and I started learning to drive long before I was 16. By the time I became of age, it didn''t seem like a "new and exciting" thing to do.

[bobby1799]

Well up here in Canada you can drink at the age of 18 in most parts of the country. In the other parts its 19. We have the same problems with underage drinking that any country has, but it has also curbed some of the binge drinking.

We have a saying:

Old enough to vote - 18
Old enough to join the Military and die for you country - 18
Then your Old enough to drink - 18

[myopinion381]

Posted by usclimey at 01:32 PM: Don''''t usually agree with you MyOp, but I''ll give you that one, albeit, maturity is going to be tough to measure and regulate.

Don''t need to worry about measuring maturity. If someone gets caught drinking in excess (whether driving or not) toss their butt in jail.

[myopinion381]

Posted by usclimey at 01:32 PM: Don''''t usually agree with you MyOp, but I''ll give you that one, albeit, maturity is going to be tough to measure and regulate.

Don''t need to worry about measuring maturity. If someone gets caught drinking in excess (whether driving or not) toss their butt in jail.

[republic1776]

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a convenience store...
NOT a Government Agency.

[rytom64]

Ok, how ''bout if a 18-20 yr old apperas drunk, give them a breathalizer, it they are .10 or greater, they get fined. (while not driving). This way the fine collectors will stay happy.

[usclimey]

I know 18 year olds that would be more responsible than someone that is 21+. I don''''t think it is an age thing but more of a maturity thing. There are plenty of people that are 30 , 40 , 50 , etc. that are in jail/prison for DUI and drunk in public.

Posted by MyOpinion381

Don''t usually agree with you MyOp, but I''ll give you that one, albeit, maturity is going to be tough to measure and regulate.

[usclimey]

Hmmm... Can''''t drink a beer if you are 18, but you can murder your baby.

As Art Carney use to say on Laugh-in, " Very intersting, but stupid!"

Posted by far_point200

"PFeeeerrry EEEneresting" was Arte Johnson, not Art Carney. Laugh-in was a great show - bet it wasn''t real popular with conservatives though!!

[myopinion381]

I know 18 year olds that would be more responsible than someone that is 21+. I don''t think it is an age thing but more of a maturity thing. There are plenty of people that are 30 , 40 , 50 , etc. that are in jail/prison for DUI and drunk in public.

[usclimey]

It is amazing to me that drinking alcohol is so important to people.

Posted by dkf218

Your post makes great points logically. Unfortunately the mind operates illogically when it comes to alcohol. Remember all the otherwise upstanding citizens arrested during Prohibition??

[far_point200]

Hmmm... Can''t drink a beer if you are 18, but you can murder your baby.

As Art Carney use to say on Laugh-in, " Very intersting, but stupid!"