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Drinking Age Debate

February 22, 2009 3:00 PM

Lesley Stahl examines the debate over lowering the drinking age to 18, a controversial idea embraced by some people and roundly criticized by groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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by zackmckenna November 17, 2009 5:47 PM EST
I'm an American freshman studying abroad for my first semester of college. I'm only 18 but I am of the legal age here in London where I am studying. And from my experience and that of others, it is completely clear that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. The fact is, I drank back in America with friends, at parties ect. But it isn't casual or social drinking. It never is. We drank in basements, at night, hidden from the world and authority where your goal is to get drunk. Coming here a lot has changed. I now go to the pub and enjoy a great pint of beer, instead of chugging cans of bud light at a party. Even at my home it's more of an enjoyment just to grab a cold drink from the fridge. I've grown more responsible with my drinking and it's something I really enjoy to do. It really is a shame that when I get back, it will be back to Bud Light and beer pong hiding in the basement. Of course there are those who are irresponsible, but when you're out in public, it is much less acceptible to drink past your limits, because you really will make a fool of yourself. The fact remains. We are drinking anyways, but very dangerously. If only people could come visit here and see how everything gets along fine. Drunk driving and alcohol related problems are always present, but the reality is, most of them time I see something happen, it's usually the older and presumably "more responsible" people. The law needs to be changed, in addition to stronger positive education about alcohol. It's not a terrible thing but it needs to be treated with respect. As of now, it's a complete joke.
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by sorensonchelsie November 9, 2009 1:14 PM EST
I am 17 and i am a very responsible person. I do great in school and i have a good job. I will be 18 very soon and my plan is to get married to my long-term boyfriend. The only thing is that we both cannot drink. I do not see the problem with lowering the drinking age to 18. People are going to drink any ways so why not make it legal. The U.S. is one of only few countries that have the drinking age at 21. Most are set at 18. Drinking is like a forbidden fruit to us that are not 21. Just like smoking. Everyone wants to smoke until they turn 18 because they can now legally get them. Same with drinking. The interest in drinking gets lower when you turn of age. So why not help the situation by making it at 18 so younger people wont be as compelled to do it. Also the drinkers permit is a very good idea because 18 year olds will have to learn to be responsible in order to keep their drinking privilages. If you really think about it, people can vot, go to war and die at war but they cannot have a drink. Pretty sad.
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by DRINKINGAGEDOWN November 2, 2009 9:20 PM EST
lower the stupid drinking age! kids are gunna drink and drive anyhow. look at european countries...little kids can have a beer over there but they dont binge because they were exposed for it at a young age. stop being so damn selfish about the age and road.
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by Kent_Juniorr October 20, 2009 3:20 AM EDT
So I believ that it SHOULD BE lowered from 21 to 18
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by Kent_Juniorr October 20, 2009 3:18 AM EDT
Yeah I'm 19 and I get my friends and stuff to buy it for me..And i'll stay at home and drink but I WILL NOT leave my house drunk!
I am a responsible drinker.
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by jonnn89 October 16, 2009 4:25 AM EDT
European countries had the same problem with teen accident and they solved their problem by lower the acceptable bac level, educating teens, and make getting your licsence harder to get.i belive that the government messed up, if they wanted to lower traffic accidents they should have done the same. The european countries have a bac limit from .02% to .05% and here the United States has the Federal limit at .1%. I live in buffalo near canada were the drinking age is 19. so to top everything off its hurting are local bars
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by briii2009 September 3, 2009 4:05 PM EDT
i believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because people like us need the experience so that we can learn from the mistakes of being drunk insted of waiting until we are 21 and then going out and getting wasted and get alcohol poisoning..
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by al319207 July 22, 2009 1:19 PM EDT
I was a freshman at Ohio University this past school year. And I one of my friends who attended there got kicked out of the school for drinking and getting caught three times. He had a 3.5 gpa and he was attending one of the best schools for his Journalism major. Why not lower the drinking age to 19. This way it helps to keep it out of high schools but then it does not possibly change someones future. Not many college freshman have cars at school. In the debate they say that if they lower it from 21 to 18 younger kids can get it. You have to be an idiot to think that it isnt already easy for younger kids to get beer. The 15 year olds still go to school with the 18 year olds and if the 18 year olds are the ones who can get it easily then whats to stop the younger kids asking the 18 year olds if they could get them what they need. And you can not treat certain kids different than others that would be like having two kids and giving one anything they want and saying to the other sorry you arent as special as your sibling. Its not like everyone can go to college some people cant afford it and others just dont do well at the school thing. And to all you vets out there who think that if your in the army you are ok to drink but everyone else should wait i say to you its your choice to join the military thats the great part of our country. But the other great part is that everyone is equal no matter who you are or what you do. Dont get me wrong i apperciate what you have done for me and this country but you need to look at it from the outside with out any opinion. If any one has a comment on this please feel free to comment on it instead of a new post that way we can debate this out and possibly come to some agreement either to agree to disagree but the only way we will get a positive out come is by talking about it.
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by jesua562 May 7, 2009 11:59 PM EDT
how can i download this video for a project
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by keisto April 22, 2009 11:57 AM EDT
also i forgot to say when i was 14 i started drinking and my friends parents were cool with it they said they rather know there kid is drinking in there home than drinking out of town and having to drive home and maybe not make it.
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by keisto April 22, 2009 11:54 AM EDT
Woah ok. So im 20 and im for the lowering of the drinking age. Now i do think avaliabilty would increase HOWEVER not by much. You dont think if the 18yr old can get it from some 21 year old then the 18yr old as access for then wouldnt the younger 15 year old have access as well threw the 18yr old. That being said along with that cracking down on it isnt working and it never will. Buyers and young adults are just gonna be more secret more stealthy. and if this is a high school scare then make it so you have to be a graduate is it really that hard?
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by bigdawg4 April 21, 2009 5:06 PM EDT
ok i am a teenager thats growing up in northren new york that knows of the parties that we have so far back in the woods just so we wont get caught. and i just came over to spain for two weeks and will be heading back but i partied with some friends over here and every body is so relaxed about it that even the parents know what there children are doing and are ok with them doing it. not that i am saying people are going to be upset with lowering the drinking age i personally would like to see it lowered to 18 in the near future. but who knows with the world of politics now a days where if you do something wrong you are automatically looked down upon and its not fair to do that. even to have it like the driving test and being able to drive not only is it a privilage. if you abuse it you will lose it which makes sense because people are going to respect this law for generations. but if MADD doesnt want to change the drinking age to 18 for driving reasons thats ok but go to a local college on the weekends and see what teenage life is like on there. over one third (35%) of the arrest made in dui cases are of individuals of the ages between 21 and 24. NOW THINK ABOUT IT AND LOWER THE AGE LIMIT TO 18.
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by bzar1 April 1, 2009 2:24 PM EDT
We should all be aware that the powers-that-be are not truly interested in a society where people drink responsibly. Such a society would breed attitudes of independence and autonomy. They seek an infantilized population which cannot think for itself and is therefore easier to control, hence all the nanny state nonsense.
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by Lisas60 March 20, 2009 7:13 PM EDT
In Michigan the ability for the parents to teach their adult kids responsibilty and moderation of alchol has been taken away. People are much safer drinking in a controlled atmosphere, ie. bars, nightclubs, restaurants where the servers, are TAM or Tips certified and sober and responsible for their clientele. By lowering the drinking age it would bring young people back into controlled, regulated atmospheres. The alchol consumption has not gone down since the lowering of the drinking age. It's only altered where it is consumed.

The sales tax generated at onpremise vs off premise alchold sales would at least triple. So it would actually generate much needed dollars for the state.

Consumption will probably go down once the "forbidden fruit" aspect is erased from the equation.
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by bzar1 March 19, 2009 4:11 PM EDT
Are these people who keep running into you under 21???????????????
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by thenemo1-2009 March 16, 2009 4:40 AM EDT
The local deli and 7-11 type stores don't check or care to check I.D.'s Even our local sizable liquor store has young people that work the cash register and the boss looks the other way when they sell to the illegal young party crowd.
They run in right before closing and grab what they want and check out quit quickly.
Not enough time to call the police.
Intoxication is accepted as so many of our police have the problem n their families. They look the other way.
i'm just tired of getting hit while standing still buy these drunk drivers that have ano insurance, Or by being rear ended while going 40 M.P.H. on local roads, loosing time from work and family and putting me left with arthritis from auto injuries while i have to go against the stste insurance fund because these multi offenders bums have no insurance,
I can't help remembering the cop saying to the fellow who hit my family
"Oh not you again" When you see them driving a 1970's car be careful these people more than not have no insurance and know they will get into another accident as they drive with no license and the car gets impounded. So they most all drive junk cars.
A word to the wise.
Please put them away stop plea bargaining for D.W.I.
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by bcddd214 March 11, 2009 6:35 PM EDT
FINALLY!
Some common sense!
This is SOOOOO true.
I have even had the chance to see first hand these effects on out teenagers.
Education, not Prohibition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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by bzar1 March 7, 2009 2:27 PM EST
"The desire to save the world often masks the desire to control"

H.L. Mencken
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by clutchhh March 5, 2009 7:07 PM EST
Anyone who thinks the drinking age of 21 is intelligent needs to get a head check. Most European countries have relaxed drinking laws and from growing up in Ireland, where the drinking age is relaxed, alcohol isn't abused as much. In Europe kids dont try and sneak alchol and take 21 shots of liqour to be "cool". KIDS WILL STILL DRINK EVEN IF THE LIMIT IS 21, THEY WILL GET THEIR HANDS ON BIGGER QUANTITIES AND LIVE UP THE MOMENT BY DRINKING MORE.

---> Not to mention that if a 18 yr old is responsible enough to buy a shotgun firearm, if the U.S. government thinks that they're fit enough to handle a firearm overseas and if they are responsible enough to drive a 2,000lbs moving vehicle which can be considered a deadly weapon, if they can pay taxes to help support all of the stupid old people that drink their martinis and fall asleep at the wheel and run over 50 ppl then they should be responsible enough to have a BEER. The drinking age is ridiculous over here. A legal adult can't get a room at most hotels? Can't drink a beer?

Have some sense! Deal with bigger problems like how we can't even say Merry Christmas in certain places because other minorities get offended, or how we haven't claimed English as our official language while we let other countries rape our boarder policy.
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by bzar1 March 5, 2009 2:53 PM EST
Another thing "60 Minutes" left out was that the US has the world's highest drinking age in the non-Muslim world. Why aren't other countries rushing to "save lives" by penlizing young adults? Maybe those ignorant foreigners just don't care about their "children". Or maybe Americans are so socially retarded they have to be kept children until they're halfway to middle age.
Once more, if 21 saves lives, wouldn't 31 or 51 or 81 save even more? What percentage of drunk drivers are over 21? Shouldn't alcohol be off limits for everyone????
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