I need a few thousand guinnea pigs for a sociology assignment

So naturally I thought of you guys.

Here's what I need from you guys:an answer and a reason why.

The question: Should the legal age to drink alcohol be lowered to eighteen years?

Non-Americans are welcome to answer too, but I really really need a very specific reason why you answered yes or no.

And I need a pretty decent response by Monday.

Thanks!

 

I'd say yes. I'm in the UK and thats the legal drinking age here. Many people start really drinking about 16 though (well, from my experience anyway). 18 seems fair since you are technically an adult and should have the freedom to make your own decisions. One thing I've found a little odd was when I was at a wedding in Scotland got me thinking - the girl was 16, the guy 20. She was now living with the guy. It seemed odd to me that she was old enough to live with the guy, to marry him, to have his babies but not to buy alcohol (legally she should not have had alcohol at her own wedding/after party). Well I also found it odd she would get married so young but as far as I know they're still happily together after 4 years, if they're happy then good on them.


Laura

 

I said no, because teens in general do not know how to enjoy alcoholic beverages without ending up completely hammered and doing something stupid. Why make it easier for them to get a hold of?

 

Hmmm, theres a thought. In the UK loads of people up to their late 20's go out and get hammered every weekend. People over that age tend to go out less often but still looking to get hammered. Maybe this is from bad habits picked up from starting to drink to young? If the age limit here is raised in the UK maybe people will be more responsible drinkers? Its too late to save me but maybe it could help the new generations!

 

Errrr....I thought the legal drinking age in the US was 18.

 

No. 18 yo's drive badly enough. I cringe at the thought of them driving home from the bars.

 

i voted no because drinking causes many problems and we hardly need to let younger people get ahold of alcohol before they have a better understanding of what can come of having too many drinks.

 

ok correct me if i'm wrong, you guys can drive at 16, marry at 18, go and fight and die for the country at 18, but you can't toast your wedding until you are 21, makes no sense whatsoever to me

 

As an 18 yr old college student here in the states, i see my peers (or at least those that would consider themselves my peers) go out and get plasterd on a weekly basis to the detriment of their education. And i can say reasonably IMO that most 18 year olds are not ready to handle themselves respondsibly around alcohol.

 

oh and in the US military the legal drink age is 19, to make it more fair for the stress involved i guess

 

In the UK the law is 18 to drink legally. Most teens go out and get hammered (guilty as charged), but the same is also true for people of all ages. For instance, in your average night club in Cardiff you would find people from 16(those of us teens lucky enough to look 18+) to people in their 40's/50's getting totally wrecked on birthdays/stag/hen weekends etc.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the voting age 18 in the U.S.?

If you can be trusted to make an informed decision on voting for the president of a country as powerful as the U.S.A., where is the logic that you cannot be trusted to make the same informed decision about alcohol consumption?

Whatever the legal drinking age, young people (underage or not) will still seek out to discover the joys/woes of drunkeness. Does the illegality of recreational drugs (cannabis, ecstasy, acid etc.....) stop young people using them? I don't think so, but this isn't a "drugs" post, so let's not stray.

I think it's hypocritical to have "grades" of adulthood, with different responsibilities and freedoms being granted at different ages.

P.S. Where do you want the rodents sent?

 

Here why i say no: i think achohol should be made illegal, period, and marijuana legalized. i've never smoked any myself, but in all my courses in criminology/justice/sociology, alchohol has been a huge factor in violent crime. For example, we were hearing a presentation on domestic violence last week by a district attorney, and i think it was 75% of DV cases involve alchohol, and there has never been a reported DV case when the two of em were baked.

Another reason: drug arrests are skyrocketing, and now California pays more per prisoner than it does per college student. Let the marijuana smokers/growers go, and a huge prison overpopulation problem may be lessened a bit.

Yet another: my dad's a fire captain, and he said in his years responding to car accidents he's never noted the cause to be related to marijuana, but far too many related to alchohol consumption.

I plan on running for president, and this being part of my platform.

EDIT - I just realized i am off topic. ignore me, but count my vote.

 

If you're an adult, can be drafted, vote, be prosecuted as an adult, etc. then you should have the priveleges that go along with that status. I say this partly because I feel that it's very difficult to be responsible until you are given responsibility. The fact that alcohol is illegal for those under 21 doesn't particularly curb under age drinking, it meerly makes it something that has to be done in an underhand manner and thus encourages poor behavior.

--Mike

 

If you are old enough to fight for your country, then you should be allowed to have a drink.

 

I think it should be dropped to 18, aforementioned, the privileges of adulthood should go along with the responsibility. Now, bracing for slight age discrimination, I am a freshman in highschool. Alcohol and marijuana are probably more common than books in my school. I cannot get away from someone talking about how blasted they got. The taboo factor is what makes it cool. Some 18 year olds aren't mature enough to handle their liqour but heck neither are 21 year olds who die from doing 21 shots in an hour or the guy who gets hammered and into fights. People need to learn at a very early age that alcohol is not the devil, it is excess that creates any problem from it. If kids my age were talking about the great taste of 18 year old scotch and how bobby wasted it by drinking 2 glasses i'd be fine. The problem in not in the alcohol, it's the stupidity.

P.S. Am I the only one who saw the title and thought, dang you're gunna a BIG cage?

 

I actually think they should remove drinking ages entirely.

For instance, in Italy (by law 16, but not really controlled..not like it is here), there does not seem to be a problem with teens and alcohol. In many parts of Europe I think it is not considered as cool a thing to do as it is in North America because restricting an item makes it more appealing automatically.

I spent alot of time in Italy and from my experience this holds true. The kids do drink, but not to excess like NA, where many have drinking binges because they think it is cool. In Europe, drinking is more just not as important as the social life, dancing, etc....and binge drinking? Well, I never saw it and I partied with many people there.

 

I vote no, but in reality all a "legal" drinking age does is limit a person's ability to purchase alcohol. Where I grew up, kids were drinking (and drinking hard) as early as 12 years old. I think the real problem lies in communication and information. I just know from experience that teens typically do not have the ability to reason out situations rationally. Sure, there are the few that have the ability to see how "cool" their friends look when they've had more than they can handle and say "no thanks", but most teens think they are invincible.

There is a much bigger issue than the state mandating a legal age.

 

It seems that is a serious fundamental contradiction to give an 18-20 year old the responsibility of voting, being selected for jury duty and possibly being drafted to fight in a war, but to at the same time deny him or her the right to have a mug of beer with their pizza.

It should be a matter of individual responsibility, not government control.

http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cqoped.html

 

ditto. Except I'm 20.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I'm not too crazy about the fact that the peole living in my building got to vote, either.