Let's delve into another debatable topic on this blog.
What do you all feel about the current drinking age in the US? Should it remain the same, be lowered, be raised, be removed altogether, or (I guess this is another possibility) should we just have a national prohibition of alcohol?
If you decide to bring in facts rather than opinion, please cite your sources (no plagiarism). Also, refrain from including personal encounters with alcohol, because it is illegal for most of us to consume it, aside from occasions when drinking at home under parental supervision.
I'm interested to see what a group of college students has to say about this topic, because we are the demographic which is most affected by any legislature.
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14 years ago
I think drinking age should be 18.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are under 21, you can still get alcohol drinks from upperclassmen or someone whos older in general. I do not think the current law really makes a difference in terms of drinking. Since legal age of buying tobacco here in Georgia is 18, drinking age should be the same.
It is hard to say so I will just throw some thoughts out there. You could compare different countries' laws to ours, which many do, but those are different cultures so it is different. I think the drinking age should reflect a responsible level of age.
ReplyDeleteI think 21 is a reasonable age since you attain your final level of legal adulthood at this age. I think our country overconsumes and abuses many things which is part of the reason 21 or higher may be better. Since alcohol has a way of trickling down to those who are underage, a higher age such as 21 or higher may be more responsible to keep. If the age were to be lowered to 18, even younger people would be able to get their hands on it and that would probably not be safe.
At 18 you could get alcohol from anyone 21 or older easily at college or elsewhere, so the current age isn't necessarily logical on that aspect. Also, I would think if you can commit your life to the armed forces and die for your country at age 18, I think that is also a reasonable age to be able to purchase such substances as alcohol. Tobacco products, as Jay said, are available to 18 year olds and I think they are more harmful to health than alcohol is, in some sort of moderation anyway, so it would make more sense to lower the alcohol age or raise the tobacco age.
I think alcohol may be abused too much since it is an off limits thing and "cool." Maybe if it were more available it would become less of a "thrill" or such, but I probably wouldn't put money on it.
Those are just some of the thoughts that go through my head on the subject. I have had alcohol in parent supervised conditions and enjoyed it, but it can be a dangerous thing if abused.
I think drinking age shoule be about 16 because I do not believe that a person's intelligence and ability will change a lot after 16.
ReplyDeleteIn China, we do not have drinking age. I was only 8 when I first tried beer, but I didn't like the taste of it. It was bitter and a little bit spicy. But I love the drinks which mix juice with little alcohol. They were really delicious.
I don't think drinking is a kind of "cool" behaviour and I never felt happy or excited after I drank.
In conclusion, I think drinking age should be lowered, and, at the same time, we have to recommend all the people not to drink too much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age#cite_note-14
ReplyDeleteLooking at the drinking ages of all the other counties in the world, only about three or four have their drinking ages at 21 or over. Without doing any substantial research, I don't think Europe has any more problems with drinking and driving or alcohol abuse than the US does.
I think drinking age should be 18.The fact that US citizens,once they cross the Canada-US border can drink at the age of 18 or 19,doesn't really signify any moral correctness,since a mere geographical distinction prevents them to satisfy they're need for alcohol and there is no political correctness.So how does it affect them ethically if the US keeps the age at 21 and Canada a 18?I've heard stories of teens who drive miles just to be in the legal drinking age and police men telling violators of the US drinking age that if they were x miles away they wouldn't have gotten caught for drinking.In India,and in most of rest of Asia the drinking age is 18.In Mexico, teenagers take advantage of the drinking age to escape the US boundaries.So i feel since the bordering countries of the US have younger drinking ages,it makes the US teenagers more agitated.Thus the drinking age in the US should be 18
ReplyDeleteI think the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because realistically the majority of 18 year olds have had at least one drink. Nowadays, it is very simple to get drinks even if you are under 21. If they lower the drinking age, college students won't be so excited to get drinks because anybody can get it. Once anyone can get something, it is not as special anymore and hopefully that will lower the bad drinking statistics that they have on college students.
ReplyDelete@Jake. You make a great statement. We are only one of a handfull of countries that has a drinking age of 21. However we are also one of a handful of countries that have a DUI limit of .08
ReplyDelete(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content#Limits_by_country_.28BrAC:_Breath_Alcohol_Content.29). Most other countries have drinking limits of .05%.
People drink underage, and will continue to do so no matter what the limit is. The main reason is because the limitation exists and people want to surpass it. There should be stricter laws and more time placed on controlling people who do drink (ex driving, being in public, ect) than stopping people from actually doing so.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Why? Because at the age of 18, men must register for the draft and both men and women are allowed to enlist in the military. My argument is simple. If someone is old enough and mature enough to fight, kill, and die for his/her country, then he/she is old enough and mature enough to drink alcoholic beverages.
ReplyDeleteI believe the drinking age should also be 18. I don't think that having a drinking age inhibits underage drinking, it simply masks it. I recently turned 18 and I don't drink on a regular basis simply because I'm not interested in doing so. However, there are times when I would like to enjoy a nice glass of red wine (my family has given me wine with holiday meals since I was 16) or have the ability to cook with wine without having to "illegally" obtain materials.
ReplyDeleteReally I don't think its makes a huge difference. It is not very difficult for anyone who has entered highschool to obtain alcohol. Also alcohol is not even bad for you. What makes it bad is when it is abused, or used in combination with things such as driving. In moderation who really cares if you drink alcohol? However, these problems get compounded by people with genetical predispositions to alcohol, as well as people who are not fully matured. Also a large amount of teens will go through some sort of emotional crisis in their highschool years which will lead to abuse. A higher drinking age helps to throw a protective blanket over the population.
ReplyDeleteIn college I believe that drinking is almost a fad. For a large part of a college population it is the first time they are exposed first hand (if they didn't experience it in highschool) to widespread alcohol use. There are social strains to drink, and many people succumb to the pressure. People in frats are considered "cool" and so is drinking with them. Its a stereotype in itself...the frat party with loud music blaring and everyone playing beer pong.
Personally I don't really care for a drinking age period, but drinking laws such as drunk driving need to remain, as well as others. An interesting thing to note, is that in countries where their culture involves alcohol use, and the drinking age is not so high, there are less alcoholics and less problems. It is most likely due to the fact that they have simply adapted to it, or perhaps it is merely survival of the fittest (all the alcoholics killed themselves). Eitherway, I believe it is our culture that causes problems with alcohol, not the alcohol itself
I believe that alcohol consumption as a pleasurable drink should be prohibited worldwide, all ages, no exceptions.
ReplyDeleteApart from the fact that my religious background prevents me from consuming alcohol, it is also a toxin and deleterious to our health in several ways. Also I've found that people make a fool of themselves when they drink a lot. For these reasons, I have taken the decision not to drink.
If you do happen to drink, I respect your decision as it is a personal one, but if I had my way, consumption of alcohol (except maybe as a medicine) would be banned universally.
Without alcohol consumption, a host of social problems would be resolved - underage drinking, drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, etc. would be made redundant. I have a similar opinion with regard to drugs but since drugs are not a part of mainstream family American culture (at least not yet), banning drugs sounds more feasible than banning alcohol.
Just my opinion.
Ithink people like kevin akash and adrian bring up good points. I consider the way alcohol consumption is handled in america to be shameful. For some reason we have a ridiculously high drinking age, higher than almost any other country. This might make sense if we were just strict on alcohol, but we're not. The legal driving limit is very unsafe, and just a few years ago some states (south carolina) had an even higher legal limit 0.10, making it possible to operate a vechicle and put everyone's life at risk, as long as you were over 21. It doesnt make sense. Also this high legal drinking age also encourages dangerous behavior, like teens driving across the border to get drinks. It seems our law on alcohol is the only one which encourages dangerous behavior.
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