Drinking age limit changed to 18?

Do you think that the legal age limit to drink alcohol should be changed to 18 in the states? Since once you turn 18 your technically an adult (by law) then why not be able to drink? What are your thoughts?

I think it's good as it is, people shouldn't be drinking (is bad for your health), so if it can be avoided by age-limit, then so be it.

Is the age higher or lower than 18 currently in the states? I'll assume its probably higher. As Dave said alcohol can have negative effects on your health espically if you over do it so technically you should be more mature and responsible if you start drinking later, but from what I've seen that is far from the case.

Why would you want it changed? Do you WANT to drink?

It's 19 where I live right now, and in the province beside us(30 minute drive) it already is 18.

Drinking age doesn't matter though because getting it underage is too easy and essentially unstoppable.

2 1/2 years....
Im joking, but if they do, more teens will die in car accidents because of drinking and driving. I mean, they do when they are young, but if legalized at a younger age...
Drinking and Driving teens+Alchol legal at 18=A dramtic increase on death of teens.

Yes but smoking is legal when you turn 18.Plus other countries have it at 18 or younger.Also your an adult once you turn 18 so you can make your decisions so why not make it legal?

Just because you are legally an adult doesn't mean that you are a mature adult. I know some people who are 16 who act more mature than my uncle.

It's 18 in Australia, I've always found it strange that it's 21 in USA.

It should be universally 18. Hell, isn't it like 16 in some places?

It's 16 here and actually doesn't give much trouble, apart from annoying teens shouting here and there in the streets or some occasional vandalism, but that's rather rare and most teens actually are kinda responsible still here when they drink, just a small group always has to fall out of the boat.

I never understood why the US's national drinking age is 21 whilst the driving age is 16.

Even so, I've never really seen the need to have it so high. 18 is fine, by my reckoning.

I don't give much for alcohol. There are other nonalcoholic drinks that taste much better, like soda and juice!

18 works fine, but I see nothing wrong with the current limit of 21. I couldn't care lass or more if the change it.

On 29-Aug-2009 Youkou said:

It's 16 here and actually doesn't give much trouble, apart from annoying teens shouting here and there in the streets or some occasional vandalism, but that's rather rare and most teens actually are kinda responsible still here when they drink, just a small group always has to fall out of the boat.

True, its always the small minority who end up grabbing most of the attention, regardless of how many people don't actually do anything bad when they have a drink.

Also do people turn from been drunken yobs at 18 to some sort of mature, refined person just 3 years later?

« Last edited by super craig on Aug 29th 2009 »

I think in Italy the children are brought up having a glass of wine with their evening meal, and alcahol is very much only accepted in moderation and as a result the younger adults dont feel the need to rebel and binge because they have wine every day anyway.

How many people follow the drinking age law anyway?

On 29-Aug-2009 Swagman2276 said:

I think in Italy the children are brought up having a glass of wine with their evening meal, and alcahol is very much only accepted in moderation and as a result the younger adults dont feel the need to rebel and binge because they have wine every day anyway.

I don't know if that happens in Italy (I suspect it does, but can't be sure), but in France it definitely does.

The more taboo you make drinking, the more people want to rebel and have it, especially to excess. When the US banned alcohol altogether, sales of alcohol actually INCREASED. It was just too easy to get despite the law. It's the same with underage drinking - if you ban young people from drinking altogether, they'll just have loads as soon as they can get their hands on it, legally or otherwise. Let them have a few drinks from a young age, and they just won't view drinking as special or rebellious and they'll only have a few when they go out.

Culture is to blame for binge-drinking and the like, not the drinking age.

On 30-Aug-2009 Catharsis said:

I don't know if that happens in Italy (I suspect it does, but can't be sure), but in France it definitely does.

The more taboo you make drinking, the more people want to rebel and have it, especially to excess. When the US banned alcohol altogether, sales of alcohol actually INCREASED. It was just too easy to get despite the law. It's the same with underage drinking - if you ban young people from drinking altogether, they'll just have loads as soon as they can get their hands on it, legally or otherwise. Let them have a few drinks from a young age, and they just won't view drinking as special or rebellious and they'll only have a few when they go out.

Culture is to blame for binge-drinking and the like, not the drinking age.

Agreed, I was in Canada for new year (drinking age 21) and there were plenty of people clearly sozzled and clearly not 21, exactly the same as there would be in England which has a lower age limit. In fact those who were old enough were knocking it back at a fair rate and weren't exactly the mature drinkers this law should create. People will always find a way to get alcohol, the only way to stop it would be the religiously enforce the laws to a point where it just wouldn't make sense.

On 29-Aug-2009 Volke said:

I never understood why the US's national drinking age is 21 whilst the driving age is 16.

Even so, I've never really seen the need to have it so high. 18 is fine, by my reckoning.

Drinking is technically bad for a person at that age. In the U.S graduated licensing is required by everyone under 18 and a learner's permit elsewhere to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong, I live in Canada). Driving is not technically bad for you if you don't drive recklessly, and as such there should be no reason to really restrict driving privileges. However, here in Canada they're increasing the age for driving from 16 to 18.

On 29-Aug-2009 PhilXZ said:

How many people follow the drinking age law anyway?

Not many. I know almost everyone at my school has had some sort of alcoholic beverage before getting to high school and by the time we all graduated we all had consumed vast amounts.

The drinking age in America was 18 until 1984. It was raised to 19 on 1/1/84; 20 on 1/1/85; and 21 on 1/1/86.
The claimed purpose was to curb drunk driving by youngsters. DUI rates haven't changed a damned bit in the past 25 years. The ONLY reason there fewer drunk-driving-caused deaths is due to cars having better safety equipment such as airbags.
When I was 18, I was in charge of a piece of military hardware worth over $22 million and could flatten entire city blocks, but I am not fit to drink a beer on off-hours?! When I was 18, I was in combat. Got shot. But, I am not capable of handling a shot of whiskey?!
Lower the drinking age BACK to 18 and INCREASE the penalties for DUI, including mandatory jail time for causing bodily harm or death; mandatory revocation of driving privileges on the third conviction for DUI. THAT will do more to lower DUI rates than anything else.