Drinking age limit unjust

[Yerusalyim]

The thought of 16 year olds having carte blanche to dink is frightening. I’d want no part of it. Does it go on? Yes, but at least we don’t make it easy.

Most American 16 year old have cars, I don’t think that is the case in Europe.

I forgot to mention, I’m in favor of making kids wait until they are 18 to drive…in Germany it costs over $1000 to get a drivers license…I’m not suggesting the US charge THAT much…but a drivers license should be harder to get than it is in most places.

 

[katy]

I forgot to mention, I’m in favor of making kids wait until they are 18 to drive…in Germany it costs over $1000 to get a drivers license…I’m not suggesting the US charge THAT much…but a drivers license should be harder to get than it is in most places.

My point exactly.

 

[jc-servant]

My question is this, just what redeeming quality does society get by letting teenagers drinks legally? They don’t hafta to do it underground?

I can’t think of anything good drinking does. I don’t think it is a moral issue, unless you do it to excess, I just don’t do it because it serves no purpose, and I never developed a taste for it.

By removing the forbidden aspect, I suspect fewer teens would sneak off in cars to go drinking. If they could legally have a drink, then maybe we could get them properly taught how to have one drink socially instead of binging merely to get intoxicated?

I personally learned about alcohol well before age 18 from my parents. My father made certain that all of his children knew what alcohol smelled like and tasted like whether mixed or unmixed with various things. He did not want us to be given anything that we did not know contained alcohol.

We were allowed to drink “new wine” when we lived in Europe and after we returned. None of us got intoxicated or binged or drove after drinking. One of my sisters now does not drink at all and the rest of us will occasionally have a glass of wine (only if it is a good wine) or a mixed drink. I remember that when I turned 21 in college, I did not go out for the traditional drinking night at all. It was just no big deal to me by that point.

I guess the younger folks on here don’t remember why the drinking age moved to 21, but the states were threatened with the loss of federal highway funds if they did not raise their drinking age. It happened in my state while I was in college, so it was exceptionally hypocritical. We could have beer if we liked for 2 years and then we were suddenly too young to have anything.

 

[householder]

I guess the younger folks on here don’t remember why the drinking age moved to 21, but the states were threatened with the loss of federal highway funds if they did not raise their drinking age.

And with good reason, too. Drinking ages in many states were lowered to 18 because of the Vietnam War. The argument was “if someone is old enough to kill, they should be old enough to drink”.

But the 18 year old limit was thought to increase the quantity of booze in high schools. Many states then raised the age of maturity to 19 or 21. Because of differences between the states, under aged persons in one state might get in a car and travel to a nearby state, coming home drunk on the highway. The problem was considered so bad in northern Illinois that the state government pressured Wisconsin for a several years to raise their age limit. It was the feds that finally made state laws uniform, eliminating interstate drinking caravans.

 

[Holly3278]

It’s a ridiculous hold-over from the Purtitan days. If America would get rid of the drinking age, there would be a lot less uni students getting themselves alcohol poisoned because nobody ever taught them how to consume responsibly.

I agree. People should be allowed to drink alcohol starting at age 18 when they become adults.

 

[rlg94086]

My question is this, just what redeeming quality does society get by letting teenagers drinks legally? They don’t hafta to do it underground?

I can’t think of anything good drinking does. I don’t think it is a moral issue, unless you do it to excess, I just don’t do it because it serves no purpose, and I never developed a taste for it.

For sure Europe has more realaxed attitudes about it. But c’mon they drink alot over there. I spent 10 days with my British friends touring the UK. We’d ride awhile, find a pub, ride awhile find a pub. There was one of every corner. The pubs seemed to be the hub of society. When asked if they could buy me a beer, I said I didn’t drink, and they looked at me like I had 2 heads LOL.

Anyway that’s my :twocents:

If they had drank enough beer, you probably did have 2 heads.

Seriously though, my wife and I drink moderately at home…never “stinkin; drunk”…maybe “buzzed” a little. I have offered my kids a sip when they are curious…they hate the taste …although my oldest did like Guiness when he first tasted it at age 12. I haven’t had any drinking or drug abuse in the house yet (thanks be to God) We are very logical and matter-of-fact about it. “When you are adult, it is legal, but even then it is stupid to drink in excess - throwing up is not fun - drinking and driving means you may kill others and/or yourself (I then show them a recent news item of teens who crashed into a tree).”

Regarding drugs, my kids have been taught that it is stupid and, again, I’ve been honest about it (tried pot once…boring…my wife never did) and I let them watch some of the rock star biologies - after seeing the idiots who medicate themselves to death, they usually get the point. Some of my son’s (17yo) hockey team got busted smoking pot on a road trip. My son held up a halo above his head with both hands. He has had his challenges with sin (chastity), but he and the rest of the team turned the offenders in…they all know it is stupid and ruins their performance in sports. Some of the parents defended the smokers …told me “we all did it.” Great.

 

[deb1]

I think that a problem that is not addressed by many is that we live in a modern society that applauds those who go to excess. Moderation is viewed as unexciting.

We don’t see this just in binge drinking kids but in some fundamentalists who think ALL alcohol consumption is sinful. Both groups are going to extremes, just opposit extremes.

 

[Newbie2]

I agree. People should be allowed to drink alcohol starting at age 18 when they become adults.

Perhaps, but not everyone becomes an adult at 18…some not even at 30.

 

[BamaRider]

Your health professional sounds like an anti drinking kind of guy. The ill affects of alcohol occur with its abuse, not its use. Here in Germany if you’re 16 you can get a beer ANYWHERE…hard liquor at 18…and they don’t have any worse affects, in fact less so, than americans…here’s the difference…In Europe drinking is considered normal, natural, and kids do it at home with their folks…so it’s no big deal. In the US it’s FORBIDDEN therefore, the kids hide it and binge drink, which brings about the ill affects.

The premise in this statement is not true. Lackluster attitudes about drinking and encouraging teenagers to indulge has no redeeming quality whatever. The USA has less alcohol problems per person then any country in Europe.

Listed below are per capita consumption numbers. The higher the number the greater Alcohol Attributalbe Mortaltiy Rate (AAMR) which is a bad thing.

USA 9.8

Germany 14

UK 12

Italy 11.3

Russia 17 (not Europe I just included it to shock ya)

Lux 16

Ireland 15

Netherlands 11

Portugal 13

So I’m thinking edcuating kids, and discouraging drinking is a good thing. Leave the legal age at 21, it will benefit your society in the long run.

alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/37/6/581

 

[Yerusalyim]

The link only references Germany and is somewhat confusing, where did you get the other figures?

 

[BamaRider]

Look don’t take my word for it, you can read all ya want on the detrimnent, and misery alchohol places on Europe from this link. Drinking is so woven into the fabric of European life, if someone sneezes the first time they break out the wine.

Some text from provided link.-

Alcohol also impacts on the family, with 16% of child abuse and neglect attributed to alcohol use and 4.7m- 9.1m children (6%-12%) living in families adversely affected by alcohol. An estimated 23 million Europeans are dependent on alcohol in any one year, with the pain and suffering this causes for family members leading to an estimated intangible impact of 68bn Euros. Estimates of the scale of harm in the workplace are more difficult, although nearly 5% of drinking men and 2% of drinking women in the EU15 report a negative impact of alcohol on their work or studies. Based on a review of national costing studies, lost productivity due to alcohol attributable absenteeism and unemployment has been estimated to cost 9bn-19bn Euros and 6bn- 23bn Euros respectively.

ias.org.uk/resources/publications/theglobe/globe200602/gl200602_p3.html#Anchor-The-14210

23 million alcoholics in Europe. That’s a bunch of folks, and I’m telling ya alot of that has to do with telling young kids, “go ahead and drink a beer, nothing wrong with it, here have some wine with that.”

I found the first link on a google search, and can’t seem to track down, because I can’t remember the search words I keyed on last night, but the stats are good.

I’d say the statement in your earlier posts that Europe has a different attitude about alchohol than most of America is absouletly true.

For sure, we have our share of problems here.

 

[redkim]

You have a point. I mean, teens continue to drink and drive despite the law. We need to have a less puritanical view of drinking.