Drinking age...

[Valtiel]

Do you think that it is right to prohibit the drinking age below 21?
I mean is it seriously an infringment on civil rights???
If we become aults at 18, can die for our country, can fly commercial airplanes, and vote, but cannot have glass of wine???
I for one do not support the current restrictions…

 

[threej_lc]

Valtiel:

Do you think that it is right to prohibit the drinking age below 21?
I mean is it seriously an infringment on civil rights???
If we become aults at 18, can die for our country, can fly commercial airplanes, and vote, but cannot have glass of wine???
I for one do not support the current restrictions…

I think everything else should be moved up, not the drinking age down.

Josh

 

[Other_Eric]

Valtiel:

Do you think that it is right to prohibit the drinking age below 21?
I mean is it seriously an infringment on civil rights???
If we become aults at 18, can die for our country, can fly commercial airplanes, and vote, but cannot have glass of wine???
I for one do not support the current restrictions…

Hi Valtiel!

Perhaps the drinking age is arbitrary and I wouldn’t particularly mind it if the states were once again allowed to decide for themselves what the drinking age would be.

I do, however, wonder why this is such a big deal for you. Is the inability to have a glass of wine really a significant impediment to enjoying life for you? If it is, then you may have some serious issues that you need to resolve before you start drinking on a regular basis.

 

[turboEDvo]

It’s a matter of physical development. 18 year-olds have many more responsibilities because their brain has developed at that point. However, the rest of them is not finished developing, and introducing the body to alcohol at too young an age (before growth stops) can cause many harmful effects, including addiction and very serious liver damage. The probablility of becoming an alcoholic increases about 50% (I think, I can verify later) if you drink before age 21. So, don’t take offense, it is healthier for you to wait.

Eamon

 

[kmktexas]

turboEDvo:

It’s a matter of physical development. 18 year-olds have many more responsibilities because their brain has developed at that point. However, the rest of them is not finished developing, and introducing the body to alcohol at too young an age (before growth stops) can cause many harmful effects, including addiction and very serious liver damage. The probablility of becoming an alcoholic increases about 50% (I think, I can verify later) if you drink before age 21. So, don’t take offense, it is healthier for you to wait.

Eamon

Eamon,

I understand your reasoning, but by the same logic, we shouldn’t allow people to drive until their hormones stop raging. Giving kid the abilty to drive legally at 16 is scarier to me than letting them drink at 18.

I was not quite 20 when they changed the legal drinking age to 21. Michigan was one of the few states that didn’t “grandfather” the change. It really felt arbitrary that one day I was responsible enough to buy my own wine and the next day I wasn’t.

That being said, it just isn’t that big of a deal. Those years of 18-21 have so many things going on, drinking is a pretty small issue in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Vox_Borealis]

On one hand, the 21 year old drinking age is pretty silly. Plenty of countries (and societies throughout time) have had lower dinking limits, if at all, without any serious negative. Anecdotally, my family is of Italian origin and we made our own wine–there was NEVER a time when I did not have wine at the table, in responsible portions, of course. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong about a 14 year old or 18 year old dringing alacohol.

That being said, I do not think that the drinking age is an infringement on civil rights. Any law with an age limit (age of consent, smoking, marriage, driving) will be to some degre arbitratry. So each community must make its own calculus and weigh the relative merits and costs of this or that legal age limit. In my universe, the drinking age would probably be 18 or 19, with a great anmount of latitude allowed for underage drinking under parental supervision (especially at home). But, this might not work in the real world, and I am certainly not scandalized by the 21 yo dringing age.

 

[Steve_Andersen]

It was one of Ron Reagan’s low moments IMHO

Here was the guy who campaigned on “states rights” using the Federal purse strings to influence legislation on a matter that was clearly not a federal matter.

Fortunately I grew up in more enlightened times.

… Is the inability to have a glass of wine really a significant impediment to enjoying life for you?..

Why should whether it is a significant impediment or not be an issue?

Banning the consumption of liver and onions might not be a significant impediment to me but why should I loose the right to consume it if I chose to?