Drinking age - 18 or 21?

As far as I see it, if you can adopt a child, smoke and buy cigs, vote, etc. you should be able to drink.

Want to see both sides though, so post away. I'm not on any sides, it will still happen regardless of age.

 

I say bump it to 25. There's way too many kids getting in trouble and accidents because they have yet to learn how to drink responsibly. I'm well aware people will drink anyway, and they should continue to be prosecuted as they are now. It will teach people to be smart.

I do not agree with drafting, so saying "You can be drafted to go die in another country but can't enjoy a beer with your friends first" doesn't cut it for me.

 

What about your own wedding? You can get married at 18 on your own, correct? Haven't really looked it up. But at your own wedding you can't have a drink.

 

I like the german system for this. They allow drinking years before german's are able to obtain a drivers licence. The idea is, that before the time they can drive, they have already learned how to handle their liquor.

Seems like the best way to do it for me. The age for drinking is EXTREMELY hard to enforce anyway. Driving on the other hand, would be very easy. If you ask me it's pretty easy to guess what age someone is simply by their looks and how they would be driving. Not like saying you cant drink till 21 is stopping anyone.

 

Never heard of that system, seems perfect though. I had a debate on the drinking age in my comm class last week and there was a saying that if more money went towards informing the youth about alcohol and consumption it would be better than wasting that money on trying to stop them from doing it.

 

oh nice, well i recently just turned 18 anyways so im not to worried.

Anyways, thats a pretty good idea though. In New Zealand you can get your license to drive at 15 and the age to legally drink is 18.

 

I can't LEGALLY drink at my wedding. It would be all friends and family so who would care? Plus, I'll most likely be over 25 when I get married anyway

There are millions spent each year on that sort if thing, but the problem is that kids don't listen. They think it's bullshit or disregard it and still go out and try to drink every weekend. Alcohol is not the monster here, it's ignorant children, something teaching can't combat. If they simply raise the age high enough that the people doing the drinking would have the common sense and mindset of an adult, there would be a lot less problems.

 

But wouldn't you think those same children would be even more pissed off that the age is bumped up from 21 to 25 and they would increase their "not give a shit" mindset?

 

In my experiences in watching all of my friends turn 21, and turning 21 myself, I've noticed that it takes about a year of hard drinking to simmer down.

I.E. I turned 21 and drank A LOT for a year straight, then it got old, the puking, the hangovers, the fights, the drama.

So no matter the age, people are going to go crazy for awhile right after they turn legal age.

 

18 - Making it any higher just increases the amount of underage drinking. Doing this also helps the economy as there are more people buying liquor and spending money on it. I know that most kids drink underage anyway as do I, however only at their parents consent. This means that if parents introduce alcohol before 18 then when they get to 18 they won't go as crazy since they will be controlled with it and it's not such a new thing to them.

 

21,
18 year old's and so on are still going to drink anyways,
Why make it easier for them to drink and make it legal?

 

They already have that. I think that by raising the age, the people who can buy alcohol would have enough sense to not buy alcohol for underage people and would also be able to make better decisions. Just a thought.




or yea, guy above me said it perfectly, but I didn't see it.

 

Unfortunately there's nothing such as a 'maturity' test too see how you behave and act.

I personally do not drink, even though offered countless times.

My friends drink, they can control what they do and 99% won't do something stupid whilst drunk.

But IMO if your having a drink at 16/18/21 it doesn't matter. Its the mindset your in and how mature you are.

 

Well in my country is 18 but Its ok with me I dont mind, BUT I WANT A DRIVING LICENSE TO BE 16 NOT 18 TO WAIT 2 MORE PAIN IN THE [well you know...] YEARS!!!

 

I believe it's 18 here, I would say stick at 18. Although I know many of my friends who are not 18 still drink it.

 

If you aren't mature at age 18, then you likely wouldn't be at 21 either. So I think 18 is more logical.

 

I'm in Germany now, so I've gotten used to seeing/being around younger people who can LEGALLY drink. I got here when I was 20 and it was nice to be able to drink already lol. I definitely feel it should be 18 in the USA.

 

This is the system in Portugal too, where I live.

Here you can drink at 16 and drive at 18. After 18 there's nothing you can't legally do I think.

I don't see how it makes sense to be able to drive when you're 16 and only drink when you're 21. I mean, I can legally get drunk as fuck and I won't be putting anyone's lifes in danger (except mine ofc). Also driving a car is a bigger responsability then being able to drink imo.

 

18 is good for me. I enjoy my ale and guinness.

 

I don't think 3 years older will stop people from acting out of line.