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Legal drinking age?

post #1 of 16
4/27/03 at 6:48am
Thread Starter 
Does anyone else find it ridiculous that an American person can fight in a war legally before they can legally buy a beer?
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post #2 of 16
4/27/03 at 7:01am
Yes. I think if someone is adult enough to defend his country, he is adult enough to have a beer if he wants.
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post #3 of 16
4/27/03 at 7:21am
I agree with you guys. In NZ, the legal age for drinking alcohol is 18....
But there are some downsides as well.....

But I agree, why send someone to fight in a war before they can legally drink?
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post #4 of 16
4/27/03 at 9:13am
Might cut down on college boozing too, if it weren't "forbidden". A lot of the people I've known weren't a heck of a lot more responsible at 21 than they were at 18, not to mention that an 18 year old can also smoke, vote... but not drink?
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post #5 of 16
4/27/03 at 10:44am
Back in the mid-seventies to early eighties, the drinking age was lowered to 18 in many states, without any major problems arising, but during the Reagan administration states were told they had to put it back up to 21 if they wanted federal funds for highways. I don't think the 21-year-old limit does much of anything except prevent kids from getting into some clubs, etc.. Face it - it's easy enough for even a 16-year-old to get alcohol. I'd put the limit back down to 18 - for some kids, if it's not illegal, it's not any fun. The drinking age is 16 here, but you have to be 18 to get a driver's license.
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post #6 of 16
4/28/03 at 12:29am
Yes , That IS how young our legal drinking age is BUT alot of people drink under age and why not the fines are not hefty

I agree I think this is stupid,It's more manly to fight in a war than to drink a beer GET A GRIP
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post #7 of 16
4/28/03 at 5:24am
The legal age to drink in Canada is 19. When I was at the university of Windsor all of the Michigan university students would cross the border to drink all weekend. Some got mighty rowdy!
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post #8 of 16
4/28/03 at 7:29am
Here, the kids go to Mexico, get drunk and drive home. Near some of the border towns, law enforcement sets up checkpoints and cards carloads of kids. It is illegal for anyone, under 18, to leave the country without parental permission. Every weekend, they turn back loads of kids - you'd think that they'd learn!

Some bars and restaurants aren't too careful, about carding either. A few weeks ago, Liquor Control agents went into a Japanese restaurant and found that EVERY customer in the place was underage and was drinking. They have now lost their liquor license.
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post #9 of 16
4/28/03 at 10:46am
Typical, Cindy! The young alcoholic in our family was never refused or carded in any bar he ever entered, from the age of 16 on. He is now a young father, with another baby on the way, and is on house arrest. Since he has had several DWI's now, this is his last chance to avoid prison. I hope the drinking age is kept at 21, but enforced for a change. Send some young looking shills into the bars and see if they're carded. If not, take away the liquor license of the owner, and fine him/her heavily. Too many young teens are killing themselves and others. They lack the judgment at 18, and probably older. That's why the government prefers to send kids to war; they think they can't die!
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post #10 of 16
4/28/03 at 11:25am
I'm not really concerned with the drinking age. Before I was of legal age, I drank A LOT more then I do now. I would drink almost any chance I could get, but now and for the past three years I just take it as it comes, and pass it up more often then not.

I don't care about a drinking age, it really depends on the person who's drinking it, regaurdless if they are 18 or 21, if your a stupid drunk, then your a stupid drunk at 16 or 50.
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post #11 of 16
4/28/03 at 3:27pm
Many years ago when I lived in Texas, the legal age for drinking was 21 UNLESS you were a member of the armed forces. If you were a soldier you could drink no matter how old you were!
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post #12 of 16
4/28/03 at 3:37pm
My sister made the grandfather clause where she could drink at 18, before it was raised by blackmail of highway funds up to 21. 18-21 year olds could only legally drink 3.2% alcohol (mainly beer), nothing hard or even "real" beer until 21. I think that system worked well, personally. At that age they are going to drink a lot just to drink a lot. At least they weren't getting as drunk as if they were drinking the same amount of hard stuff. Also, in the clubs, the bouncers and owners (theoretically) could see better if they were OK to drive home. Obviously illegal raves and house parties generally don't care if you are OK to drive.
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post #13 of 16
4/28/03 at 7:41pm
Sorry gang, but I am old enough to remember the drinking age at 18. I am glad it is 21. There are waaaay too many irresponsible teens to lower it to 18 again. As to this argument of being sent to war, but not drinking, let's not forget that every one of these soldiers has joined the military voluntarily. Nobody has been drafted, to my knowledge. Back in my time, NJ caved to the 18 drinking age because it was 18 in NY. In my area, many drove upstate so they could drink. We lost quite a few kids in high school to drunk driving fatalities. Statistics prove that teens are already a higher risk behind the wheel. No need to add alcohol to the mix.
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post #14 of 16
4/29/03 at 8:43am
At least, with the military, one is trained to handle situations. There's no "boot camp", for drinking responsibly.

In years past, military personnel could drink, on post (Enlisted Club, NCO Club), regardles of age. Now, military posts comply with whatever the local drinking age is.
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post #15 of 16
4/29/03 at 8:56am
Deb's post reminded me of Prom night about ten years ago. I remembered a whole car full of drunken teens dying in an accident on Prom night when I was in high school. The students thought it was funny that I even suggested that they not drink and drive that night. They were all so sure it couldn't possibly happen to them!
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post #16 of 16
4/29/03 at 9:51am
The first day of senior high school we all sat in the auditorium, and the principal opened by saying that not all of us would make it to graduation day, three years down the road. He wasn't referring to academics or dropping out, but to dying. Sadly, he was right. Every class lost at least one member before graduation, and all too often to a drinking and driving related incident. Teens already think they are invincible. No sense to me in stacking the deck against them.
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