Debate Lowering the drinking age to 18

It won't make a diffrence, 16 year olds are getting their hands on cigarettes and Alchohol beverages regardless.

But I agree, not a smart idea to make it allowable to younger ages, because then even younger ages will be getting their hands on alchohol

 

Nao im scared of drunk drivers!*bite nails*

 

Here we can drink and smoke from our 16th, it's BS I know, and I personally think no one should drink. The same counts for smoking and drugs.

 

Yup, it's a chaos around here, I actually know someone who is twelve and smokes.
I've seen little kids which are probably like 8 years old getting theyre hands on siggarets.

 

I can't really do anything, it's mostly the marrocan kids that do such things like that, they really want to dominate everything. (I'm not trying to be a racist, don't insult me that way becuase I have marrocan friends.)
I did see a few series having all kind of information about 14 year old teens smoking. They also showed a guy under the legal age of smoking having coma.
But I also heard something about the alcohol age raising up to 18, not that it's any better, but it's a step.

 

People under 21 drink all the time. All that law would do would make it legal for them to drink.

In my opinion, its up to the drinker to be responsible. Not for the government to try and prevent them from drinking, that makes things worse. Lowering the age wouldn't change much, if anything at all. Underage people will always find a way to get alcohol.

EDIT:

You make a law to ban smoking/drinking and things get worse. Those who sell the drugs would get money. Take marijuana for example. Like I said, its up to you to make decisions for yourself.

I actually think that if there was no limit on when you could drink people wouldn't do it. I know plenty of people who did lots of underage drinking, but now that they are 21 they barely drink at all. And when they do, they do it much more responsibly.

A lot of people drink underage at parties. The whole idea is that its illegal so its fun. If you could drink it whenever you wanted, it wouldn't be as appealing to those underaged. It could result in a decrease in underage drinking all together.

 

Or we could end up with more people drinking, since alchohol is an addict I would not be suprised if it just increased the amount of drinkers. Making it worse.

 

I think too many people are still in America's mentality "Drink and you'll become a rapist/murderer/airlinepilot blah blah." Like Hoff said, kids only drink it to be those cool rebellious bros that want to get shitfaced. Like in Europe most countries have 18 as the limit and they're fine. Sure the still have the young folk who drink to get drunk, but most people drink just to complement their food. A nice wine, a cold beer, or a shot at the end of the meal, one or two will not do anything drastic as America's scare tactics make you believe. Making the age 18 will hopefully reduce the "lol im drunk" kids.

However, in Europe, housing and commercial things are so close most people walk rather than wasting time driving. In America most cities have their housing far away from bars and such, so theirs more emphasis on driving.


Again I agree with Hoff, it really depends on the responsibility of the drinker. But, the way America's kids are, I don't really know. =/

 

The drinking age will never be lowered to 18 for one simple reason. Insurance companies. Waaaaay back in the day insurance companies lobbied to have the drinking limit raised. Far too many young drivers were drinking and driving....and often times getting themselves killed. This came at a high cost for insurance companies, so they opted to have the drinking limit raised to lower their insurance payouts.

Personally I think its interesting that a person in America can fight for their country at 18, but cannot legally consume alcohol. But I can see both sides to this argument, and I'm actually glad the limit is 21 here. (coming from a person who is almost 21)

 

I have not heard of people arguing against this, it intrigues me. Where i live the drinking age is 18 and i don't notice much about it.

That is a very good point saying that DUI's, death, and accidents would increase. But i guess here they trust the youngings to be more carefull. More and more people know that drinking + alcohol = Serious consiquences, but there will always be people who will do it. For example our nextdoor neighbours (their whole family does it weird, huh?) have been cought for DUI about 3 times now and that still doesn't deter them from doing it even after hitting a 12 year old kid (don't worry he's fine, still scared to cross a street though)

I guess i am on the fence but probably leaning towards not lowering it. Maybe they should raise it here. But in about a year i'll be 18 and i would like the responsibilty of buying alcohol. But i guess thats selfish of me.

Do you mind me asking where you live becuase ya that is just plain sickening.

I really wished more people knew about that.

 

Lol forgehub: the only place where kids would argue to keep the drinking age up. Honestly it would help. There's no evidence to back this, but I think it wouldstop kids from smoking weed. Also I was just in England, and they're allowed to drink pretty much from 14. I only got carded once, in at least the fifteen times that I ordered wineor beer. They don't seem anymore mesed up then we are. I mean look at their currency. Norlinsky I don't mean to make fun of you for making this thread, but just curious how old are you that you wouldn't want the drinking age to be lowered. Have you ever drank before?
This is how I think it would be best, and it's how South Africa works, you should be allowed to drink at 16 and drive at 18. That's the most fair way to do it, but that's just an opinion with no real evidence.

 

I live in the Netherlands.

 

There is no way the drinking age will ever be lowered, it just won't happen. Insurance, medical reasons, it won't happen.

The drinking age is lower in Europe so why can't it be that low here is what many people are saying, however Europe=/= United States. European children have grown up with a different lifestyle. Get hammered in Europe and you are extremely looked down upon, in the US, you're the funniest guy on the block.

 

Huh? Where did you get that fact from? europeans are much more smart than Americans in my opinion, and have better family values. Just saying we don't compare to Europe doesn't prove that the drinking age is better at 21.

 

I wouldn't really base your opinion on that, people have very different atittudes and intelligence all over the world. Beleive me too, I know some families that don't have many family values - I'd even say american families have more.
Correct me if I am mistaken to what you said there, I'm not quite sure

As for drinking, it's not a great idea to lower the age. For example, these kids I know drink alcohol and just get pissed, it's over the top. They are both 18 (the legal age in Europe) and only 14 (which is very naughty!).

I'd say drinking alcohol moderatly, say 1-2 times a week is a good amount. That would only include one beer or glass of wine or whatever floats your boat...

It's been proven that drinking a small amount of alcohol every so often is actually good for yoour health. It gets your body used to alcohol intake.

That may have been a little Off-Topic, but hopefully you'll get the picture.

 

Nah I get it, but one of my closest friends lives in Denmark. She's a straight A student, but she says they always party over there and get drunk a lot. I'm not saying it's a good thing to get pissed all the time, but a glass of wine every night, or like a pint once a week isn't terible.

 

in canada the age is 19
but we have less people than new york
I personally think it is a bad idea because lately I have been hearing a lot about DUI deaths