I think 18 should be the legal age. If you're old enough to serve in the military you're old enough to drink

I think 18 should be the legal age. If you're old enough to serve in the military you're old enough to drink

I agree with this.

Yeah for me there isn't a huge difference between an 18 year old and a 21 year old as far as maturity and responsibility goes. So if you can serve in the military you should be able to drink. I think it's not as much about age as it is the maturity level of the individual. haha a law saying only mature responsible people can drink would be better.................but how the hell do you do that haha.

lol if they did that then I know some 40 year olds who wouldn't be allowed to drink!

I think that other age limits could stand to be increased. 18 for driving, 20 for being a legal adult (this could mean adding a couple of years to primary school or high school, haven't thought it through...), and lower drinking age down to 20.

Yep, I'm radical.

I think 18 should be the legal age. If you're old enough to serve in the military you're old enough to drink

^^^110%.

I agree - I have never understood the US approach to drinking age. I remember being at a restaurant with my parents on a holiday in the US. They ordered a bottle of wine, and asked for three glasses, so that I could have a little with my meal as well. I was about 14, and had been having a sip or two of wine with meals if my parent were having wine since I was about 11. My parents' firmly believed that early minimal exposure would reduce the risk of later irresponsible over-indulgence, and would accustom me to the idea of alcohol with food, rather than on its' own (and would expose me to good wine, so I'd be much less likely to like the cheap stuff I could afford on my own in my late teens - it worked!). The waiter refused point-blank, and said he'd need to see my ID - something which had never happened previously in any of the other countries we had spent time in (we travelled a lot for my mother's business). He also made a point of saying that I wasn't allowed to have sip from my parents' glass or we'd be asked to leave! It all seemed rather draconian and pointless, with both of my parents with me.

The thing that seems curious from an outside perspective is the mismatch of ages that seems to exist in the US - military service, driving and criminal responsibility all have lower age thresholds and involve much more dangerous activities. The current laws appear to be unenforceable, and not surprisingly seem to result in more excess, more over-indulgence and more subterfuge, with inevitably negative consequences. If you're old enough to become emancipated, go off to college and live on your own at 18, that implies a level of maturity and responsibility - both essential to safe drinking. Why the different rules?

I work at an all boys high school, and I see a huge difference in maturity from the time they graduate (most 18), and when they come back to visit after just one year of college. I believe 21 is a far more appropriate drinking age than 18.

I've never allowed my children to drink under the age of 21. I have a 24 year old, and enjoy having a couple of beers with him when he comes to visit, but never would have done it before the legal age.

This is for the United States........I completely understand that other countries have different societal norms, traditions, and customs.

It just seems a bit arbitrary, and doesn't seem to do any real good. Statistically, the US appears to have far more problems with alcohol-related crime and accidents (among young people) than the average European country, where parent-supervised consumption is typically allowed from an early age, and individual permission kicks in at 16-18, depending on the country. By that stage, most kids here have been exposed to alcohol in a safe and supervised environment, and respect the consequences of excessive drinking. Also, the 'don't drink and drive' message has been hammered in fairly thoroughly to a captive audience in schools by that point. Of course there are exceptions, but the majority appear to have fewer serious problems when there is no need for subterfuge, no built-up mystique and no incentive to suddenly try everything on their 21st birthday with no tolerance built up or understanding of their own limits.

This is an argument I've heard from hundreds of teenagers (including my own)! Again, it's societal norms. We do not have a long standing tradition of that established in our country.

This is an argument I've heard from hundreds of teenagers (including my own)! Again, it's societal norms. We do not have a long standing tradition of that established in our country.

And we never will... Unless either the laws are changed or enough people stand up and say "Why the hell not?".

I'm the latter, requesting the former. :flowerforyou:

This has been challenged, and there are many reasons for "Why the hell not".

Me too!

OK, I've got about half an hour before I finish work for the day... Tell me your reasons "why the hell not" - I'm sure I can oblige with some debate! :-)

I should probably add that I am sitting backstage, waiting for the lighting designer to cease having a hissy fit, so doubt much more work will get done today anyway ;-)

Ha! Sorry....just saw your reply.

If the legal age is lowered to 18, what would keep 16 year olds from wanting the same? What about 14 year olds if it became legal at 16? At what point do we decide teenagers are mature enough to handle the freedom of purchasing and drinking alcohol freely? Lacking maturity can absolutely affect how one handles an altered state of mind. I realize that many 21 year olds believe they are invinsible, but this is very true of most teenagers.

So you trust an 18 year old to utilize a firearm, allow him to put himself in harm's way for your freedoms, buy a home or enter into other legal contracts, but you don't want them to have a drink? Come on.

I am in favor of lowering the legal age to 18, and doing like several European countries, where parents/guardians are allowed to give drinks to their kids (must be physically present - can't just give permission). Parents are responsible for their kids, and there are severe consequences if they let their kids get drunk.

Since 18 is considered an adult for just about everything else (legal age of consent, for contracts, etc.), I feel it should apply to drinking independently as well.

This sums it up for me pretty well. I know I sure didn't wait until 21, or even 18, to try alcohol. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who did, though there are some. Whose parents never slipped them at least a sip?

There's just no way around that logic. You can't say someone is mature enough to fight to the death for their country, but not responsible enough for a Miller Lite. It's flat out wrong.

Ha! Sorry....just saw your reply.

If the legal age is lowered to 18, what would keep 16 year olds from wanting the same? What about 14 year olds if it became legal at 16? At what point do we decide teenagers are mature enough to handle the freedom of purchasing and drinking alcohol freely? Lacking maturity can absolutely affect how one handles an altered state of mind. I realize that many 21 year olds believe they are invinsible, but this is very true of most teenagers.

But surely if one has had the opportunity to experience the potential effects of alcohol in a safe setting, with parents who provide guidance about what is reasonable and treat this as an adult, ergo mature, responsibility, one is more likely to make the mature and rational decision not to drink to excess. It could well be argued, as with many other things (including chocolate for those on diets!) that forbidding something merely makes it more attractive.

The reality is that 16 year olds, and some 14 year olds, do drink, and often to excess, precisely because it is forbidden and exciting. They can rarely get alcohol and so when they do, they consume too much in the momentary thrill of the forbidden. They have no wider, sane adult context because of draconian prohibition-era laws, so altering the age of legality would not really change that. As I said earlier I drank a little with my parents from an early age, and learnt early on to respect the effects of alcohol. Like anything else in life, drinking responsibly requires education and it's an individual learning curve. It seems to me that the US laws fail to recognise that, and instead prohibit learning until a notional age is reached, at which point the young drinker is free to do as he or she likes, with no context and little information.

I'm not just saying 'lower the drinking age', I'm saying 'make it legal for kids to drink with parental supervision' so that they have the opportunity to learn their own limits and the effects of overindulgence in a safe environment. Then you will have the majority of 18 year olds ready and educated to make rational, mature decisions about alcohol consumption, and in all likelihood, far fewer alcohol-related problems.

On that note, I have just been released, so I'm off to lose the corset and the wig! Bliss! Have a lovely weekend :-)

Ha! Sorry....just saw your reply.

If the legal age is lowered to 18, what would keep 16 year olds from wanting the same? What about 14 year olds if it became legal at 16? At what point do we decide teenagers are mature enough to handle the freedom of purchasing and drinking alcohol freely? Lacking maturity can absolutely affect how one handles an altered state of mind. I realize that many 21 year olds believe they are invinsible, but this is very true of most teenagers.

Do we have a problem with 14yos wanting the driving age lowered? If the reason not to lower it is because 16yos will want it lowered further, that's just a silly reason. 16yos want to have it lowered to 16 now. They want to be legal adults now. Since when do we pass laws based on what a teenager wants? If that were the case no one over the age of 40 would be allowed to have anything to do with making any law. :laugh:

18 is legal adulthood. They can sign contracts and are legally bound by them. If they commit a crime it's automatic that they are prosecuted as an adult. They can join the military. Most are high school graduates. Many live on their own or away at college. If they want to keep the drinking age at 21 then all of those other things need to move up to 21 as well. That will radically change things for a LOT of people. I had a 4yr college degree when I was 21. If I'd have still been a minor that would have been all but impossible as I lived at school and in my own apartment.

My husband makes mead (honey based wine -- can range from very sweet to very dry) We've let both our boys (ages 14 and 11) have small sips. I've let the 14yo have a small glass (about a shot worth of mead, watered down to make a small wine glass amount) every once in a great while. When they get older I'll have no problem at all if they want to have small amounts every once in a while at home while we are there.

That's the way they do it in Europe. It makes much more sense than saying "NO! Absolutely not!" for 20 years then suddenly giving them a green light on their 21st birthday. Can you imagine doing that with anything else? "No dating, no kissing, no boy/girlfriend until you are 18." Then suddenly you are allowed to be sexually active. "No driving, no sitting in the driver's seat, no backing out of the garage." then on their 16th birthday they are given the keys and set loose. Sounds ridiculous right? But that's what many Americans do with alcohol. At 18 most kids are still living at home. At 21 most aren't. If the drinking age is 18 it gives the parents the opportunity to further supervise their kids' alcohol consumption in a safe environment.