The US Drinking Age

[Masterge77]

From what I looked up, the reason the drinking age is 21 in the US while 18 is the legal age for everything else (and is the legal drinking age in most other countries) is apparently because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, where states were told that they had to enact a minimum drinking age of 21, or they would lose up to 10% of their federal highway funding, which was done in order to make the frequency of car accidents from drunk driving go down. Before then, many states had their own legal age, and they didn't want anyone who was of legal age in one state to cross over into the border of another state with a higher legal age to get arrested out of state while intoxicated.

You can read more about it here: https://theweek.com/articles/468573/why-drinking-age-21

 

[Fannie]

From what I looked up, the reason the drinking age is 21 in the US while 18 is the legal age for everything else (and is the legal drinking age in most other countries) is apparently because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, where states were told that they had to enact a minimum drinking age of 21, or they would lose up to 10% of their federal highway funding, which was done in order to make the frequency of car accidents from drunk driving go down. Before then, many states had their own legal age, and they didn't want anyone who was of legal age in one state to cross over into the border of another state with a higher legal age to get arrested out of state while intoxicated.

You can read more about it here: https://theweek.com/articles/468573/why-drinking-age-21

Mothers Against Drunk Driving lol. If their kids are stupid enough to drink drive at 18, they're not going to be much brighter at 21.

 

[Nah]

which was done in order to make the frequency of car accidents from drunk driving go down[/url]

Does anyone happen to have statistics for the number of drunk driving accidents from about 1980 to 2015 for the 18-25 age range? Would be interesting to see if it really did make the amount go down. The article says it has, but I'd rather see the actual statistics instead of taking an internet article's claims about a statistic at face value.

 

[Midnight shadow]

Lunaris Adamantine and El Héroe Oscuro hit it right on the head. The issue isn't about whether people are mature enough at 18 to be responsible with alcohol, but do they have the education provided to them. Maturity is linked to knowledge and experience, and if someone hasn't been educated about something then how can you expect them to be responsible for it?

When it comes to alcohol there is very little education available, especially in schools. In fact, for most people, the only education they get about alcohol is from their drunk friends passing them a bottle saying "drink this, it's what all the cool people do". And for those of you saying that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, and if you aren't mature enough to handle it at that age you can't handle the real world. To that, I call horse-shit. Maturity is relative and a lot of 18 year olds aren't nearly as mature as they think they are. I certainly matured a hell of a lot between 18 and 21. It may only be 3 years but it makes a lot of difference.

Just to put this into context. At the age of 18 I was already abroad working, and I would occasionally get very very drunk. At that point I wasn't mature or experienced enough to know when to stop drinking and call it a night. As a result I got into a lot of trouble including getting the shit kicked out of me for insulting someone's dead parents while I was drunk. People need to be educated about drinking and how to drink responsibly, instead of just lowering the drinking age thinking it will be fine. Just because someone is mature enough to vote and drive, doesn't mean they are responsible enough to drink without education.

 

[Sir Codin]

There is education on drinking in schools in the United States, but it usually only extends to the whole "just don't drink. Because." narrative similar to all those cringe-inducing anti-drug, anti-drinking PSA's of the 90's. Same with sex-education, in a lot of parts, they never teach you how to do these things responsibly that avoids harmful behavior, they just try to axe out the behavior entirely.

 

[gimmepie]

I am not so sure education is the answer... it will definitely be of huge help but here in Australia one of the few things our education system has right is that we begin drug awareness and education in our Health classes from a young age. The narrative is generally the only way to guarantee your health and safety is to not drink/do crack/smoke but that if you do participate in the legal destruction of your own body, do so in moderation so as not to make yourself a danger to your own self and to others. Basically we have a pretty good alcohol awareness education here and it does precisely shit all.

I mean, that's a slight exaggeration sure, I think it must help to some degree. The bottom line though, is that stupid people are going to do stupid things regardless. Age and education do not always equal maturity. However once you're legally an adult, I think you should be held responsible for your own actions more than ever. You're legally an adult at eighteen. You can decide to fight for your country('s agenda), you can leave home, you're expected to decide exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life. If people are prepared to give those responsibilities to people at the age of eighteen then I think the responsibility to not abuse alcohol is probably no harder to deal with. I also doubt lowering the drinking age will make an ounce of difference to anything besides giving a politician a great platform for reaching younger demographics.

 

[NebulaMeowstic001]

Personally, I think that it should stay the same. This is because the human body is not fully capable of properly filtering toxins until around the age of 21. A small amount to drink won't be too harmful, however large amounts can be much more harmful if these body functions weren't developed enough. This age limit isn't necessarily about making sure that the people who are drinking are more likely to be responsible (although there are people who will become more mature in these three years), but to make sure that the people who aren't as responsible at least have a better chance of living.

 

[Fannie]

Parents of underage drinkers should also be fined and be punished as criminals for child neglect in certain circumstances.

I'm not so sure about that. What would the circumstances be? I don't have a kid but if they really wanted to party I don't think stopping them would be so easy.

 

[Sir Codin]

I was mostly thinking of say, 12-15 year olds going out un-escorted, at night, without an adult, absolutely wasted, vomiting and passing out, parents don't know where they are etc. Basically what happens every weekend in my city. It's dangerous and the cops can do little but call the parents to pick them up. Perhaps people will be less apathetic and take a more active role in their parenting if it costs them money or a criminal record. You can get as much for leaving a child in a car alone.

I have nothing against teenagers being out alone but they need to have their senses about them.

Personally I think that'd make people more reluctant to even have children. Which, frankly, is still fine by me.

 

[RegalSin]

Drinking age does not matter. It depends on the alcohol content. They are talking about lowering the drinking age to 16 as well. So seriously not a big issue. I only drink when I go out to certain places. However there are undercover officers out there as well. My advice save that stuff for special occasions as the blood alcohol level is what kills people.

 

[Dusty]

I think that when it comes to alcohol, it should be eighteen. The issue however is not how a body is physically unable to deal with alcohol, but I agree with others before that it is primarily a problem with education.

First, I'm not saying that alcohol has a negative effect on minors, it does. But it really only has negative effects in excess. Its exactly the same as those who are older, where alcohol is excess is harmful. The only difference is how much is excess. I'm not saying give a full beer to a minor. But having a little bit isn't bad.

I don't think that schools can effectively teach this sort of thing, because schools cannot teach responsibility. They can tell students to just not drink until they turn 18/21, but after that its fine. They can tell kids not to drink in excess, but they cannot define the limits of what is or is not excess. I think that when it comes to teaching about alcohol, it has to be parents who teach kids to deal with it. My own parents were pretty open with alcohol. My father always said he would rather me be allowed to drink and do stupid stuff at home than out with my friends. So around 15-16 my dad would let me have a small glass of wine on family Friday night dinners. At 19 he let me have a beer after we built a fire pit and patio in our backyard. Even before 21, I understood how to drink without going overboard. I just turned 21 about a month ago, and on my birthday I had a single beer. One. Since then, the most I have drank was actually last night after a very stressful day where I had a single beer and a small glass of whiskey. If parents were actually willing to teach their kids to drink responsibly, perhaps the whole getting drunk problem would go down.

A lot of the problem I think comes when those who are underage or just turn 21 and get their hands on alcohol don't understand the purpose of alcohol. I believe that getting drunk is not the purpose of alcohol, its a side effect. Alcohol is enjoyable to drink and makes me feel good, but its not something that you purely use to get drunk, which is perhaps what a lot of people actually want to do with alcohol. Its kind of a mindset problem.

Another reason I actually think the drinking age should be lower is because 18 year old kids can't usually afford a whole lot of alcohol. At 21, I'm making much more than I was at 18, and could buy much more alcohol. At 18, I might have been able to afford a six pack per week. Maybe. If we lower the drinking age, perhaps younger drinkers can be introduced to alcohol while not being able to afford heavy drinking.

In general, I don't care about the drinking age. It can stay, or it can get lowered, but the issue is that people need to be taught to drink alcohol responsibly, and schools are terrible at doing that. I think its something that parents have to do, actually do their job as parents and teach their kids.