Legal drinking age?

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aj

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Should the legal drinking age be put back to 21? I heard a deal where college presidents are discussing this the other day. I almost think it should be lowered. I have heard it is easier to get drugs than beer(young kids). It almost seems like to me since it is such a taboo it almost makes it a challange for young people.Does it encourage binge drinking. I know I went to school with people from the Volga German tradition. These kids grew up with beer. They had it for lunch as grade schooler's. I never once saw them get a dui or wreck a pickup and such. They grew up around alcohol.I guess drugs or alcohol either one is good...but it seems almost like overkill to me. What is the current wisdom out there. There are inheritant risks out there in life.Where do we draw the line on things. Should we ban fast food restaurants? It just seems like to me a 18 year old kid should have access to 3.2 beer. Just trying to stir up trouble. ;D
 

red

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they say that they think it will eliminate binge drinking. I was able to drink at 18, don't remember it helping on that!  ;)

Red
 

shortyjock89

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It's so easy to get alcohol even if you're underage now, I don't know that it would really help the binge drinking....but I don't do any binge drinking, go check out Southern ILL if you wanna see some of that!
 

knabe

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www.duiblog.com

drunk driving cases at blood levels of 0.08-.0.10 clog up the system and waste time.  just give them a big ticket.  ihave been in a jury pool 4 times in the last 8 years for drunk driving for this type of case, not to mention all the other people, the judge's time, the DA, etc.  it is not in the general welfare interest of the amerian economy to waste this much valuable resource.  raise the stakes for 0.20 and above.

some will ignore the ticket, like 7 illegal aliens every day killing 7 americans through drunk driving deaths.  since 2001, that works out to 17,885 dead.  a bit higher than americans killed in the war in Iraq.
 

Bawndoh

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Drinking age when I went to College (3 years ago) was 18.  Never seemed to cause any more of a problem than it could.  I am willing to be there would be just as many 18 year olds drinking out there whether they could do it in a bar or not.
I think 21 is too old.  By the time they are that age they want nothing more than to go for a good binge..lol..I would anyhow.  Kids have been told "no" for so long that they want to just rebel, and rebel, and rebel.  
It is like the "goodey two shoes" kids that go off to University or College.  They are the ones who are best behaved, until they are no longer under the watchful eyes of their parents.  They are finally allowed to do whatever they want, and do they ever take advantage of that!  They are almost, always the worst behaved kids for a while after leaving the "nest".  I think we need to trust and believe in our kids more.
 

red

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Oh Bawndoh, I was sure one of those sheltered kids! It took me a while to realize that I didn't have to play catch up!

Red
 

DLD

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The very day I turned 18 was the day OK raised it's legal drinking age to 21... But I never had any trouble buying alcohol before or after that anyway, though I think that may be a little better enforced these days than it was back then... 

Personally, I tend to lean toward moving it back to 18 - it doesn't make much sense to me that at 18 you can vote, join the military, and in almost every other sense are legally considered an adult, yet our government has deemed you're not responsible enough to drink alcohol.  Even having a 15 year old son, I remember quite well how it was in college (or anywhere else at that age), and it just seems to me that it would be safer and make those 18 - 20 year olds more responsible about drinking if they could do so legally, as opposed to sneaking it around.  I'm not really sure about the b.a.c. levels that Knabe referred to, but I'd think that not having to try to catch and prosecute every 18 - 20 year old that drinks would free up a good portion of our legal system, too.

Proponents of the 21 year old drinking age say that since it's been in effect, DUI's and drunk driving deaths have decreased, but I have yet to see any statistics that they've decreased at a much greater rate among 18 - 20 year olds than they have for those 21+ . 
 

TJ

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Olson Family Shorthorns said:
It's so easy to get alcohol even if you're underage now, I don't know that it would really help the binge drinking....but I don't do any binge drinking, go check out Southern ILL if you wanna see some of that!

Yes, Southern IL is maybe the hot spot in the entire U.S. for binge drinking.  And I am not just talking about the University either.  I know, I only live a few miles away.           
 

Davis Shorthorns

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If you are going to lower the drinking age it needs to be no lower than 19.  If you have the drinking age at 18, then you will have too many problems with friends that are 18 in high school buying for everyone.  I think that 20 would be a good age.  You have been out and on your own for at least a year, and have had to make decisions before you decide to drink.  Also if people want to drink it doesn't matter what age they are, they are going to drink.
 

justme

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Now that I'm old and look back at it, I think 18 is fine.  I drank more before I was 21 and legal than I have from 21 to old age.  Just not as much fun when its legal I guess.
 

GLZ

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yes I am officially a prude I suppose by saying it should stay at 21.

I do have my reasons.  That reason being at the current age of 21 in the state of Illinois it is not hard at all for 18, 19, and 20 year olds to drink be it legal or illegal.  If you move the age to 18, you also move the age of those that drink illegaly.  Instead of 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds drinking illegally, you now have 14, 15, 16, 17 year old drinking illegally.  Yes the argument has flaws I know, but I believe changing the drinking age would cause a change in accepted culture.
 

DLD

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justme said:
Now that I'm old and look back at it, I think 18 is fine.  I drank more before I was 21 and legal than I have from 21 to old age.  Just not as much fun when its legal I guess.
 

Yep.

StillLearning said:
yes I am officially a prude I suppose by saying it should stay at 21.

I do have my reasons.  That reason being at the current age of 21 in the state of Illinois it is not hard at all for 18, 19, and 20 year olds to drink be it legal or illegal.  If you move the age to 18, you also move the age of those that drink illegaly.  Instead of 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds drinking illegally, you now have 14, 15, 16, 17 year old drinking illegally.  Yes the argument has flaws I know, but I believe changing the drinking age would cause a change in accepted culture.

I understand and respect what you're saying, but I have to disagree - As I said, I turned 18 the same day the law changed to 21 here ( I was already a college freshman at that date, btw ).  The way it was then and the way it is now is that most kids, if they are going to drink, will drink as soon as they get the freedom to and are exposed to it ( whether that's at 14 or 17  or 19).  If anything, the kids that do drink seem to start earlier now than they did back when the legal age was 18.  Most of the kids that start really young get it at home anyway, whether their parents give it to them or they sneak it...

I could see changing it to 19 - that gets most kids out of high school, anyway.

 

cowboy8733

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hell if you want to see binge drinking go to black hawk it has nothing on southern ill.  trust me i went to bhe and its gets out of hand BUT most of them there DO KNOW when to quit all at the same time
 

GLZ

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The way it was then and the way it is now is that most kids, if they are going to drink, will drink as soon as they get the freedom to and are exposed to it ( whether that's at 14 or 17  or 19).

See we actually do agree, I am just saying try to curtail the age they are exposed to it.  As a 17 and 18 year old in high school/college, I knew plenty of 21 year olds who would buy me alcohol if I wanted.  At 14 and 15 I didn't know that many 21 year olds that would buy me alcohol.  I would have however known plenty of 18 year olds who would have had that been the legal age at the time.
 
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