Minimum age for drinking booze?

[† Mute point]

That would cut down the number of new soldiers joining though. Which might not be bad, but in the current world situation, those soldiers may be needed.

I also think that, with a harsher penalty for underage drinking, and three years less waiting, people would be far more likely to respect the age limit.

[wyattearp23]

I believe 18. That way you are legally an adult and completed high school. After that you should be competent enough to make your own decisions. Before that if you are underage the penalty's should be stiffer especially if you are caught drinking and driving. That's just my opinion.

[Bluenoser]

18-19 range.

That is when the adolescent brain finally hardens into adult configuration and therefore becomes significantly less vulnerable to long term damage from alcohol (above the normal amounts caused by the consumption, there have been many serious medical studies done that show there is a very real additional harm created when an adolescent brain is exposed to various drugs including alcohol that can cause serious long term neurological impairments as opposed to an adult final formed brain which can take the effects of the drugs without the increased risks of long term neurological impairment, well so long as you are below the levels of significant addiction and are a true recreational type user), which for me is the most logical and important criteria to be using when deciding the appropriate age restrictions, assuming such are needed at all of course, which in the topic's case I clearly do think it is. I also concur with those arguing for stronger penalties for underage usage so as to discourage it, but then I tend to think in general we (NA anyways) treat alcohol related offenses too lightly, well not so much for drunk driving as we used to but still in most ways, especially with underage use it is way too trivially treated for my liking.

I don't really believe in the restrictions for social control reasons generally speaking, I find that kind of social engineering a dangerous area to ever be playing in, and therefore tend to avoid it as much as possible and take a very harm reduction approach when I do have to consider such uses as opposed to imposing some kind of moral code, because I find morality to be a very slippery slope on the path to imposition of some of the nastiest aspects of human control abuses, ie Taliban type government imposing religious doctrine, the GOP in the USA's tendency to impose Protestant fundamentalist doctrines as the basis for laws in clear defiance to their own Constitution and the concept of separations of Church and State (which btw was to to protect the Churches from the perils of State power and the abusing of such as much as for the protection of those that believed differently from having such "morality" imposed upon them) something that has been long lost in the modern US political dialogue especially within the GOP who used to be the biggest proponents of such until the rise of the moral majority and the decisions within the GOP to treat them as the cornerstone of their power block, but that is a whole other issue.

So for me the only real need for alcohol age restrictions comes down to solid medical/scientific reasons, and there we have a solid rational and reasonable reason for restricting consumption from minors until their brains literally harden up to be able to withstand the serious damage potentials from the amounts used for recreational use (as opposed to addicted level uses, that will damage all brains adolescent or adult matters little to none at all at this point). Which is also a justifiable reason that also might have a chance of being treated seriously by youth if they have the argument put to them in those terms instead of morality terms (where they almost certainly see those preaching those to them as being hypocrites themselves on the topic, which in all too many cases is likely an accurate perception, but even if it isn't it is still a common perception among youth when it comes to this sort of approach, it is very much in the POV do as I say not as I do and why should anyone listen to people claiming a moral necessity that cannot be seen to practice what they preach)? I mean seriously, that is another one of the major problems with taking a morality based approach to this argument IMHO. However, I find that many teens are more willing to seriously consider an argument when it is presented to them in a mature, responsible manner based on hard facts and not reliant on a morality argument basis but a medical/health/scientific one. Of course not all will, but that is the nature of human beings involved there, I do believe it is a fair argument to state that there is going to be more willing to listen and respect such restrictions when they are based in the terms I just laid out as opposed to authoritarian and/or morality rooted reasoning instead. I realize this is just option as opposed to proven fact, but it does represent my observations of human nature in my lifetime as well as many others whom I have discussed this sort of thing with over the decades now.

Well that's my answer and why I think so...

[The Welsh Paddy]

I don't think an age limit on alchohol is gonna solve any problems. I mean, you get people as old as 50 and still can't handle their drink, and are very loud, aggressive and stupid. And as well as that, people ignore it and start drinking from as young as 14 here. The government believe that raising taxes on alchohol will help prevent "binge drinking", but I personally think that people will think twice if they get refused hospital treatment due to alchohol related incidents.

I'm neither for or against alchohol. I drink occasionally, but I could easilly live without it. I've barely touched the stuff since my little man was born. It's just unfortunate that it has a tendancy to bring out the worst in people.

A random story: In our old flat, we had an alchoholic living above us. He was in his mid or late forties, and was the most immature person I have ever met. I've seen underage drinkers more sensible than he was. He had TWO liver transplants, and messed them up again through excessive drinking. He also came down with pneumonia on a number of occasions during the winter. And in the space of ONE YEAR, he also had eleven blood transfusions.

No doubt the amount of operations he has had, as well as all the ambulance call-outs and missed appointments has wasted thousands of pounds, not to mention the amount of blood that could have been given to people more deserving, AND those two extra livers he went through. All because of his drinking.

To me, he is a prime example of the fact that in this day and age, setting a drinking age limit does piss all really.

[Libitinarius]

Inflammation of stomach lining that can be caused by chronic excessive alchol consumption (Gastritis), along with fatty build up around the liver that leads to a chronic, degenerative disorder of the liver (Cirrhosis). I agree with Bluenoser, in that the persuasion is viewed by most youth as a hypocritical approach, knowing full well their parents probably drank/drink themselves. Forcing the hand of adolescence often leads only to rebellion of the very point illustrated. I think too much power has been taken from parents by the government in regards to their ability of disciplining their children. I think a better question would be, would you let your kids drink at home? I probably would, (in a supervised situation) because I know they'd go out and drink somewhere else; if they are 17-21 that is. I think sometimes when you restrict your children less, its no longer a forbidden fruit they covet.

[shyguysteve]

I do not like alcohol, but so many more people do. I wouldn't just give the drinking age a minimum but also a maximum. I suggest after a certain age people should not be allowed to drink anymore.

The minimum I would propose should be 25 and the max 50. Liquor is not healthy it helps very, very few and is actually killing a lot of people just for being sold in such large proportions.

I don't care what the reasons are for drinking, I wont acknowledge them. Its just bad.

[Potsnu]

I want to say 14!

[AaronScythe]

Ah, the age old puritan debate.

In reality, you are ready for alcohol at about the age of 8, in small amounts (1 glass of wine) with a sit down meal.

All the age restrictions really do, is create a social taboo in drinking underage, and thats why alcohol is more dangerous than it should be.

Im using 18, the Australian drinking age.

Picture this:

Person A shared a beer with his dad at age 14, for his 16th birthday he was allowed a 6 pack.

He turns 18 and now being legal, works his way through about 8 drinks and stops because he knows he's hitting his limit.

Person B has never touched alcohol in their life, they are eager to try it ASAP when they turn 18. 12 cans in an hour later, he's in hospital.

It is ALWAYS the same story, people try to make out that it's bad to introduce young teens to alcohol. These are also the same people that say video games make people more violent.

This is despite several independant studies on both, showing that its all just pure BS.

So really, the legal drinking age should be removed, and PURCHASING alcohol should be left to people age 16+

This age limit for purchasing means that those with a learners permit, or starting to drive, are able to drink if they wish at will.

But being restricted to just purchasing, this allows the younger people to still have access to alcohol through parental supervision, the way it should be done.

Because in the end, if its "bad" they will want to do it more, especially the rotten eggs of the bunch.

[† Anras Rune]

I do not like alcohol, but so many more people do. I wouldn't just give the drinking age a minimum but also a maximum. I suggest after a certain age people should not be allowed to drink anymore.

The minimum I would propose should be 25 and the max 50. Liquor is not healthy it helps very, very few and is actually killing a lot of people just for being sold in such large proportions.

I don't care what the reasons are for drinking, I wont acknowledge them. Its just bad.

alcohol is actually pretty damn healthy for you in moderation steve. your liver gets a work out everytime you drink it (obviously if you are stone cold shit faced its bad) and benefits from it. Red wine, dark beers and ciders are all very good for the heart and circulation, having loads of tannins and the sorts. In fact, the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" actually meant a cider....lol

certain harder liquors are obviously not very healthy for you, but many harder liquors are supposed to be drunk after dinner as a "digestif". This has been proven to help digestion, prevent heart burn and constipation. Also, my final point, alcohol has been with us as long as fire has. It is the first sign of organized civilisation. We've been drinking it as long as we could talk, and our bodies are made to handle. As proof i ask you, medieval times...i dont think they drunk water...do you?

18 is good enough.

[ShadowS]

Even with the age limit being 18, (21 in some cases) there are people who bypass that with fake I.D and/or getting other people to buy it for them. I personally don't like alcohol of any sort.

[Monad-Gnostis]

Eu bebo muito, para ser honesto que eu penso Im tornando-se um bêbado...

[SuperSaiyanX]

Thats crazy like you said that you can vote drive a car buy a house but u cant even drink lol people are getting their priorities mixed up!

[→Speed←]

I believe the minimum age for drinking alcohol of any kind should stay where it is for where I live except all around the world, 21.. Although I do wish the minimum age to start smoking would be raised considerably since smoking is far, far, FAR, more addictive than drinking is..

[Alegend1994]

I'm not quite sure what the age limit is if you have a meal in a pub, the rumor is it's 14 or 16, but the age limit to buy off-license in the UK is 18, under 25's get asked for ID because there are many people that look 21 but are still 16 =).

I don't like alcohol personally and even hate it when I can taste it in food. This is probably because I drank like a third of a litre of spirits in one night when I stayed up late at the age of 14 and was sick everywhere, which is pretty lucky because now I have no temptation to try it anymore.

My opinion on this though is that the legal age is Ok at 18 because at 16 all my friends were obsessed with alcohol so if they got the chance they would end up abusing it, but at 18 most people have matured a bit so they can be trusted to act with it responsibly.

Really I would be fine with 14 year old teenagers having it because it is their own choice but the problem is it doesn't only affect them it affects people around them, because of the way they act around people.

My view on these situations are that if there are no (or little) consequences to anyone else other than the person making the decision they should be allowed to do whatever they want.

[† Emotional Outlet]

As many bad experiences I've had with drunk people, where the legal minimum age to consume alcohol lies doesn't have much bearing on me or my sense of decency. As mister AaronScythe mentioned, the taboo aspect of alcohol seems to be the bigger issue at hand. I grew up with little to no supervision and little to no "direction"--I wasn't told "ALCOHOL WILL MURDER YOUR FUTURE" or "STAY AWAY FROM BOYS THEY ARE EVIL". With that, I suspect the lack of constant reminding that alcohol is evil resulted in my complete disinterest in alcohol, which still holds to this day. Even on the day I turned 21, I had zero inclination to run out and get schmammered. Alcohol was never developed as a forbidden fruit in my mind--although I can't say that this is true for everyone under similar conditions.

(As as side note, whether I think the way I was raised was appropriate or effective is another debate entirely--I do not condone a "hands off" method of childrearing.)

[DEATHxxx50bmg]

if you military then your old enough. if your old enough to die for your country then your old enough to drink. 18 sound fine. its not like most teen actually follow the law about drinking anyway

[Dae314]

Me being 20 right now and turning 21 in 2012 puts me in a kinda special spot for this conversation :3.

I've never had alcohol before. Pretty much because instead of partying through high school, I MapleStory'd through high school. That game consumed my life as if it were alcohol or some other drug. When I got to college the habit of not partying and being a semi-otaku just stuck with me and I never had any inclination or pressure to drink any hard beverage for 2 and a half years. College helped me overcome my MS addiction and adopt a much healthier, more controlled technology and anime addiction (perfect for a CS major lol).

History's done, now back to topic: drinking age changing by 3 years really doesn't matter very much in the long run does it? 21, 18, 19, why does that matter oh so very much? really, as long as it stays within about +/- 5 years of the age 18 I don't care (more is pretty excessive and less just makes the law useless). Alcohol should be a mundane subject. Instead of at 21 being "YES! I can DRINK!" it should be more like "oh cool alcohol right... lemme go get this other stuff done first." The best defense against early addiction to me would be to make the subject so boring nobody talks about it anymore. That's pretty much how I feel about it, and I figure I've been pretty healthy about this whole alcohol thing so far ._. Besides, I like reality and thinking and living no matter what is hurting me so I really don't have a good reason to drink alcohol in the first place... We'll see when 21 comes around if it stays that way.

[† Emotional Outlet]

if you military then your old enough. if your old enough to die for your country then your old enough to drink. 18 sound fine. its not like most teen actually follow the law about drinking anyway

I don't know if you're in the military or not, but speaking as an airman, I have met many people I wouldn't trust with a pot of dirt, let alone a can of beer. Everyone gets treated like they're too stupid to live in basic training, but some people apparently need to be treated that way throughout their enlistment.

That aside, as far as Air Force is concerned (I'm not sure if it applies to other branches), but when airmen are stationed overseas, if the legal drinking age is lower than 21, depending on commander directive, airmen who meet the minimum drinking age are allowed to head off-base and drink. Granted, I don't know if this has changed or not, since I was always under the impression that if you were stationed overseas, as long as you met the host nation's age limit, you were good.

When I was at my technical school, we had a board that tracked how many days we went without a UAD/DUI, but because of the rampant underage drinking, they covered up the UAD portion of the board and only tracked the DUI statistic. Take that how you will. (I suspect intensive language training drives people to alcoholism, but that's just my view, haha.)

As far as the sentiment of "old enough to die, old enough to drink", one thing to consider is the amount of training these people get before getting sent off. You get weapons training, "what to do if you have a family back home" training, how to not go crazy training, what you should do with your spare time training (apparently read all the Twilight books and play Pokemon is popular) and so on. Again, I don't know about other branches, but it seems to me that they are taking pre-deployment training very seriously. They want their troops to come home safely, mentally and physically.

Conversely, no one, or very few people, gets any training before drinking--for a lot of people, that training doesn't come until after something bad has happened. The propaganda, good and bad, and screaming about alcohol tends to be shrugged off by the vast majority.

[animeking503]

I'll feed the fire. 18 in the US should be the minimum. If I legally considered an adult, then let me make my own choices at 18.

I'm don't drink religiously and never will. If you have self control then there is no issue. Although that is easier said than done for those who don't care and do whatever they please

[Beer]

I don't think alcohol itself is a problem, I think it's the culture that makes it taboo. Kids that grow up with alcohol being treated as a legitimate part of life (small glass of wine or beer with supper, for example) and not something that will ruin them are less likely to binge drink or drink and drive, as alcohol isn't the "forbidden fruit" it is in some other places.