Should the legal drinking age be lowered to 18?

Today at the office, a discussion about the UT football arrests turned into a somewhat heated debate about the legal drinking age and if it should or shouldn't be lowered. Which side of the debate do you fall on and why?

 

No.

I'm around 18 year-olds all day. There's individual 18 year-olds that could handle it, but that's not typical fom my experiences. I see the conundrum though.

 

you can say the same about 21, 31, and 41 year-olds, too. That said, I really don't know.

 

European countries do an excellent job educating the youth about drinking. Their kids get most of it out of their system by age 18 and are drinking in moderation by their 20s.

 

It's definitely an interesting debate.

 

Drinking with adult supervision should be legal at 16. The purchase of alcohol should be legal at 18. We create a culture of excess with these arbitrary age decisions.

 

Full disclosure:

I drank much more often prior to turning 21 than I have since turning 21. I'm 21 X 2 now. Does that make me double legal?


Nah. Just makes me an old fart.

 

the first part is a nice idea

 

the whole attitude about it is different over there

 

Make the drinking age and the draft age the same. Whatever it may be.

 

I think continuity would be good.

 

Yet, we view drinking as a rite of passage

 

An individual can buy land, vote, or decide to fight and die for their country. It seems a little more than dumbass to say they shouldn't be allowed to buy beer.


I'm not a fan of policies to protect individuals from themselves

 

yeah, plus the forbidden nature of it. part of being a damned unruly 18 year old in America.

 

It should be illegal to treat some legal adults differently than others based solely on age.

 

The idea that a father can't give his 18 or 19 year old a beer while watching a game at home is absurd and we all know it.

 

I just turned 21. The drinking age should be 18, I see no legitimate argument to the contrary.

 

Exactly correct. I should be able to drink in my car as well.

 

All that changed when I turned 21 is that I could buy my alcohol cheaper at places that actually turned down my fake id. I sure as hell didn't drink more when I turned 21.

 

Buddy of mine had a fake ID he used at a local dive beer store. Went to drive thru, showed ID, lady said "I see it's your birthday." Buddy said, "No it isn't." Lady said,"this says it is" pointing at the ID. He sprained his tongue trying to explain how rough a day he'd had and had forgotten. I was laughing my ass off in the passenger's seat.