US legal drinking age.

[Principessa]

Well, there are drunk adults who do that too. So really the best thing is to crack down even harder on drunk driving. I'd be ok with the 3.2 beer at 18 and everything else at 21 though, like it was in Ohio when I was there and aged 18-21.

WTF is 3.2 beer @ 18?! You keep yacking about it as the be all and end all? Did it not occur to you that maybe that only happend where you lived?

On this topic only I think you are an idiot. Many things have changed since I was in the 18-21 bracket and while I may wistfully remember them I have no desire to make the entire country go back to what I liked best during that time period.

Get a grip on reality WIRW.

Ah, another bash-the-US thread from our cultural betters overseas.

Well it is the start of a new week. . . :tongue::biggrin1: Who else can they blame for the problems of the world Papua New Guinea & Luxembourg?

 

[dreamer20]

What is the drinking in Europe?

In the UK once you are 16 you are allowed to buy/drink beer or cider as long as it is accompanied by a meal. At the age of 18 all can drink with no legal restrictions.

BBC - Crime Drugs - Alcohol

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

It's legal to drink from five in the UK as long as it's with a meal, some laws are just bloody daft, there should be an across the board minimum drinking age.

http://www.mindbodysoul.gov.uk/alcohol/images/factorfiction.swf

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

I think the culture of alcohol being taboo makes the problem of teenage alcohol consumption a lot worse. Kids should be taught how to consume alcohol responsibly and in moderation at an early age if it's going to be legal at all.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I think making anything forbidden to kids makes it more attractive, lots of young teens go out binge drinking the first opportunity they get because they have no conception of moderation in drinking, I think the laws about drinking in public should all be set to 18 so there's no confusion, but I think it's sensible for kids to be introduced to alcohol from an early age in a sensible way. We weren't big drinkers but at social occasions I used to let the kids have a little drink - a bit of lager mixed with lots of lemonade for instance so that they felt part of the festivities and learned to associate the idea of control with alcohol consumption. My kids are now 27 and 24 and neither of them go overboard with drinking and never have done.

 

[Principessa]

I think the culture of alcohol being taboo makes the problem of teenage alcohol consumption a lot worse. Kids should be taught how to consume alcohol responsibly and in moderation at an early age if it's going to be legal at all.

Pffftt! :tongue: Most American parents can't be bothered to teach their children how to say please and thank you. Do you honestly expect them to be able to teach them how to drink responsibly?!?! :rolleyes2: The US Government now requires that character education be taught in public schools. Why? Because parents either don't know how or don't care to do so themselves. It's pathetic.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

So then they need to take the chocolate milk out of elementary schools and start serving cabernet

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

There's a funny glitch in the law here, when they have school functions involving adults schools aren't allowed to serve booze as they're not licensed for the sale of alcohol, but they are allowed to sell raffle tickets, so at lots of school functions you buy a raffle ticket and you win a drink

 

[camper joe]

less than 18 no drinking
18 - 21 beer and wine only
over 21 anything goes

 

[Principessa]

less than 18 no drinking
18 - 21 beer and wine only
over 21 anything goes

That is retarded camper joe!

NEWSFLASH: You can get just as drunk from beer and wine as from hard liquor. There is no need for a delineation of that sort.

 

[D_Sir Fitzwilly Wankheimer III]

To hell with alcohol, what's worse is you can't smoke weed at any age! That's the travesty!!

 

[whatireallywant]

To hell with alcohol, what's worse is you can't smoke weed at any age! That's the travesty!!

yeah very true, and I think that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. Actually the biggest proponents of keeping pot illegal are the breweries and distilling companies - they think that legalized pot would cut into THEIR business. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't... I don't know.

As you might've guessed, I have problems (to this day) with people telling me not to do something, and telling me how to live my life. Now, granted, I don't smoke pot because for one thing, when I did try it many years ago it didn't affect me at all, and for another thing, I don't want to jeopardize my chances of getting a good job (many employers require drug testing, and I've had to take a drug test recently, in fact). And I drink occasionally and moderately. I know what my hangovers are like and I NEVER want to go through that again! But yeah, even at my age (44), I have trouble with authority figures and people telling me what to do.

 

[AlteredEgo]

That's really not a good rationale for lowering the drinking age, WIRW. The only way I would vote to lower the drinking age to 18, is if we raise the driving age to 21. I am sick to death of hearing about drunk teenagers wrapping their car around a tree and dieing. Or worse living; and killing someone else who hadn't been drinking.:frown1:

Word.

 

[D_Sir Fitzwilly Wankheimer III]

That is retarded camper joe!

NEWSFLASH: You can get just as drunk from beer and wine as from hard liquor. There is no need for a delineation of that sort.

Newsflash: you absorb alchohol more quickly when drinking beer than hard liquor. Your body absorbs alcohol more quickly wich in turn prevents you from consuming too much. Not to mention the sher volume of beer vs. burbon. How many alcholol poisoning deaths are from beer? How many from hard liqour? Not too mention you can down a bottle of tequila sooner than you can a case of beer.

It's always little suzie who dies from alchohol poisoning doing 18 shots for her 18th birthday. not 18 beers.

 

[camper joe]

That is retarded camper joe!

NEWSFLASH: You can get just as drunk from beer and wine as from hard liquor. There is no need for a delineation of that sort.

Newsflash years ago that was the law. The idea being that you was introduced to alcohol gradually. And in that way you would be less likely to abuse. I await your idea on the subject, mine being retarded. :redface:

 

[whatireallywant]

Well, if most of my relatives had their way about it, we'd have Prohibition back.

That's how I was raised as well... OF COURSE I rebelled. But to my credit, I didn't go overboard with it. But yeah, I've always had a problem with authority figures and particularly people telling me what to do. I haven't "grown out" of that, either. :biggrin1:

 

[D_Sir Fitzwilly Wankheimer III]

The slopes of the drunkenness vs. time graph are significantly

 

[earllogjam]

Teens in most countries experiment with drugs and alcohol some more than others. But most teens in other countries do not drive SUV's.

If you lived in a country were practically every single teenager from the age of 16 drove on the same roads you do because there is no other transportation choice and knowing that they are inexperienced drivers with questionable maturity as is, you would be leary of granting them the privilege to drink booze before they graduated from college also.

 

[rob_just_rob]

It ought to work something like this: Driving age - 21, unsupervised drinking age - 18, supervised drinking age - whenever.

IMO, the reason you see teenagers getting drunk is that it's been a taboo for so long, they overdo it when they get a chance to drink. I was allowed to drink at family dinners - in moderation, of course - somewhere around my mid teens. Consequently I didn't feel the need to sneak around drinking before I turned 19, and to overdo it after age 19.

You can kill someone with a car even when sober, but I've never heard of anyone being killed by being walked into by a drunk pedestrian. So bump the driving age to 21 - or put a driving curfew in place for those under 21, at least. There are too many cars on the road anyway, so that might create a little space. :smile:

 

[Mr. Snakey]

Is it really 21?

So you can vote, own guns, drive, fuck either sex, marry, die for your country before you can have a beer?

Bizarre.

Yes. Thats why i started drinking at 12 years old. I figured if i were ever Drafted i would be too drunk and they wouldnt want me.