Underage drinking?, oh dear...

[notld224]

Good grief, on this often idiot topic, think the smartest thing to do is just get rid of the 'nanny states' and TEACH kids about responsible drinking. NOT say 'It's illegal till age 21, EVIL!..." because this only, like people have said, exacerbates the problem of alcoholism (Don't give me that shit about 'Oh, at age 15 you're 21100 times more likely to become an alcoho-".)

Teach kids to be responsible, if they blow it and drive drunk. Then make big consequences, (But don't make them so big they'll be crippled in later life. Employment wise etc.) I see no problem with a 14 year old drinking a beer, and like someone said.

If it's part of the culture, than kids don't drink to get drunk and 'be cool', they drink socially, responsibly, and take that mug of beer fine. Wine is fine too. HARD liquor however, is where I draw the line. That's a problem, and should be limited to maybe age 16 minimum or so, when you can legally first join the military.

[The-JefFlet]

At 6/16/07 02:11 PM, notld224 wrote: Teach kids to be responsible, if they blow it and drive drunk. Then make big consequences, (But don't make them so big they'll be crippled in later life. Employment wise etc.) I see no problem with a 14 year old drinking a beer, and like someone said.
HARD liquor however, is where I draw the line. That's a problem, and should be limited to maybe age 16 minimum or so, when you can legally first join the military.

i definitely agree. especially the hard liquor part.
if you look at most european nations that allow drinking at about 15 they have a much lower alchoholism rate.

[EvilerBowser1001]

If drinking bacomes a part of your life earlier, then you are less likley to go overboard with it...
The probllem with the drinking in america is that it is at colleges, away from the parents' supervison...

[vinman225]

I totally agree why would you tell them not to it's using reverse phycology that will only cause them to want to drink more.

[tawc]

I think 21 as the legal age is a incredibly stupid law. Allthough America has no way the drink problem Britain, Australia or Ireland has. But I don't think that has to do with the age limit.

For a country which is supposed to be the very idea of freedom, you have the most restraining laws.

[Brick-top]

At 6/16/07 02:11 PM, notld224 wrote: If it's part of the culture, than kids don't drink to get drunk and 'be cool', they drink socially, responsibly, and take that mug of beer fine. Wine is fine too. HARD liquor however, is where I draw the line. That's a problem, and should be limited to maybe age 16 minimum or so, when you can legally first join the military.

Well then I think this may be a shock but I was hammered on liquor when I was 8 years old. It was at a wedding so it was OK :) Also there was smoking and braking into sheds.

In Britian and France the legal age limit to drink alcohol at home is 5 years old. Simply because the government feels that if you introduce alcohol to children early they wont go fucking mental when it is legal to drink (here its 18) However parents dont want their kids playing the PS2 with the controller in one hand and a budwiser in another. So they disallow their kids from coming anywhere near it.

Tricky stuff.

[SmilezRoyale]

At 6/16/07 02:11 PM, notld224 wrote: Good grief, on this often idiot topic, think the smartest thing to do is just get rid of the 'nanny states' and TEACH kids about responsible drinking. NOT say 'It's illegal till age 21, EVIL!..." because this only, like people have said, exacerbates the problem of alcoholism (Don't give me that shit about 'Oh, at age 15 you're 21100 times more likely to become an alcoho-".)

Teach kids to be responsible, if they blow it and drive drunk. Then make big consequences, (But don't make them so big they'll be crippled in later life. Employment wise etc.) I see no problem with a 14 year old drinking a beer, and like someone said.

If it's part of the culture, than kids don't drink to get drunk and 'be cool', they drink socially, responsibly, and take that mug of beer fine. Wine is fine too. HARD liquor however, is where I draw the line. That's a problem, and should be limited to maybe age 16 minimum or so, when you can legally first join the military.

I'd be fine with that, but I'd still myself rather be caught bloody dead then drink any liqour, age 1, age 14, age 21, age 40 doesn't really matter....................

there's one flaw, changing education is something that could be facilitated [except education is mostly a state thing] but changing what is seen and done lies in the free speech category, and free speech always says 'screw you' to responciblity.

[C-Enterprise]

i definitely agree. especially the hard liquor part.
if you look at most european nations that allow drinking at about 15 they have a much lower alchoholism rate.

15?? Where? As I know everywhere you go legal age is 18, when it's low 16 like in Italy, Germany (I think...)

[JakeHero]

I think the drinking age legal purchase of firearms should be at eighteen. I'm one, so that might be why I'm so biased.

[blznavy]

i think beer and cigerets should be banded becuase all they d is still your money and kill you

[TheBasics]

At 6/16/07 02:11 PM, notld224 wrote: Good grief, on this often idiot topic, think the smartest thing to do is just get rid of the 'nanny states' and TEACH kids about responsible drinking. NOT say 'It's illegal till age 21, EVIL!..." because this only, like people have said, exacerbates the problem of alcoholism (Don't give me that shit about 'Oh, at age 15 you're 21100 times more likely to become an alcoho-".)

Teach kids to be responsible, if they blow it and drive drunk. Then make big consequences, (But don't make them so big they'll be crippled in later life. Employment wise etc.) I see no problem with a 14 year old drinking a beer, and like someone said.

If it's part of the culture, than kids don't drink to get drunk and 'be cool', they drink socially, responsibly, and take that mug of beer fine. Wine is fine too. HARD liquor however, is where I draw the line. That's a problem, and should be limited to maybe age 16 minimum or so, when you can legally first join the military.

I agree, the government should teach people under 21 how to enjoy and not abuse alcohol. Unfortunatly the government has a collective IQ of 50 and wants no such thing to happen. Either way its EXTREMELY easy to get alcohol even if your under 21. Just ask some person 21 or older to buy it for you. Or if your lucky enough and you look old enough to drink, then thats also good for you. I just went into a grocery store with my friend one day, and we convinced the owner to sell us beer and cigarettes, no problem. From then on getting cigs or alcohol was real easy, you just have to go through that first step of building trust with the owner of the store.

[slackerzac]

Funny isnt it, at 18 you can go to war and die for your country and smoke tobacco but ya cant drink. Just seems ironic

[Cahenn]

In israel the drinking age is the same as conscription age, if you're old enough to shoot live ammo from a rifle, you're old enough to legally drink :P

[Actual-Person]

This is an interesting topic. I totally agree that if kids are exposed to it early then they are less likely to have a problem. 14 is a good age but i dont think that you should be say allowed to buy it at a bar, or go to a club. More go to a liquor store and get some. Maybe even a limit that you are allowed to buy at once would be good but of course you could just get all your friends together and do it.

I agree that if its part of the culture and if its encouraged as a social thing then kids are going to do better. I am more of a social drinker myself and i love beer, i think that some kids simply want to rebel, so they're parents tell them no alcohol at all and they go out and do the complete oppisite. The government needs to realise that you cant stop underage drinking or anything like that, people are smart they will just find new ways to not get caught.

One thing i liked about my old school was during the classes that they discussed drugs in, they said to us bluntly 'We know that nothing we do is likely to change you from trying drugs, its your own choice.' they accepted it, and so they taught us instead about the effects of drugs, what to expect, why they are bad for us etc. and let us have our own opinion, but a well educated opinion.

Thats what the government needs to do, they need to realise they will NEVER stop underage drinking, same as the fact that they will never stop illegal drugs etc. Instead they should make sure children and teenagers are well educated about the effects of alcohol, what it can do to you. Rather than having a stiff NO ALCOHOL angle they should focus more on social drinking, having two standard drinks in the first hour and one every hour after etc. I know, being a teenager, that this would definitly sway my opinion better than DONT DRINK OR YOU WILL BURN IN THE FIREY PITS OF HELL.

I know that when i am a parent my kids will be exposed to alcohol at a youngish age. But i will always encourage them to drink socially rather than get smashed daily. I think that politicians need to realise this, as does the general population.

[SmilezRoyale]

Works pretty well in my population; I myself hadn't heard of any DWI/DUI's from students of my school. But the fact is i wouldn't know if they were arrested, i've just never heard it in any gossip; of course there's also the bit that most people dont talk about kids in other grades.

[of course Health is a freshman course, i think it really should be turned into a biology, class; learning from the effects of something that has the potential to destroy you rathern than the basics seems much more extensive, requiring Effort being put into a class [which is non existant in most all health classes]

of course there's the issue of Negligable Construct. What a person does at one time doesn't reflect what they would do when they're very need for rational thinking is at it's highest, and anything else becomes at mute point if they cant keep themselfs on that descision making path for that one scenario.

[DingoTheDog]

Im inclined to disagree. In Scotland it is accepted that underagers will binge drink. This culture has given us the highest rates of heart disease and the lowest male life exectancy in the world.

[InfallibleSquirrel]

yay Scotland.
Im 16 and my parents dont deny my a bit of alcohol if I ask for it (a glass of cider or wine or whatever) but they dont allow me to get hammered so quite naturally, Im off to Dublin for a couple of days and im going to try my darndest to get COMPLETELY smashed ^_^
Just to verify your points :D

[bob111unknown]

Its called europe- we can learn a thing or two- make it not seem like such a big deal, its just a drink like soda or anything else.... and then no one really cares if they cant drink till they are 21.... or 18.... I think 18 shud be it but w/e....
grow up America.....

[bob111unknown]

At 6/16/07 11:07 PM, blznavy wrote: i think beer and cigerets should be banded becuase all they d is still your money and kill you

No.... only cigs can kill you if you follow all warnings.
If i follow every warnin on a bottle of beer. Drink one per day no more..... etc. I could live a long healthy life. Cigs could kill me very quick..... even if i listen to the box....

A bottle of red wine a day has been proven to be good for your heart....

[fli]

I love this law... And I appreciate CA enforces in a huge way.

When I go to a club, I wanna meet people whom I know they're 21... not saying that I would, but if I ever slept with them then I will know they're legal.

fuck teaching responsible drinking... let's keep it till 21 for the convinance of 21+ players...

[Ben]

In many countries drinking responsibly is encouraged from a much earlier age, kids are allowed a wine or a beer with their meal from young ages. I personally think this is a great idea as it shows them that youcan drink a small amount and still enjoy it.

In countries which are strict with laws regarding alcohol it seems that binge drinking and underage drinkers imbibing way too much is only too common. I experienced it first hand, I was one of those kids who started binge drinking at a young age because I knew nothing about it and thought it was cool to intake large amounts of liquor and get absolutely wrecked.

Personally I think that drinking in moderation should be encouraged in teenagers, and that setting age restrictions on it only causes teenagers to think of drinking as rebellious and to over-do it.

[Me-Patch]

At 6/18/07 03:23 PM, fli wrote: I love this law... And I appreciate CA enforces in a huge way.

When I go to a club, I wanna meet people whom I know they're 21... not saying that I would, but if I ever slept with them then I will know they're legal.

fuck teaching responsible drinking... let's keep it till 21 for the convinance of 21+ players...

So you think it's ok that an 18 yearold in America can be drafted and sent to die in some God forsaken shithole over political reasons they may not agree with, but they can't legaly enjoy a beer or two.

[emmytee]

If it being illegal is what it takes to make everyone drink lots, I support it.

Seriously, in scotland 18 in the minimun age, but some of my friends have stopped drinking (or stopped getting really drunk) by the time they are legally allowed to buy it. I'm a total geek and I was drinking at 15/16. Then again, I am typing from Scotland lol

[fli]

At 6/18/07 04:19 PM, Me-Patch wrote:

At 6/18/07 03:23 PM, fli wrote: I love this law... And I appreciate CA enforces in a huge way.

When I go to a club, I wanna meet people whom I know they're 21... not saying that I would, but if I ever slept with them then I will know they're legal.

fuck teaching responsible drinking... let's keep it till 21 for the convinance of 21+ players...

So you think it's ok that an 18 yearold in America can be drafted and sent to die in some God forsaken shithole over political reasons they may not agree with, but they can't legaly enjoy a beer or two.

Drinking and serving the armed forces are two entirely different things... not even comparable. Saying, "Oh-- I'm 18 and I deserve the privilage to drink because I can, theoretically... die for my country."

Nobody deserves nothing.
Especially when you're comparing a citizen's duty (which can be BTW challanged) to a social privilage.

I say that we keep thiis law for the reason that this ensures that minors, who can more easily pass for 18 than 21, are out of the radar. To create a safer environment for adults and barely adults because many 18 year olds are still in high school.

[Slizor]

yay Scotland.
Im 16 and my parents dont deny my a bit of alcohol if I ask for it (a glass of cider or wine or whatever) but they dont allow me to get hammered so quite naturally, Im off to Dublin for a couple of days and im going to try my darndest to get COMPLETELY smashed ^_^
Just to verify your points :D

School boy error. You go to places with small populations to get served at a younger age. Places in Dublin ID everyone.

As for the actual topic, I think countries need to relax their laws and focus more on the culture of alcohol than anything else. I say this from a position of considerable personal and family experience. People need to be discouraged from using alcohol to get drunk and have to be encouraged to use it for its own sake - i.e. beer should be appreciated, not just drank. Because of my views, I think we should ban Budweiser because it tastes like crap.