Groups push for lowering drinking age

TechnoHippyChic

TechnoHippyChic

The Freeman
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This surprised the hell outta me, top story on msn.

"Twenty-five thousand lives is a lot of people to set aside when you're looking at a current problem," said Brian Demers, a 20-year-old student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is a member of MADD's board of directors.

That figure is disputed by proponents of lowering the drinking age. They have questioned the NHTSA study, which did not explain how it arrived at its estimate. Moreover, it counted any accident as "alcohol-related" if any participant was legally drunk, including victims who may not have been responsible for the accident.

"The methodology used has been widely criticized by scholars," said Hanson, of SUNY-Potsdam, who called the report "really more of a guesstimate" that showed only a correlation of numbers, not a causal relationship. In fact, he said, alcohol-related traffic fatalities among minor drivers were already declining before 1984, when the drinking-age measure was passed.
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"cus yeah man we need the booze! how you think we are going to have fun? just sex?! hahaha lol"
 
Hey, if you can vote and die in a war, you should be able to catch a buzz...
 
I'm about to go to my first year of university, this is the perfect time to change the drinking age back to 18.
 
Ennui said:
I'm about to go to my first year of university, this is the perfect time to change the drinking age back to 18.
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Heh, good luck! I thought you were older, you seem more mature than most youngin's...
 
Thanks :)

I guess I'm just awesome.

Seriously, though, after my mandatory Selective Service registration, I feel like I should be able to have a drink now and then.
 
TechnoHippyChic said:
Hey, if you can vote and die in a war, you should be able to catch a buzz...
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Exactly.

(Btw, if you're 19 and in the military (I think this is only for army) you're allowed to drink and go to bars on base.
 
4 months and a few days for me and fridge full of vodka HERE I COME!!!! :)
 
Yeah the whole "21 to (legally) drink" thing is horseshit. It should be 18.
 
I think if they really want the drink, they'll find a way to get it. That's the way it is already, right?
 
it's 19 in canada ..18 in some provinces ...I drank as early as 11 or 12 ..being of european descent it wasnt a big deal that I had wine at dinner (mixed with ginger ale of course)..as a consequence I didnt rush out and get drunk when I turned 19 like my other friends did probably because I was drinking anyway ..19 just meant I could go to bars without having to worry about my fake ID not working
 
18 should be the age.

All canadian provinces should go to 18 years if Americas decides to. (for some reason I believe just some provinces are 19 because of their neighbor USA having 21 as their age)
 
sure all kids drinks around 13

you just dont need fake ID just go to a store,show the cash and pick the packs
 
Since I'm over 21 already, I don't care :p Though I'm sick of buying booze for my 20 yr old friends. Honestly, I'm all for the fact that EVERYBODY is drinking at 16-18 now, might as well make it legal...you'll probably get more money!
 
CptStern said:
it's 19 in canada ..18 in some provinces ...I drank as early as 11 or 12 ..being of european descent it wasnt a big deal that I had wine at dinner (mixed with ginger ale of course)..as a consequence I didnt rush out and get drunk when I turned 19 like my other friends did probably because I was drinking anyway ..19 just meant I could go to bars without having to worry about my fake ID not working
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Stern you hit a problem there. Kids who drink at an earlier age are more likely to get addicted to it and continue drinking. Where I live Alcohol is meant to have some stupid cultural significance that I really don't care for. I only ever drink during special occasions and even then I've never drunk heavily and never experienced a hangover. At the time I of writing I have a 1/4 bottle of Blue label scotch and a full bottle of Bourbon on my desk that have not moved in ages.

The assumption that kiddies won't drink so heavily later in life if they drink earlier is just that an assumption. One that's rather wrong as well.
 
Kyorisu said:
Stern you hit a problem there. Kids who drink at an earlier age are more likely to get addicted to it and continue drinking. Where I live Alcohol is meant to have some stupid cultural significance that I really don't care for. I only ever drink during special occasions and even then I've never drunk heavily and never experienced a hangover. At the time I of writing I have a 1/4 bottle of Blue label scotch and a full bottle of Bourbon on my desk that have not moved in ages.
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D:

Mail them here...
NAO! :(
 
I think everything should be pushed down to 15.
 
I don't intend to drink alcohol ever and the only thing I see actually coming from this as a societal result is more accidents, so I'm against it.
 
DEATHMASTER said:
I don't intend to drink alcohol ever and the only thing I see actually coming from this as a societal result is more accidents, so I'm against it.
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Theres a difference between enjoying a drink and drinking for the sake of drinking. The kiddies running around are out doing the latter.
 
What's drinking for the sake of drinking?
Also I don't see the big deal in waiting 3 years, but then again I've never been up on age limited things, including driving :O
 
DEATHMASTER said:
What's drinking for the sake of drinking?
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Drinking with the intentional purpose of getting heavily drunk (or binge drinking if you prefer), the type of liquor involved is irrelevant i.e. cheap shit. Not only is it stupid but also dangerous to ones safety and health.

"Hey guys I've got Alcohol poisoning I'm a ****ing champion."
 
DEATHMASTER said:
I don't intend to drink alcohol ever and the only thing I see actually coming from this as a societal result is more accidents, so I'm against it.
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If I know I want to get drunk beyond all else, I stay home, therefore no accident will happen to me, thanks ;)
 
I know, I wouldn't doubt that for most active members here, but the average college bounder is not but a fraction as intelligent.
 
I would have to say I am against lowering the drinking age. It would appear that if kids drink in their early teens they become used to alchohol and don't rush out to get wasted with their friends and drive home. However with kids being able to drive at 16 that means that anything after that is still a risk of drunk driving and typically younger kids ignore any danger and go ahead and drive if they feel like it. Anything under 16 is then a bigger danger as kids are still developing at that age.
 
Pauly said:
18 should be the age.

All canadian provinces should go to 18 years if Americas decides to. (for some reason I believe just some provinces are 19 because of their neighbor USA having 21 as their age)
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18 is the age here. at home it isn't much of a problem you're not encouraged to drink, but you're not warned of its potency all the same, so there isn't some big machismo attraction to it which compells young'uns to drink heavily
 
Ennui said:
Thanks :)

I guess I'm just awesome.

Seriously, though, after my mandatory Selective Service registration, I feel like I should be able to have a drink now and then.
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You get drafted in the USA? Damn, so civilised. :rolleyes:

Anyway, when have drinking age ristrictions stopped anybody? My mate went and bought some bozze the other day.
 
As much as I would ideally like to see the drinking age lowered in the US, I have many reservations.

I do think it's good that a lot of countries with lower drinking ages, particularly in Europe, allow teens to essentially drink/vomit most of their stupidity out of their system early on. I may still like getting trashed, but I'd like to think I'm pretty responsible and mature with alcohol aside from the occasional stupid shit behind closed doors. Me and my friends knew our limits long before we got our hands on licences. And the risk of drunk driving could generally be avoided because public transportation existed pretty much everywhere. You could be an incoherent, boozed mess by the end of the night and just catch a bus or a tram home.

In the case of the US, however, there are some pretty big distinctions both culturally and practically. You need a car to get around a lot of the time. When you're 16 and you start going out more and/or take up a temp job, public transportation is often rare and inefficient, and you can't depend on your parents to take you everywhere. I really would not like to see the distribution of alcohol to teens around the time they start taking up driving. Being inexperienced with both is just a recipe for disaster, so anything below 18 is out of the question.
But even 18 seems to low to me, and that's because... well, it just looks to me like a lot of American young adults still act ****ing stupid. Be it with driving or drinking. Maybe I'm being unfair with that assessment. Perhaps where I grew up people around that age were just as immature. But then that brings us back to public transportation. There's simply far more potential for inevitable teen idiocy to result in bad accidents and needless deaths when the youth in question is utilizing direct control over a big, heavy, deadly vehicle. The US doesn't have the luxury of sidestepping those problems in a lot of places.

So I'm sort of torn. Although it doesn't matter to me too much since I'm just one year short of being able to purchase my drinks legally.
 
Im only a few months away YAY!


But I dont drink.
 
Doesn't America have some kind of "Bob" (responsible driver) system? Here in Belgium, the government campaigned the shit out of a responsible driver system (bob), and now pretty much everyone does it. You can get completely shitfaced and drive home with your buddies. (Only works if your buddies live in the same town/city as you :p)
 
Bob?

bob.gif
bob.jpg
bob_builder_34.jpg


We have the "designated driver" concept, but what is "bob"? Buddy On Board?
 
It's 18 here in Quebec. Nevertheless, it never kept me from drinking as soon as 15. Laws are meant to be broken anyway.
 
I fully endorse this product and/or event.
 
Kyorisu said:
Stern you hit a problem there. Kids who drink at an earlier age are more likely to get addicted to it and continue drinking.
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utter nonsense ..if that were true europeans would be drunk all the time

Kyorisu said:
Where I live Alcohol is meant to have some stupid cultural significance that I really don't care for. I only ever drink during special occasions and even then I've never drunk heavily and never experienced a hangover. At the time I of writing I have a 1/4 bottle of Blue label scotch and a full bottle of Bourbon on my desk that have not moved in ages.
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ok ...what does that have to do with anything?


Kyorisu said:
The assumption that kiddies won't drink so heavily later in life if they drink earlier is just that an assumption. One that's rather wrong as well.
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you are assuming they will ..have anything to back up your assumption? also you are assuming my position is that they should lower the drinking age ..again your asssumption is incorrect
 
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