What do you think the drinking age in the U.S. should be, if any?

[republicansareevil]

This question is prompted by this story on binge-related drinking deaths in colleges:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/usatoday/20041007/ts_usatoday/fivebingedrinkingdeathsjustthetipoftheiceberg

Personally, I'd like to see the drinking age eliminated, at least when there is parental supervision of the alcohol consumption. First, I don't like the idea of a parents being subject to arrest for giving their offspring a sip of champagne at a wedding or a taste of beer some time. More importantly, I think it is better for alcohol consumption to be done under the supervision of parents rather than having the kids go crazy in college or sneak around in high school. What is the danger of teenage drinking? That the teens will drink and drive, that they will drink to a state where they exercise poor judgement or past that state to where they are unable to even safeguard their own well-being, that they will develop alcoholism problems, that they will drink themselves to a point where their BAL is dangerously high, etc. All these can be prevented by having parental supervision when the kids start drinking and letting them learn how much they can tolerate. Also, I think it takes a lot of the mystique and "naughtiness" out of drinking so that by the time the kids are old enough to go to college or leave home, it doesn't seem so attractive. What do you all think?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. 5:00 PM

*hic*

[aden_nak]

2. If we were a responsible culture?0. As we are now? 18.

Old enough to vote. Old enough to fight. Old enough to drink.

[richmwill]

3. I believe it should be 18

If you can vote, if you can be shipped off by this country to die in a war- then you damn well should be allowed to have a drink at that age, too.

[rocktivity]

4. It should match the draft age

If you're old enough to marry, work full-time, be expected to provide child support, and get your head blown off at a president's request, you're old enough to drink.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Worst Username Ever]

5. 50

I like the feeling of anticipation.

[qb]

6. 18

Rather than inflating the drinking age, more effort should be put into promoting responsible drinking. I think making it illegal for younger adults encourages binge drinking.

[Hello_Kitty]

7. I'd say 18

I do agree with your point about learning to drink. That's how they do it in many countries and most of them have lower alcohol abuse problems than we do. But I still think there should be an 'official' drinking age that coincides with adulthood. I really don't like the idea of teenagers in drinking establishments with shady adults in their midst and even if parents were required to supervise their kids I don't think many would do a good job. The current drinking age of 21 is an unconstitutional outrage, IMO.

[missjudy6]

8. I'm waaay past

personally being concerned about the drinking age.
That being said, I think it is wrong to think children under 21 are old enough to go kill and be killed, but too young to be able to drink.
Seems to me European countries without a minimum age for alcohol consumption have much fewer incidents of alcohol related fatalities.

[missjudy6]

10. and

the drinking age was 18 when I was a teenager (not to date myself).
We managed to survive the teen years.


I remember "the pledge" in catholic grammar school - the nuns asked us to take a silent pledge to wait until we were 21 to drink.
Hah. I know I didn't take that pledge, doubt many others did.

[republicansareevil]

13. I agree.

If we had no drinking age in this country, I would probably let my kids have a little wine with dinner when they were 14. As they got older, I'd let them try other things in moderation and in the right setting. I would hope that by the time they reached adulthood that they will have learned to drink responsibly. I'd rather they pattern themselves after responsible adults who actually don't drink that often rather than after college kids who leave home and go completely berserk.

[bowens43]

9. 33

[rogerashton]

11. Shouldn't be SOLD

to people under 18. Under 18, parents' consent. Over 18, nobody's business but my own.

[soothsayer]

15. amen! n/t

[russian33]

12. If you can die in a war and vote at 18, why not be able to drink?

That never made sense to me since I moved to US, you can vote for a President, serve in the army and go to war....but gotta wait 3 years to legally drink?

[lebkuchen]

22. The DoD is going to prosecute soldiers paying for sex at any age

even if prostitution is legal in the country those soldiers happen to be deployed to.

Drinking? Hell, prohibition is right around the corner.

[aden_nak]

14. Bush alone is proof that you should only have to be 18.

After listening to that dopey bastard tell you who to vote for (or perhaps who to shoot at), you need a stiff drink.

[Coventina]

16. My take on America's problem with alcohol

It think it's left over from the Puritans.
The Puritans were able to implant the meme into the neonate society here in the colonies that alcohol was evil. Not that drinking to excess was wrong, but the alcohol itself.

Therefore, we have this sense of guilt when we drink. But it feels good. "So why shouldn't we drink?" we ask ourselves defensively. It sets up an unhealthy relationship to the drug from the get go. We defiantly drink, and maybe drink more than we should, because of a sense that we're rebelling and doing something "naughty".

When I was in high school, there was an exchange student from Denmark, and he thought America was nuts. He couldn't understand the need for a "drinking age" because in his country, there wasn't one, and one wasn't needed. The kids there don't "drink" for entertainment or to "act out" or rebel. No one does.

[pelagius]

28. The Puritans were actually....

...rather pro-booze. Jonathan Edwards described alcohol as "one of God's good creatures." A typical American colonial might begin the day with four or five shots of liquor to get the juices flowing. Here's some other interesting facts about early American booze consumption:

http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/FunFacts/PuritansToProhibition.html

[ThomCat]

17. Drinking ages are a damned stupid idea

Teach kids that alcohol is no big deal, give them a bit of wine or a sip of beer at special events and they won't think alcohol is any big deal when they get older.

[leftofthedial]

18. 35 n/t

[hyphenate]

19. I personally would say 20

It makes a person an adult at that time. I would say something about a provisional driver's license from 17 to 20, though, and perhaps one of those newfangled devices they have that you breathe into to even get the car to run, so that anyone who is intoxicated, wouldn't be able to drive. Trying to render the device useless would result in a permanent loss of license. And if you drive with a "friend" doing the breath test for you, you're going to get the same penalty if you're caught.

I know it's a little rigid, but I've seen quite a few accidents related to drinking, including my brother who suffered sever head trauma and other physical injuries as the result of a drunken kid driving, which killed the driver and injured the other 5 car passengers, and saw my niece suffer a miscarriage as the result of someone with no insurance driving. My brother has spent his entire adulthood in a wheel chair, with the mental capacity of a 10 year old as a result of that accident.

[lebkuchen]

20. In Germany, it's 16, but the population is highly educated

In the U.S., I'd go with 24.

[republicansareevil]

29. What do you mean by "highly educated"?

If you're talking about schooling, do you think higher levels of education lead to more responsible drinking patterns? I can't help but feel there is a touch of condescension in your statement.

[beyurslf]

21. For the "you can vote or die in a war at 18" crowd: you can be charged as

an adult for a crime at 15 or 16 (or younger in some cases). You can be sentenced to death at 17. And you can drop of school at 16.

Isn't our society messed up when a 13 year old is old enough to responsible for his actions (and sentenced to prison for them) but not old enough to drive a car? When you can sentence to death a 17year old but that same kid wasn't old enough to sit on a jury that decides that fate? When you can end your education at 16 but can't buy a cigarette for 2 more years or a beer for 5 more?

Sad. Very sad.

[Hobo]

23. If you are old enough to die...

for your country. You should be old enough to drink....


Peace

Hobo

[AmerDem]

24. I think it should be 21

They have found since raising the age from 18 to 21 alcohol related automobile accidents for this age group has fallen significantly. If this age group were able show more responsibility when using alcohol then I feel it should have been kept at 18 (Pennsylvania that is).

[Buck Rabbit]

25. 18 for pot, let them work up to alcohol at say 25.

The roads would be much safer.

[LSK]

children or adults can be idiots with drinking, age is irrrelevant

[indepat]

26. Whatever the draft age is: Anyone old enought to be sent off to die for

his/her country, big oil, or whatever the political rationale/expediency of the moment might be, is old enough to legally have a drink/many drinks.

[indepat]

27. Whatever the draft age is: Anyone old enought to be sent off to die for

his/her country, big oil, or whatever the political rationale/expediency of the moment might be, is old enough to legally have a drink/many drinks.

[ThomWV]

30. As An Alcoholic I Say None

I have no stomach for blue laws and that's all our minimum age requirements for alcohol consumption are, blue laws. At the same time as a person with an alcohol problem (who has not drank a drop of alcohol for 7 or 8 years now) it wouldn't bother me a bit if they raised the age to 100.

[info being]

31. 18

[AngryAmish]

32. Up to each state

Why this was Federalized is beyond me.

[FatSlob]

33. Everything at 18. Beer, Booze, Wine, Votes, Guns.

[wuushew]

34. 18 with provisional driver's license until 21

if found operating under any amount of alcohol immediate revocation of drivers license.

The problem are traffic fatalities not the age at which people drink therefore change traffic laws not the drinking laws.