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In all 50 states the drinking age is 21. Though at 18, you can be legally drafted . Which tells me it's perfectly ok to learn to kill and kill at 18 but not have a Tequila Sunrise. It has been said that teenagers have some of the worst driving skills because they are too easily distracted, and that providing them the opportunity to drink would add insult to injury. Any opinions on that?
I didn't get my license until my sophomore year of college. But it was legal for me to drink where I lived from age thirteen or fourteen on. Was already pretty much over it by the time I was living in the U.S. again.
Drinking age in Alberta is 18. It seems about right, IMO. I don't personally see how altering the legal drinking age will have much influence on the drinking and driving problem here. I work in bars, and from what i can see it's mostly old barflys that get behind the wheel after a night of tippling.
~Histrionica~
my dad said i was old enough to drink when i was 13 so ive never had to wory about going to the liquor store to get anything my dad will just pick it up for me as long as im resposible or else drinking privelages are over.
I just turned 21, and I'm over drinking and getting drunk. I'll do it to be social, but I really don't get it. When I was younger (underage) it was "cool" to drink 'cause i was breaking a rule. On my 21st b-day I got really hammered. I had fun. I just don't get the appeal of being so far out of control of your own body that writing a ledgible sentence on a peice of paper is impossible, or walking properly. My guess is that I'm already so liberated in the way I think and act that I don't need the power of alcohol to relax. I think it's stupid to say, okay you can drive, your vote counts, you can kill and you can die in service to your country, but oh wait, we don't think you are responsible enough to have a Jack and Coke on a Friday night...Which also means that for the next four years you are confined to all ages shows with the 14 yos (who was thinking here?), and your curfew (at least in fla) is one am but all the clubs and what not that cater to your age group let out at 12. If we find you on the streets or in the parks durring that last hr we have the right to call your parents and give you a ride home...
Age restriction is just as ridiculous as everything closing at 6 on Sundays.
K
In Germany, it's 16 for soft alcohol and 18 for hard alcohol. I got totally drunk for the first time on my grandfather's 50th, back when I was 14. But that's because everyone in my family is/was more or less alcoholic.
When I turned 21, one of my first thoughts was, that I can get legally drunk everywhere now. And get some hardcore 21 porn. And drive a Hayabusa.. if I'd still have my license ,)
The US's draconian drinking laws are a result of the neo-prohibitionist lobbying group MADD. Before MADD came around, the drinking age was 18 in a lot of states. If there even was a per se BAC limit, it was well above today's laughable .08. Before MADD, cops might even give you a lift home if you were trashed. Now they lock you up. You used to be able to buy a quart of draft beer and take it home. No more. Many states have outlawed happy hour and drink discounts as a result of MADD lobbying. There's plenty of other laws that I won't get into. I just checked out MADD's website (www.madd.org), they're commemorating the 20 year anniversary of the drinking age being raised to 21.
I got grandfathered in DC at 18 (turned 18 the year they changed legal age to 21), but couldn't drink in my home state. Luckily I lived easy driving distance from the state line. So I could go to DC and drink in bars, buy cases of beer, and otherwise piss on the law.
I of course had no judgement and drove drunk on a regular basis, which oddly didn't change when I hit 21. I was still bad-tempered retard who liked his beer.
What the Hell are the silly twats at MADD on that they think that was twenty years ago? This is one of those special math for polemic situations, isn't it? Something about when the law was first mentioned vs. passed vs. implemented = whatever would make them sound most successful...Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Judy
They had studies to back this up as I heard on a news report. It was one of those things where people just begged until it came to pass. In the past, in this country, the drinking age was actually HIGHER than it is now in some counties and just downright illegal. For a brief period in the late 80s and 90s, there was a small movement to raise the age of drinking and "adult literature" up to 25, believe it or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by nausiatingpain
We need to start our own lobbying group. We can call it DAMM - "Drunks Against MADD Mothers." :D