The Observation Deck

It's probably rather cliché to say, but if 18 is old enough to be given the right to vote and the right to go to war to protect our country then I think it is old enough to drink alcohol. I could use the argument that most kids that age drink anyhow, but that really isn't a valid reason. The drinking age in England is 16 in some incidents and while I am sure there are some irresponsible kids I haven't heard that alcohol is a major problem.

Being a 19 year old..........

I think that the age should be 19, not 18.

As soon as a senior in high school turns 18, the rest of the grades will have easy access to get alcohol. If you put the age down to 19, you will be allowing freshmen in college to drink (frankly, they do anyways regardless of age).

With that said, If a high school student gets caught they will still be punished and taught about making good choices, and if a freshman in college decides to drink more and study less, they'll quickly learn responsibility after they flunk their classes (which is a horrible consequence. Anyone that can throw away $15K for booze shouldn't be allowed in college.)

Anyone who wants to argue that a 18 year old's brain is not mature enough to handle alcohol, please do so. Germany's drinking age is 14 for beer and 16 for hard liquor. England's is 16. There are many countries that have 18 as their age, the United States it the only one with 21. So why are education scores drastically lower in the US compared to the rest of the world? If the rest of the world is giving teens the privilege to consume alcohol, shouldn't their brains be deteriorating at this point? If I remember anything from taking health twice, they shouldn't even be able to speak, let alone be better scientists than our school kids.

see this website:
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

If you can sign up to join the armed forces and pick the next president of the free world at the age of 18, you might as well be able to have a beer or two to ponder the choice you are about to make.

On another note, I think they should raise the driving age to 18, like the rest of the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6551887.stm

One fifth of 11-15 yr olds are drinking in the UK.

Interesting that they are debating raising it to 21 while we are debating lowering it.

Drinking causes heath risks to the individual, impairs their thinking and can be habit forming, while at the same time can hurt those around them (if driving drunk or giving it to minor friends)

Voting and driving are benefits to society + families not just to individuals.

I agree with Ivor that if we lower it to 18 then 15-16yr olds will be more likely to start drinking because they will have 18yr old friends.

Lower the drinking age to 18 or raise the age to join the military to 21.

Interesting Note. My friend was 18 when he joined the army in post-9/11 america. Simply flashing a military ID was enough to get him served at most establishments.

There seems to be some support for the age to consume alcohol and join the military being the same.

about 40,000 americans die in automobile accidents a year. many more are quite seriously injured.
When I was a teenager and into my early twenties, I thought most of my friends drove very hazardously, and they were all sober.

In most places in america there's nowhere to go drinking within walking distance. you can't even get to the school dance without a car. America had enough cheap land, wealth, and productive power to make it so that most stuff was beyond walking distance. automobile isolation was the new freedom.

the lifestyles and cultures in europe are completely different. We can't assume americans will become mature enough to drink alcohol just because teenagers in other countries are mature enough to drink alcohol. more work has to go into it than that.

I think it should be up to the parents to teach their kids responsible use of alcohol. Unfortunately, it seems that very few parents are up to the task.

The trouble with using an age is that not all kids of that age are equally mature. Some 18 year olds are responsible enough to handle drinking; some 24 year olds are not.

Certainly our car based society presents a problem with drinking that some other countries don't have. Perhaps a blood alcohol tester should be required on every car. Most of the drunks I know are rarely caught DWI, and when they are, they seem to get off with pleading to a lesser offense. We lose far too many innocent people to drunk driving, but this has been going on for many years and we don't seem to make any progress in improving the situation.

I think the comment that the British don't seem to have a drinking problem is far removed from reality. Anyone who has spent time in Europe knows that bands of young Brits overindulge, and spend their holidays puking and stumbling. Even the older Brits are not welcome at football venues because of their violent drunken behavior.

This is an interesting topic, and deserves more debate than a kneejerk "No!" reaction.

I thought the same think as Ivor... somehow it should be construed to exclude high schoolers. Maybe like the NBA's early entry rule. You have to be 19 or enrolled in college or something.

Most of Canada is 19, with the exception of a couple provinces. I remember hearing a story on NPR a couple years ago about a study on the drinking habits of American college freshman at American universities versus those that went to Canadian universities. I don't really remember the details, but there was much less binge/excessive drinking where it was legal.

I think the biggest problem with lowering the drinking age is the initial year+ when teens who have been waiting to be legal or drinking illegally suddenly are legal. That could be ugly... I'm not sure the best way to avoid that.

what we need is respect for diversity. some folks just roll better loaded.
I know I would have had more fun as a teenager if I had a few beers every morning. but it was against the law and all those public service announcements.