Should America's drinking age be lowered?

[naval_aviator_2040]

Why would a college student drink LESS beer, when it is even EASIER to get and he won't get an any trouble for doing so? Other than that, the idea of lowering the drinking age seems like a good idea to me. Although, I would prefer it if the feds let the states decide...

underage drinkers tend to consume alcohol in higher volumes and at faster intervals than drinkers of legal age simply to ensure that they become intoxicated before any "authority" figure i.e. police, bouncer, bartender, campus R.A. can catch them.

[Gowerlypuff]

eh, I'm not sure this is the case. It's 18 over here in the UK, and I got totally off my face in my first year at university. At least lowering it to 18 will give those that wait until drinking age to go out to bars and get smashed the ability to do it in their first year at college, rather than messing up their final year :-p
Binge drinking will happen, legal or not, the main factors on it are that it'll be easier for RA's in that they wont' have to do alcohol checks, but they'll probably have more rowdy people to deal with.

[collegestudent22]

simply to ensure that they become intoxicated before any "authority" figure i.e. police, bouncer, bartender, campus R.A. can catch them.

Most but not all states prohibit consumption of alcohol by minors as well as possession. (36. counting D.C.)

[adciv]

Got a link for the states that do that? I'm curious as to which ones do not.

[collegestudent22]

(PDF WARNING) On page 10 (counting cover) is a chart on MIP, and after that a chart for MIC.

[ampersand]

I think the whole children who drink alcohol before age 15 are fifteen times more likely to be (insert your catastrophe here) statistic just proves that many parents have no idea what the concept of parental supervision actually means. (And no, it doesn't mean let the kid drink alcohol while you're around at home.) It also shows, as mentioned in other posts, how the American culture is so vastly different when it comes to alcohol than it is in many other countries around the world.

My senior year in high school, about a third of the senior class either died or were severely injured in automobile accidents because of drinking. The predominant problem at my high school was alcohol, as it was the number one topic. I recall with shock actually sitting with the geekest geeks at my high school and they were comparing the vodka they had drank at a party the other night. And I know they had been drinking because I was there and declined to take a sip.

Having said this, I wouldn't care either way whether the drinking age was lowered or not, but it had better come with more stringent penalties for driving drunk or catching underage people drunk or whatever the case may be. 18 year olds aren't going to be any less mature than 21 year olds, so that really is rather moot. But by the same token, it's not going to cause the cultural background to change because the illegalness of underage drinking is not as appealing. That will take a massive cultural change, something that can not simply be mandated by amending an existing law.

[naval_aviator_2040]

simply to ensure that they become intoxicated before any "authority" figure i.e. police, bouncer, bartender, campus R.A. can catch them.

Most but not all states prohibit consumption of alcohol by minors as well as possession. (36. counting D.C.)

Ok.

I'm not completely sure how that has anything to do with my point that underage drinker's are more likely to binge drink than drinkers who are of age.

[collegestudent22]

simply to ensure that they become intoxicated before any "authority" figure i.e. police, bouncer, bartender, campus R.A. can catch them.

Most but not all states prohibit consumption of alcohol by minors as well as possession. (36. counting D.C.)

Ok.

I'm not completely sure how that has anything to do with my point that underage drinker's are more likely to binge drink than drinkers who are of age.

You stated that they drank faster to become intoxicated before any authority figure can catch them. Except for the fact that the majority of the states can still arrest you for BEING intoxicated underage.

[Rorschach]

Should America's drinking age be lowered?

Fuck, yeah. The sooner we can see High School Girls Gone Wild, the better.

[FireAza]

Methinks for that to happen, the age of consent would need to be lowered too, Rors

[Rorschach]

Because it's impossible to make/buy under-age porn?

[collegestudent22]

Because it's impossible to make/buy under-age porn legally.

[The Cid]

You stated that they drank faster to become intoxicated before any authority figure can catch them. Except for the fact that the majority of the states can still arrest you for BEING intoxicated underage.

Right. However, it doesn't happen nearly as often. For one, not everyone who is "intoxicated" is easy to spot. Second, not every cop you see on the street is carrying a breathalyzer and/or looking for drunken people. These are the points you've been missing.

Underage drinking has two benefits nobody has yet touched upon:
Lowering the drinking age has two benefits we've yet to mention:
1) Some students drink WAY too much, to the point of putting their lives in danger. When a group of friends are drinking underage and one gets that scary kind of drunk, they are less likely to get help for their friend for fear of getting caught. Lower the drinking age and save a few lives, because people will stop trying home remedies and start getting their passed out friend to the ER.

2) Cops have better things to do than waste their time breaking up house parties and dorm parties, like fighting real crime for example. This is a waste of police resources.

Edit: Thanks, Adciv. Busy, busy week for me and I'm a little loopy. No excuse, but still. Leaving the stricken statement because it's rather funny in terms of slip ups, and because AdCiv quoted it already.

[adciv]

Cid, I think instead of

Underage drinking has two benefits nobody has yet touched upon:

You meant to say

Lowering the drinking age has two benefits nobody has yet touched upon:

[The Cid]

Yikes. I know I've said some pretty ridiculous stuff in this section of RLF before, but that one is especially humbling.