6 years too late, you fucking faggots!

[The Ozzman]

Is 21 a bust when it comes to drinking?

Lawmakers in seven states are actively considering legislation that would lower the legal drinking age.

Military Rights or Drinking Age Bill?

State pols in Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina have introduced legislation that would lower the drinking age only for military personnel, while Missouri, South Dakota, Vermont and Minnesota are considering more expansive measures that would lower the drinking age for the general population.

"These people set themselves apart," said Rep. David Floyd of Kentucky, who supports the state lowering the drinking age to 18, and believes the responsibility that enlistees assume with military service demonstrates their ability to make mature decisions when it comes to alcohol.

Floyd looks at his efforts to lower Kentucky's drinking age as more of a military bill than a drinking bill, and would be opposed to expanding the bill to include nonmilitary personnel.

Highway Funds Risked

Legislators, like Floyd, who are proponents of legally lowering the drinking age, are putting their state's highway funds at risk.

Each state contemplating lowering the drinking age could stand to lose up to 10 percent of its federal road money.

In 1984, Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which was designed to reduce car accident deaths among young people by setting the minimum drinking age at 21 and threatening states with the loss of federal highway funds if they did not comply.

Since the '80s, groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and why21.org have cited research for their continued support of 21 as the legal drinking age.

According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol-related traffic deaths have decreased across the board with the greatest proportional declines among people 16 to 20 years old.

NIH studies also revealed that teenagers who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence during their lifetimes than those who started drinking at age 21 or later.

Despite the research, some still disagree with the federal government's role in raising states' drinking age.

"Our own law makes it clear that the drinking age was raised 'solely under the duress of a funding sanction imposed by the United States Department of Transportation.' In short, we passed this law not because it reflected our values, desires and customs as a state but because we wanted the extra money," said N. Bob Pesall.

Pesall, a lawyer in Flandreau, S.D., drafted a proposal that would make consuming low alcohol beer legal at age 19 instead of the current 21 for all alcoholic drinks.

"I support the idea of lowering the drinking age in South Dakota for several reasons, but it all boils down to respect. In South Dakota, when a person turns 18, he or she can enter into contracts, pay taxes, do business, get married, bear arms and fight overseas to protect our national interests. It is simply disrespectful to tell that same person that they can't handle a cold beer when they come home," said Pesall.

Debate Rages

A planned ballot initiative in Missouri would allow everyone 18 and older to become drinking age adults. A Minnesota bill would allow anyone who is 18 and older to buy alcohol in bars and restaurants but not in liquor stores until they're 21.

"In short, based upon research, the current drinking laws are counterproductive. This is why I recommend lowering the drinking age in controlled environments such as restaurants and campus pubs or anytime with parents, in addition, to not allowing young adults to buy alcohol in retail stores to take home to get drink as that is not responsible drinking behavior," said Ruth Engs, profesor emeritus in Applied Health Science at Indiana University.

John McCardell, the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, also supports states that are trying to lower their drinking age. McCardell founded Choose Responsibility, an advocacy group that is opposed to age 21 being the legal drinking age.

"We need to support public policies that reflect reality, not our illusion of what reality is," said McCardell about proposed legislation. "We can either try to change the reality -- that is called Prohibition, which has historically failed -- or we can create the safest possible environment for the reality. Legal age 21 creates the least safe, most life-threatening environment, and thus it neither reflects nor represents reality."

McCardell argues that the current drinking age negatively affects youth behavior, and aids in binge drinking.

"Binge drinking, however you may define it, is not behavior that takes place in public. The law has banished alcohol consumption from public places and public view. The only place binge drinking can occur, then, is where the law has banished it, in clandestine locations," said McCardell. "How can one argue that the drinking age is not responsible for this?"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Politics/story?id=4577105&page=1

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Wow, that took fucking long enough.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I hope this doesn't come true too soon. I want to enjoy being able to drink legally earlier than my older friends on the other side of the ocean.

 

[Psychonaut]

Oooh, we're catching up with the Europeans! I request a nap time in the middle of the day.

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

Too bad I live in New Jersey, and this most likely won't happen.

 

[genocide roach]

yet another example of europe doing somthing right and america ignoring it.

its pretty obvious to me that if youre introduced to alcohol at a younger age, you have fewer problems when you are on your own. most people are still at home at age 18. but once you leave home and go to college/the military youre thrown into this alcoholic enviroment and you dont know how to handle yourself because youve never had any experience with it. so you fuck up, over and over and over again.
~gR~

 

[False Joe]

NIH studies also revealed that teenagers who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence during their lifetimes than those who started drinking at age 21 or later.

I love the fact they think the 21 thing means that no-one drinks before then.

 

[Zephyrus]

When Maine secedes and becomes a Canadian province it will go down to 19, so I'm all set.

 

[General Zaroff]

Like the law stops anyone anyway.

 

[Ben_t]

Oooh, we're catching up with the Europeans! I request a nap time in the middle of the day.

Drinking age is 18 in Québec (where I'm from) and I believe 19 in the rest of Canada.

 

[genocide roach]

Like the law stops anyone anyway.

yup.

if anything, this law makes it worse. kids think its an event when they have booz, so they drink waaaaay too much and then bad things happen
~gR~

 

[Ben_t]

if anything, this law makes it worse. kids think its an event when they have booz, so they drink waaaaay too much and then bad things happen
~gR~

Yeah because things like that never happen with people who can legally drink...

 

[TheAnonymous]

Making it anymore than 18 is completely retarded, especially seeing how they think 18 years olds are mature enough for military service but not for drinking alcohol... And 18 is too much anyway, Europe got it right, like 15 or something. Making it illegal just encourages teenagers to get drunk as often as they can anyway...

 

[waif]

The law never stopped anyone...
The problem is culture. American teens drink to get drunk, and then they go out and fuck themselves up. If there was any way to stop them from drinking under 21 I would support it, but since there is none, I don't see why the law shouldn't be 18.
The problem is culture, though. Europeans don't get drunk the way Americans do, because they don't have that culture surrounding alcohol.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I don't see why anyone would be against this, though I can't argue for it either. I don't think it really matters what age is "allowed" since it is UBER unenforced.

 

[waif]

I'm against drinking under 21. I don't think it's necessarily universally harmful - the main problem being that people are irresponsible - but I think that the cons (drunk driving deaths, destruction of property, date rape, etc) vastly outweigh the pros (yay! kids can have beer).
If people are responsible about drinking I have no problem with it. But in America they generally aren't. However, this bill will have absolutely no effect on who drinks, so what the hell.

 

[rms]

Older men beat their wives and do drunk driving as well, why are you generalizing that only young kids do this, is it because noone invites you to parties?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I'm against drinking under 21.

Same here. I don't see the need to hurry up and drink before I am legally allowed to. I don't generally enjoy the party scene of college, and none of my friends really do either.

why are you generalizing that only young kids do this, is it because noone invites you to parties?

Yeah I'm sure that's the reason.

 

[rms]

I should be a psych major.

 

[waif]

Older men beat their wives and do drunk driving as well, why are you generalizing that only young kids do this, is it because noone invites you to parties?

Statistically alcohol is more likely to cause issues for people under 25.