Lowering the drinking age
August 25th, 2008 by 
Alica
Across the country, more than 100 college presidents are calling on the federal government to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Their theory seems to be that if young people can consume alcohol any time they want, they won’t binge drink as much.
Do you agree with this theory? Why or why not?
Let’s say there’s a bottle of liquor in front of a 19 year old, and it’s illegal for him to drink it. Does he take none, a sip, a glass or does he drink the whole bottle?
Now the same 19 year old, the same bottle of booze, but now it’s legal for him to drink. Does he take none, a sip, a glass or does he drink the whole bottle?
What would you do?
Posted in Uncategorized | 
August 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This question is along the same lines as lowering the driving age: education is crucial. Give the 19 year old a good base for making the decision, and trust that he/she will make the right one. High School drinking parties are being found all the time, where are they getting the alcohol? Where are young teenagers getting the cigarettes? If the legal drinking age is lowered, it will be easier for younger kids to get alcohol. Give kids the power to make a good choice, the power to stand up against peer pressure, and they will not disappoint you.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Young kids did disappoint in the past, that is why the legal age was raised 20+ years ago.
The kids are getting their alcohol from friends or siblings of legal age. Just imagine what will happen if 18 year olds are now able to purchase for their siblings and friends. Kids will start drinking at an even younger age.
I really think it is not a very smart idea to even consider lowering the legal age to 18.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
You can go fight in a war but you can’t drink a beer?
August 25th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
1. If we raised the age to 30, would that end the underage drinking? I go for the 18 year old age limit.
2. Why teach kids to ignore the law at an early age. If drugs and alcohol are both illegal they will consider them both the same.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:33 am
I agree with #3, we allow an 18 year to go to war, vote in elections, get married, enter into legal contracts, but they can’t drink alcohol because people think they aren’t responsible enough… maybe it was the 18-20 year olds that are responsible for picking our last president that sent all those irresponsible 18-20 year olds to war??
August 26th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Wow, #5, good place to toss in the Democratic hand grenade. (No pun intended) If your idol, Bill Clinton, had gotten us into this war, would you be saying the same thing? Doubtful.
Unfortunately, most younger drinkers drink to get drunk. They don’t come home after a tough day of class and crack open a cold one to help them relax. They go to keggers, do shots, and binge drink…not that some adults don’t do the same thing, but at some point we have to cut the apron strings. Lowering the drinking age is sending a message that these behaviors are okay.
If you lower the drinking age to 18 our college campuses are going to be in even worse shape than they already are. Maybe we can have barf bags available in every classroom.
I’m sure the beer and alcohol companies will put all their considerable dollars together and lobby the next president to support a lower drinking age. What will be next? Legalizing drugs? Prostitution? Gun toting on college campuses?
And, #1, educating kids will prevent them from making bad choices? Come on. Aren’t we doing that now? If so, why are our courts packed with kids getting arrested for underage drinking?
If we lower the drinking age then there should be a zero tolerance law. Get busted one time for DUI and you can’t buy alcohol again until you are 21. Get busted a second time and no alcohol until you are 25. A third time? Banned for life. Every bartender and sales clerk will have to check everyone’s ID to see if they have the seal of approval to make the purchase.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
At 18 you are suppose to be an adult. It’s time to make adult decisions. You can go to war, vote and fight for your country but you can’t drink from the stress it may cause to relax after a hard day of fighting in the sandbox (#6). If you screw up they would go to jail just like the rest and held accountable like the rest. As you can see and hear the college “kids” are already holding keg parties and binge drinking so why not let them do it legally. Then it may not be such a challenge for them to be sneaky about it and the fun may go away?
August 26th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hmmmm….well, people are already robbing banks and casinos. People are driving 10, 15, 20+ miles over the speed limit. People are making meth and selling it to our kids. Let’s legalize that, too, so they don’t have to sneak around to do it.
Perhaps we need to change the law that designates what is considered to be an adult. Maybe the legal age to enter the military should be raised to 21.
I see your point. I just don’t agree with it.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
#6 — our school systems educate for the three R’s: Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic. We, as parents and other influential “guardians”, need to educate also the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, and Responsibility. SD already has a zero tolerance law when it comes to underage consumption. Your other points work good in theory, not so much in practice, as seen by the failed liquor stings. #8 –why shouldn’t we raise the legal adult age? Some HS senior are 19 when they graduate, that can be tough on some kids to — BANG — graduate from HS and become an adult all in the same time frame
August 26th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Community Advisor is absolutley right. If you can get your ass shot off in a wa (THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR YOUR COUNTRY BY THE WAY!) But you can get thrown in jail for underage drinking. WTF?
Somebody please explain this logic to me.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Sorry for the mispelled word. Should be “war”
August 28th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
From my experiences the kids that never drank in high school, were the craziest ones in college. Change it to 18.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’m wondering why a person 18 years of age is considered an adult in every other sense. They are old enough to vote, enter into contracts that are legally binding, scarifice their lives in war and be tried as adults in our legal system. Perhaps the argument shouldn’t be lowering the drinking age to 18 but rather, raising the legal age for all of the above mentioned points to the age of 21. I firmly believe it should be all or nothing. Either you are an adult at 18 and therefore enjoy all adult responsibilities, or 21. Not sometimes you’re an adult, then others you’re not.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I’ve heard a good response to the “Why can an 18 year old be in the military and kill people, but not be allowed to drink” argument - Leave the age at 21 for everyone, but allow younger to drink after showing their military ID.
Would that work?