Underage drinking in the U.S.

BrokenBones

BrokenBones

Active member
I know that there are probably hundreds of threads regarding this issue, but I was just wondering what you all though about a specific question. Do any of you actually think that the anti-underage drinking campaign in the U.S. is actually working, or is even productive is any way? Did or do any of you actually listen to anti-drinking commercials or read anti-drinking posters in your schools and not just laugh at them?

Its my own personal view that all this anti-drinking, and the drinking age of 21, actually contributes to the problem of dangerous underage drinking. I belive that The drinking age in the US is one of the most ridiculus and unneeded laws in existence. If the federal government didn't threaten to take away highway funding from states who deviate from the federal drinking age, than the drinking age would be 18 or non-existent in virtually every state. With the abolition of the drinking age, schools and other orginazations could then focus on educating students on the importance of drinking in moderation and the dangers of binge drinking. This would be a much more effective way to deal with this issue than fruitlessly attempting to stop teenagers from drinking, even when its common knowledge that teenagers rarely if ever listen to hokey anti-drinking slogans or inane posters and commercials.

It seems like whenever i point this out everyone agrees with me. Does anyone disagree with this?

 
I think it would be interesting to try and compare the US vs Canada in that respect........ I doubt the Canadians fare any worse with more legal troubles or drunk driving accidents with the drinking age at 18.

Then again, the only people really complaining about the drinking age are the people under 21......... so, that does have some gravity as well.

But fuck it I'm 19 and I'm drinking a Stella with dinner at the moment, so idk...........
 
eh, there will always be dumb drunk people, some people just dont know when to stop/how to handle themselves, shit, i can drink alot and still all im gonna do is laugh alot and have fun running around, and talking to people.

funny that this thread came right now as i drink my beer. =).
 
first off i don't drink ( i am a senior in high school )

and believe me i have all the opportunities in the world to drink with my friends i just choose not to do it to make sure they got home safely. now of course they complain about the age of drinking crazily cause they want it to be so they can't get a minor, and i guess i don't complain at all cause i don't drink.

but there is one thing that i have realized if you are 18 you can go to war right? you can go grab a gun and shoot or get shot by another person put your life on the line because "the big guy at the head of the country" asked you too...but you are telling me you can't consume some alcohol i think that is completely bogus and thats why i believe the drinking age should be 18
 
Drink age should be 18. Go to europe, most countries have an 18 year old drinking age and there are not as many problems there as here. Its a stupid law.
 
i didn't drink until i was a senior in high school. i do drink a lot now though. its not as much as the law has an affect, as maybe the mothers in my town. they're so against it, its kinda ridiculous. my mom is pretty chill and i wouldn't mind sitting down and have a few beers with her. but the thing is, i love pong more than i love drinking. i like how i get loud and obnoxious when i'm playing and i like how it gets challenging every time i win/lose. i dunno, i think that you're exactly right, if it were 18, kids would learn how to drink in moderation instead of just binge drinking all the time. it would help, maybe not as much as it should, but it would definitely help.
 
If you go to war your not going to be in the good ol' USA and can drink in iraq, problem solved. I just think that example is played, but i do think the age should be lowered. I would imagine that it causes more harm than good having it at 21 it's harder to get beers than hard drugs... where will that lead someone? But i heard the otherday they were looking into that law in congress or somthing might have just been liberal CO radio.
 
I've actually heard that Vermont, which is known to be one of the more libertarian states, is getting close (relatively speaking... its not gunna change tomorrow) to changing its drinking age to 18. The president of Middlebury college took a year long sabbatical to promote the idea, and apparently he's been changing some opinions.
 
Well you can thank the mothers in your town as well as the organization "MADD" for the drinking age being 21. Perhaps you should inform them they are just adding fuel to the fire.
 
He is a smart man, I'm proud to be from Vermont. However Vermont is still a long ways away from making the drinking age 18...
 
by making the US drinking age 21... they are just creating this forbidden fruit effect, and more reasons to arrest teens.

There are so many loopholes to getting around the whole drinking age law... its stupid.

for christ sakes.. I was literally MAKING alcohol in my backyard at like.. TEN!

(we have a bunch of grapes here... we make at least 4 or 5 bottles a year. pretty sweet.
 
well no matter what...the first few years would be crazy ....we cant handle it bottom line
 
i found it very ironic that litterally as i read this thread title there was a beer to my lips. and no im not of age...

and i think it should be 19, out of highschool.
 
as a bar tender of legal age to drink, i can tell you that yes the years between 18 and 21 were the longest years ever, but the drinking age is there for good reason, when it was 18 tons upon tons of kids were getting killed in accidents, why doesnt this happen in other countries? well thats because americans are ignorant and stupid in europe people dont drink and drive, in the us people do it all the time
 
Worddd. My parents said once I turn 19 they will be chill about drinking. 21 is just soooo old. I am 18 in less than a month and I can tell you right now I am mature enough to handle some alcohol. 21 is so bogus.

Most people I have talked to about this topic have said 19 is the right age because it is out of high school, but you aren't a fucking grandpa by the time you can sip some beer.
 
the thread above this one was titled "the best thing ever" and then came the title of this one, so it made "the best thing ever: underage drinking in the us".
 
my dad is chill with me drinking now and im 15, now im not saying he lets me go and get drunk. but he doesn't mind me having a beer or 2 every once and a while. my mom doesn't like it but they both agreed by 19 they would care less if i drank cause that law is bogus. and they both admit that when they were younger they drank underage so fuck that law.
 
The problem with the US is that teens have been brought up to view alcohol as something to be abused. Where in other countries, it is embraced.

Now, I believe that the legal drinking age should be 19 (as one kid said, out of high school). And it should be taught in schools the importance of handling alcohol responsibly. Saying "Don't drink" doesn't work. Because chances are, 3/4 of that class is going to end up consuming alcohol in a social environment.

And I don't think it should be legal for them to purchase at 19. I think that should remain at 21. And I have a slight issue with it pertaining to the public. I don't think a 19 year old should be allowed in a bar.
 
The reason that the drinking age in europe is so much lower (16 germany, basically any age in france, 18 in england) is that it is part of their culture. from a very young age, they are drinking wine with meals and having a social drink with their parents. Lowering the age of drinking would be a huge mistake. 1. because we are way too immature compared the 18 year olds of other countries and 2. it would make it much easier for kids to binge drink and there would be an increase in the amount of people partaking in the act of binge drinking. I'm 19 and I do drink, but I can also see why these laws are in place.
 
very true. the culture difference is amazing in this respect. here it's seen from a young age as a forbidden thing, and as a result kids want to drink and get drunk. and of course they do. if they lowered the age out of nowhere it would probably just result in kids continuing their usual drinking habits, not deciding it's legal now and that they should suddenly stop. it's a lot less simple than lowering the age, we have to change the way these drinks are viewed and consumed on a much broader level. how we could go about doing that.. I have no idea. all I know is it's not going to happen overnight.
 
you can serve your country at 18, and sometimes that means dying for it too. but yeah..something isn't right
 
It's really not that big of a deal, you can always find a way to get alcohol and shit, but its fucking bullshit that I can't just have a couple beers with friends in public.
 
actually think 21 is dangerous, just from people and kids i know, i grew up drinking, not with my family, but i grew up hanging out with kids 2-3 years older than me and alcohol was easy to get, but over the summer i met a bunch of people who were 18-19 and never really drank, and now that they were on there own they didnt know how to drink and fucked themselves over. This is my main argument on why the drinking age should be lower, for atleast beer and wine
 
doesnt matter if we have the adds and shit or not. in some countries in europe, kids are allowed to drink and are taught to drink in moderation, but teens their still binge drink as much as kids from the u.s.
 
the cops came to a kids party tonight so i drank and drive for another hour with no place to go, so yeah it doesnt work
 
if you're in the military you can get served on base, it was a result of people stating "well you can die for your country blah blah" so they made it legal for enlistees to get a drink legally on base at any age so long as their in the military

 
meh not really...me and about 10 of my friends failed dare for sniffing jiffy markers in grd 7...butttt im in canada so tis already 19
 
not being able to drink legitimately caused my friends and I to always be hiding when we were drinking, consequently we drank inappropriately, both in quantity and time of day, for the sake of not getting caught. If we could've just hung out at our parents houses and been open about it, it would've been way safer, and all of us got caught by our parents and by the cops for drinking related crimes, and it was a bitch.
 
i dont drink mainly for the reason because i dont like how shit tastes and i hate people that are drunk so i dont want to be that guy plus i feel more baddass being at a party and asking for a coke
 
theres nothing wrong with not drinking...i can socialize just fine with out it...its not like i think its wrong...i go to parties all the time...i just choose not to do it and watch out for my friends.
 
I feel ya Casey. This is a good example of why teens need to change their opinions on drinking. Far too many teens abuse alcohol. Because they have to keep it hidden. It's frowned upon to drink, when really it needs to be embraced.
 
haha in our school, theres a painting/slogan thing on the wall, and it says "friends don't let friends drive drunk" but its in a 90° corner, so when your coming down one hallway, you look at it and see "friends drive drunk". it gives me a chuckle every time i see it.
 
fuck underage drinking, if the drinking age was lower, like in Europe, there would not be as many problems. I just got an MIP a week ago, the police in my town are FUCKERS, all they care about is arresting kids for drinking and smokin pot.......FUCK WHITEFISH POLICE DEPARTMENT
 
Haha, funny to read this shit, I'm 17 and I live in the Netherlands (yes, nearby Amsterdam..). Our law says you're allowed to drink at the age of 16. But, I think the Netherlands are one step beyond all this stuff, lots of countries in Europe say you may drink at the age of 18 (not quite sure if it was 18), which is bullshit I think.

For one time happy living in the Netherlands...:P
 
The way I see it is that if you have to keep it hidden should you really do it? because especially with drinking the stench of the drink, and your stupid drunkeness isn't just going to disappear at the drop of a hat, so you pretty much know if I see my parents or if the cops come there is a good chance I may be busted. And everybody who is hating on the police stop. It's there fucking job.
 
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