We’ve been over this already.
In the 60s.
It seems ridiculous to me that after being on this planet for over two decades I still can't drink..
Says the dude named after vodka and a street drug.
Can’t speak to the current policies, but in the late 90’s, the drinking age on Camp Pendleton, CA (Marine Corps base) was 18 or 19 (don’t remember exactly). The drinking age in Okinawa was lowered as well.
The intention was to keep younger Marines on base, who otherwise may have chosen to go drink in Tijuana or out ‘in town’ in Okinawa.
I see that there are current policies as well, that allow ‘underage’ Marines to consume alcohol.
Well, that’s common sense in action. 
Hats off to the Marines.
The draft in the 60’s lead to lowering the drinking age to 18 in many states.
Drunk driving advocates forced the law back up to 21. The Feds used their highway funding money to strong arm the states. Florida fought the longest because of tourism and Spring break. They finally went up to 21 to avoid losing their highway funding.
All that is unnecessary now because we have so much stronger DUI laws. 18 year olds can drink and face getting busted for DUI just like anyone else.
Wait. . . There are drunk driving advocates? I’m outraged. Outraged, I’ll tell ya.
Would you say you’re MFDD about it?
Try going to Vegas or Reno one month before your 21st birthday.
Well, another aspect to this is what we are only now starting to learn about brain development. All research indicates more and more two points:
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The brain is still developing til about 25 years of age–that part which isn’t fully formed even until 21 years is the part that involves making decisions evaluating risk, etc.
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Alcohol consumption throughout the teen years–especially heavy drinking, even if rare/infrequent–seems to hinder that part of the brain from developing completely.
Many think this is why so many (75%) addicts and alcoholics have begun their use before 20 years of age.
I don’t know how definite all this research is, and I used to think the 21 years rule for drinking was BS, too, but now, when I have kids, I might have to reconsider that opinion.
What, you’ve never heard of Drunks Against Mad Mothers?
And, colonial, do you know if they considered raising the driving age instead?
In no small part because they tend to be heedless of the risks - just as they are apt to be when making decisions about drinking and driving.
** It seems ridiculous to me that after being on this planet for over two decades and clearly being tech-savvy and media-aware, you still crave alcohol.
Hasn’t the world around you made you aware enough of the idiotic byproducts of alcohol consumption?
Someone else noted already, it’s actually not all that special. Yeah, there’s some interesting concoctions with hilarious names and there’s even some stuff that really tastes great. But being in full control of your behaviors, decisions, and motor functions during whatever event you’re experiencing is really much more fun and memorable (literally). It also carries less potential for embarassment, incurrance of debt, and various other regrets.
Someone also noted the recent studies on brain development. To make it less arbitrary, I think the threshold for unsupervised alcohol consumption should be 25 or whatever age those studies say correlates with full brain development.
Others have already pointed out that, at least for the US military, people who have signed up to die are considered an exception to the age limit – you’ll still feel the bullets, but you won’t care?
Oh, but there are early bloomers whose maturity is well past their physical age? Perhaps we should have Drinkers Insurance. When you (or a sponsor) can afford the premiums, you can drink. If you’re 16 and have your own lucrative business, you can afford the premium set for 16-year-olds. If your parent or guardian or sugar-daddy wants to pay your premium, well that’s his risk based on how confident he is of your maturity-while-inebriated.
[FONT=Impact][COLOR=Black]Just be patient.
—G! [Yes, some of that is sarcastic][/COLOR]
One Burbon!
One Scotch!
One Beer!
. --George ThoroughGood (and the Delaware Destroyers)
. The House-Rent Blues
[/FONT]**
OP … you’re not missing much. Seriously.
Nothin’ wrong with alcohol, but a lot of it tastes like shit.
I’m another that could legally drink at 18, at 16 I just drank illegally.
The problem with alcohol isn’t really the minimum drinking age, it’s that we (in general) treat it as this mysterious thing that only grown-ups can have and foster this “forbidden fruit” aura around it. As though there’s some magical switch that gets flipped when a person turns 21 that makes them able to drink responsibly. Meanwhile, we tell kids they shouldn’t drink because it’s bad for them (all the while quaffing beers ourselves) and when they do get hold of it they find out that it ain’t all that bad.
I think Wisconsin has the right idea. There, a minor can legally drink alcohol so long as it comes from his/her own parent/guardian. It seems to me it would make so much more sense if parents could ease their kids into responsible alcohol consumption (e.g. A glass of wine at a holiday dinner with the rest of the family) instead of having to lie about it and act all shocked when they come home some night wasted off their ass when they’re 16.
I’m not sure that this is really teaching kids to be responsible about alcohol. According to a 2008 NY Times article:
Hah… I’m actually in that boat of mind.
Then again, I’m also against the idea of that much governmental control/“Big Brother-ness” of telling others what’s good for them and what’s not. So that puts me out of that boat.
Everything in Moderation, including Moderation. That said, don’t try to glorify it and put it up on a pedestal, because it’s not that big of a deal. Just like you can’t quite rent a car before you can drink either, but no one seems to celebrate that age as much.
-R
This. I drank more between the ages of 15-21 than i have since then, and I’m 34.
I’m not sure whether that’s causation or mere correlation, though. I grew up with no drinking age and the people who drank a lot as teens were the ones who were also stupid in other respects.
Coming up with a drinking age hasn’t stopped idiots from drinking; rather, it has put a Forbidden Fruit stamp on something which didn’t use to have one. It has also taken the responsibility of teaching kids how to drink from the hands of parents, and for many kids, closed a source of information. Back then, my first tastes of alcohol were from my parents’ glasses; nowadays, parents whose take on laws is the same my parents had (You Shall Follow The Law) do not let their 7yo have that sip of beer to which my response was “bleargh! How can you drink this?”
You aren’t missing that much.
That may be true. When I was 10 or so, my dad let me taste his beer, and it was so awful that I never craved it again. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized you don’t have to drink Budweiser.