How many of you are against under age (21 and under) drinking? Is it really a severe problem in the United States, as much as the newsies and polls say it is? What do people outside the US think about underage drinking? Is it a problem in your country? (Coldfire, dpr, etc…).
My view is that if someone can handle it, then by all means let them drink! Of course, me being a teen and all, I’m kinda biased.
I don’t really trust polls, surveys, and percentages, because you never know if they’re factual or not. It is so easy to fabricate statistics and polls without have any legit background facts. So I turn to you, my friends, the Teeming Millions…
I don’t think underage drinking is a bad thing. Of course, binge drinking and drunk driving are bad things. But then, they’re bad things regardless of the age of who does them.
Alcohol, in small or moderate doses, doesn’t adversely affect one’s health. Indeed, some small amount of alcohol may even help one’s health. Personally, I sleep a lot better after a couple of drinks than I do normally. Being able to sleep sounder and longer than usual certainly helps my overall health.
I would contend that underage drinking is really no different from of-age drinking. Done responsibly, there’s no problem. Done irresponsibly, and there’s a problem.
I am pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of high schoolers have had alcohol at one point or another. A rather high percentage probably drink regularly. However, I’m guessing that only a very small percentage ever drink and drive, or perform other stupid things while drunk.
But then, I’ve never been one of the “in crowd” so I can’t really know for sure.
Of course the biggest problem isn’t the booze itself. It’s the illegality. I’ve been drinking since the age of 12 or 13, but always in moderation - it was never a big deal back home to have a glass of watered down wine with a Sunday dinner.
Having a nice, safe, introduction to drinking is far better than threatening a buch of college kids with dire consequences if they get caught with a can of beer.
Ditto with other vices. It’s just that I don’t smoke, gamble or even swear much - it’s up to everyone to make up their own minds about these things.
In most European countries the drinking age is to be able to see over the counter. I think the reason why americans are having problems is because we prohibit it. We make it something desired by many and attained by few. The reason why you don’t hear of problems in Europe and other countries as much is because they don’t have an age limit. It’s not something that is desired because it is not forbidden. If we didn’t forbid we wouldn’t have a problem. It’s the same way with many other drugs like pot and several other narcotics.
p.s. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke so I don’t have these views because I am biased. I say them cause that’s what I believe.
If you make something illegal, you’re going to have more people finding ways around it and bigger problems than when it was legal. I don’t drink much, but it’s becase I know my mother has no problem with me having a few drinks every now and then, such as at the dinner table, etc.
Count me in as against the drinking age (indeed, against all arbitrary age restrictions)… I’m somewhat biased since I’m under 21, but I don’t drink anyway.
In the UK the legal age limit for buying alcohol is 18, but (and this is not so commonly known here) the age limit for drinking alcohol in private is 5 (five). I believe that you must be 16 in order to drink alcohol in a restaurant with your food, if there is an over-18 y/o present.
Private clubs can be granted licenses to serve to 16 or 17 year-olds. Drinking at younger ages (certainly 16+) is not really seen as much of an issue by most people.
As such I think that there is less of a hang-up towards alcohol in general. Most of my friends growing up (I’m well past age limits in all countries now!) had their little experimentation under relatively controlled conditions whilst they were quite young. By the time they left home to go to university we were all quite au fait with booze so didn’t feel the need to go mad with it under less controlled conditions. Generally at university I found that those who did let themselves go were the ones who had been under strict supervision at younger ages (especially boarding school).
In France it goes even further. There are very few hang-ups - parents think nothing of giving their children one glass of wine and 14 y/o can comfortably go into any bar and get a biere (he said, reminiscing fondly). To me, the culture seems even healthier (although people are somewhat prone to heart disease).
Back to the UK - a big trouble we have here is that pubs must shut at 11pm. This has led to the culture of “getting the beers in” - lining up as many pints as one can before the pub closes leading to many beligerent drunks on the streets at 11:15pm. When we go abroad where the licensing laws aren’t so strict, many “lager louts” are able to keep this up for longer periods of time, leading to trouble.
Back to France again where they don’t have this 11pm law. In my experience, people dring much more slowly, making the same amount of alcohol last twice as long. The result - less problems.
In summary my experiences tend to indicate that the more you try to restrict alcohol, the more problems you cause yourself.
regards,
pan
ps I remember going to the States when I was 21. I’d been going into pubs regularly since the age of 16. I’d just finished my degree and was used to society seeing me as an adult. To me drinking the odd pint to unwind or a glass of wine with my meal was an entirely normal part of life. It came as somewhat of a shock (and even felt like a bit of an insult) when the first bartender asked to see my ID!
I dont see how the U.S can get away with a 21 y/o drinking age when the legal age for everything else is 18. How would all the old farts feel if we told them no one OVER 30 could drink alcohol?
The main problem we have with underage drinking is Binge Group outdoor drinking (or “knacker Drinking” as we call it), followed by the random violence that ensues.
There are problems with gang violence fueled by drink. These are the type of people who would probably fight anyway, though.
I think there should be a limit, like 18. but parents should educate their kids about alcohol so that they can make an informed decision.
If children are taught that drinking in moderation is ok, or that not drinking is a valid option, not because a book said so, or because its against the rules, kids are more likely to pick that up.
btw: omega, learn a little about what you are going to say before making a claim like that.
I’d just like to point out that this only applies to England (and Wales?). In Scotland the local Council set the licencing hours, and I know that on the island I come from the pubs usually close at 11:30pm Mon-Wed and 1:00am Thursday and Friday. I can’t remember the weekend opening hours.
I don’t remember seeing this while I was there, I spent 4 months in Limerick going to college and never heard anything about it. but then again I was one for the women anyway.
I’ve been through a lot of Europe and never really saw much of a problem with drinking. I didn’t start drinking until I went to Ireland at 19, came back and just continued to drink here. I’m not one to get too drunk very often, and absolutely refuse to drive if I have had more than a beer.
I don’t think there should be any kind of drinking age. My father used to tell me that if I wanted to drink he didn’t care as it was my choice. He also said that even if it’s the middle of the night to call him so he could come get me and not drive home drunk. I don’t even think he would have been mad if I had been drinking just so long as I didn’t drive drunk. That message must have stuck home. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone elses parents tell them to call them to come pick them up, maybe more should and we wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it.
Well, first off, I’m under-age, but I don’t drink. I go to parties where people drink, but basically just hang around and tell my friends when they’ve had enough. I don’t know why I don’t drink, I think it’s a combination of alot of things. First off, my family has a HUGE history of alcoholism, so I don’t really plan to mess with that till I’m under more controlled circumstances than a party. Secondly, my dad talked to me about it alot growing up, and made sure that I understood not drinking was an option. Thirdly, I scare myself when I’m SOBER, so I don’t wanna know what I’d be like drunk.
But, I think that, as has been said, the teenage drinking itself is not the problem. It’s the act of binge drinking, and DUI. The only thing is that underage drinkers, in general, seem to be more at risk of doing these types of things. Not just because it’s illegal and therefore the appeal is greater, but because adolesence is a time that comes with some pretty dangerous invincibility complexes, and situations which would lead to binge drinking more easily. THAT is the reason that I agree with the drinking age.
However, if a child is raised with respect for alcohol and tought about its hazards, especially by the parents, or even given something to drink every now and then, then the child will probably be less prone to drinking irresponsibly. So, I guess I believe that it’s mainly the parents’ job to educate the kid proper on this stuff, and the law is mainly there as a guideline, and possibly a warning.
Back in 1976 when I turned 18 the legal limit was 18. However I had been drinking for quite awhile by then. And drinking pretty hard on many occasions. I personally think it’s silly to call someone an adult at 18 allow them all other privledges and not allow them to drink.
But I do think we have a drinking problem in this country among the young, and old. I believe our society sees drinking as a desired form of recreation. Our attitudes toward drinking are certainly not the same as Europeans. A child that grows up with wine on the table during most meals will not view drinking the same as an American child. Our kids see TV commercials during every major sporting event that depict drinkers banging their heads together, ogling bikini clad women, and playing pool with chickens that shoot the pool balls out of their ass! Very few families in this country sit down to dinner at all anymore much less with a nice bottle of wine. American attitudes toward drink are vastly different than in other countries. In my opinion many Americans have an attitude toward alcohol consumption that is simply not healthy. I think the statistics for alcoholism, drunk driving and teen age deaths do to alcohol related incidents bare this out. In many ways I believe our societal attitudes create these problems and then attempt to put a bandaid over a gaping wound. Changing how we view the use of alcohol in our everyday lives would go a lot farther toward alieviating some of these problems than manipulating age limits and other quick but obviously ineffective fixes.
Like I said I was there for the women so what was going on around me at 2am wasn’t as important as the women. Actually the oddest stuff I heard about was boys liked to set fire to old tires on Halloween. huh?
But if I ever get back to Dublin, been there too, I’ll stop by for a pint. maybe I could find one or two of those lasses again. I know one was in Dublin last I heard as a teacher.
I think most people in England would consider it perfectly normal for somebody aged 16 or 17 to drink alcohol more or less regularly. By the time I was about 17, much of my social life revolved around the pub (you can legally go into a pub at the age of 16, but you can’t buy alcohol until you’re 18). The fact that were underage caused most of us to behave a lot more sensibly than we otherwise would have done because we knew that if there was any rowdyness we would be thrown out.
There is actually no legal age limit on alcohol consumption in this country. It is perfectly legal for children to drink alcohol if they can get their hands on it, but not to buy it. Many parents allow their children to have a glass of wine with dinner from about the age of 14 or 15. I believe this practice is even more widespread on the Continent.
The Prime Minister’s 16-year-old son was recently found drunk and incapable by a policeman in Leicester Square. The media had a bit of fun with it, but nobody thought it was evidence of a serious problem. In fact, one or two people suggested that it was evidence that the was leading a reassuringly normal life, despite his father’s position.
The Leader of the Oppsition has recently boasted in a magazine interview of drinking 14 pints a day when he was a young man.
Am I remembering correctly, that it used to be up to the states to set their own drinking age, but back in the mid-eighties the Federal Government made a 21-year-old drinking age manditory? (Or something to that effect–like that the states couldn’t get any federal highway money unless they set their drinking age to 21.)
And that the main argument given for making the drinking age 21 was to cut down on teenage drinking and driving?
