Rommie
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Post by Rommie on Aug 14, 2007 22:26:04 GMT -5
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/?GT1=10252I'm all for the age being lowered to 18 or 19. But i'm biased. I think it's just stupid though. I did an English paper on this for school last year. You turn 18 and you can do pretty much whatever the hell you please except drink a beer. There are good points by both sides. One of the most interesting debates you can get into right now IMO. I don't really expect it to happen though, at least not before i'm 21.
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Post by KruPaxson on Aug 14, 2007 22:32:09 GMT -5
I think it should be 18 then we wouldn't have all this hiding and rebelling. I think binge drinking is at an all time high because of the fact kids feel the need to leash out when they drink. If drinking age was lowered parents would be able to teach kids how to drink in moderation. This is evident in places over in Europe such as Italy where they start drinking as early teens.
Side note I also think Marijuana should be legalized because then the government could regulate prices and collect tax on it. Again it could be used in moderation. This country is a fucked up place but then again its the best country on earth mmm hmmm.
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Post by James on Aug 14, 2007 22:33:06 GMT -5
You are officially 100% legal when you turn 18 here in Australia. I couldn't imagine going out clubbing and not being able to drink at 19. INSANE. Whats more insane is that you can go to war at 18 yet can't drink at 18 in the USA. Totally and unbelievably stupid.
In saying that, I started drinking at 16 which is common here in Aus when kids go to party's. 18 ole'!
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Post by James on Aug 14, 2007 22:34:20 GMT -5
Side note I also think Marijuana should be legalized because then the government could regulate prices and collect tax on it. Again it could be used in moderation. This country is a fucked up place but then again its the best country on earth mmm hmmm. Have you been outside the US?
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Post by KruPaxson on Aug 14, 2007 22:34:33 GMT -5
You are officially 100% legal when you turn 18 here in Australia. I couldn't imagine going out clubbing and not being able to drink at 19. INSANE. Whats more insane is that you can go to war at 18 yet can't drink at 18 in the USA. Totally and unbelievably stupid. In saying that, I started drinking at 16 which is common here in Aus when kids go to party's. 18 ole'! Can't buy cigarettes til your 19 now too
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Post by KruPaxson on Aug 14, 2007 22:35:17 GMT -5
Side note I also think Marijuana should be legalized because then the government could regulate prices and collect tax on it. Again it could be used in moderation. This country is a fucked up place but then again its the best country on earth mmm hmmm. Have you been outside the US? Have you been outside the US?
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Post by James on Aug 14, 2007 22:41:16 GMT -5
Ive been to the US. I live in Australia. Ive been to a lot of places.
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Post by KruPaxson on Aug 14, 2007 22:42:33 GMT -5
Ive been to the US. I live in Australia. Ive been to a lot of places. What are you doing in Canada? this post is purely for bender
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Rommie
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Post by Rommie on Aug 14, 2007 23:54:40 GMT -5
What I found funny is that people who say we don't need 18 year old high school kids buying alcohol for their 15 year old friends. LMAO fucking stupid people. Unless you live in a fucking box you can find someone to get you alcohol if your 13, 14, 16, 18 it don't fucking matter. You just have to know someone who knows someone that will hook you up. I was just at a party last Saturday and there were 3 kids there that are going to be Freshmen this fall. Yeah only like 14 or maybe 15 years old. Obviously the drinking age at 21 isn't helping that issue much because it is not uncommon at all to see that.
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Post by cjmjones008 on Aug 15, 2007 0:41:24 GMT -5
lower the gambling age too... then ill be completely fucked
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Post by Dan on Aug 15, 2007 9:35:18 GMT -5
What is stupid is that you can go to the army or wherever at 18 but you can not buy yourself a beer. It should be lowered but will it actually happen? Probably not.
On the side note, parents who do not want there children to "experience" alcohol in high school must live under a rock because in my high school, like rommie said, kids started as freshman, maybe even before them. Its fucked up, but that is the truth.
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Post by garf2000 on Aug 15, 2007 11:44:02 GMT -5
The inherent problem is that if the drinking age gets lowered to 18, there will be an increase in drinking in kids 14-17 years old. The main problem that I see with lowering the drinking age is that there will be more drunk driving cases where kids can start driving at 16 years old.
As for legalizing marijuana, it would probably be smart for all governments to do this, but only because it would take money away from drug dealers and create a new source of revenue. It would also create a much safer way of using marijuana with no lacing of other drugs.
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Post by nova on Aug 15, 2007 13:34:25 GMT -5
Honestly, these days, most kids already start drinking between 14-17.
I myself don't drink and don't do drugs. However, being in High School, I can tell you that even at my private Catholic HS, probably 40% of the kids drink, and I'd say about 10% do drugs. At a public high school, it's probably about 75% who drink and 25% who do drugs.
I honestly don't care if people drink, but I'm personally against it when your that young. If that makes me a goodie goodie, so be it.
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Post by aaronjh on Aug 15, 2007 13:49:02 GMT -5
Honestly, these days, most kids already start drinking between 14-17. I myself don't drink and don't do drugs. However, being in High School, I can tell you that even at my private Catholic HS, probably 40% of the kids drink, and I'd say about 10% do drugs. At a public high school, it's probably about 75% who drink and 25% who do drugs. I honestly don't care if people drink, but I'm personally against it when your that young. If that makes me a goodie goodie, so be it. It's gotta be like 85+% drinking at our school, and 45+% doing drugs. Probably closer to 95% of kids in my high school drink at some point, no joke. 18 or 19 isn't such a terrible idea for college kids, but it would only further enable teenage drinking. Considering the amount of kids I know who have at some point driven drunk, it doesn't seem worth it.
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Post by nova on Aug 15, 2007 13:58:39 GMT -5
Yeah, exactly. This is unfortunately what most of the older generation doesn't get...they think maybe 10-20% of teens drink...when it's really 80-90%.
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Post by Lumley316 on Aug 15, 2007 14:22:07 GMT -5
The inherent problem is that if the drinking age gets lowered to 18, there will be an increase in drinking in kids 14-17 years old. The main problem that I see with lowering the drinking age is that there will be more drunk driving cases where kids can start driving at 16 years old. As for legalizing marijuana, it would probably be smart for all governments to do this, but only because it would take money away from drug dealers and create a new source of revenue. It would also create a much safer way of using marijuana with no lacing of other drugs. Agree
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Post by duce on Aug 15, 2007 14:25:18 GMT -5
call me biased but my cous' died while drunk-driving at 18 pretty recently, do we really need more of that shit? i don't think there's any part of the country that's ready for that kind of responsibility.
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Post by Lumley316 on Aug 15, 2007 14:29:38 GMT -5
call me biased but my cous' died while drunk-driving at 18 pretty recently, do we really need more of that shit? i don't think there's any part of the country that's ready for that kind of responsibility. Agree
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Post by Bender on Aug 15, 2007 15:16:35 GMT -5
a kid from my highschool just drunk drove his car into the canal by my house last night. granted we all make mistakes. he was 20 yrs old the drinking age is fine
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Post by Bender on Aug 15, 2007 15:19:12 GMT -5
Ive been to the US. I live in Australia. Ive been to a lot of places. What are you doing in Canada? this post is purely for bender tommy chong is the man
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Post by CardinalsGM on Aug 15, 2007 15:36:14 GMT -5
a kid from my highschool just drunk drove his car into the canal by my house last night. granted we all make mistakes. he was 20 yrs old the drinking age is fine I don't know the kid or anything else about the situation, but he's 20 and still in HS? or did I misread that? As far as the dropping of the drinking age, I debate back and forth with it. I'm a High school teacher and I overhear lots of stories about after homecoming, after prom, parties in general. One part of me says if you lower the drinking age, once kids get there they realize that the party isn't fun anymore. The other part of me says that it will just cause more of a problem for 14-17 year olds. I say the biggest problem comes down to the authority figure. I know of too many times of parents supplying the alcohol for the party and either letting it happen while they're there or while they are out for the night. A step above that comes to the local police....around here the parties are scheduled based on who is on duty so that they have nothing to worry about. A kid jokingly asked me to come to one of the parties my first year of teaching (when I was 22 and the kids were 17-18-19) I said sure, and I'll bring my friends with the lights on the top of the car....the kid wasn't phased a bit...but when I mentioned the state boys instead of the locals, he took off really quick....I think there is something wrong there.
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Post by gmgreggor on Aug 15, 2007 15:38:52 GMT -5
call me biased but my cous' died while drunk-driving at 18 pretty recently, do we really need more of that shit? i don't think there's any part of the country that's ready for that kind of responsibility. I'm older than I think most of you guys and I can tell you this is exactly why they changed the laws. It wasnt because of 18-19 yr olds drinking itself, it's because of the number of deaths of 18-19 yr olds caused by drunk driving. And thats not just the deaths of the 18,19 yrs olds they're trying to prevent. That's also the deaths of kids and innocent people who happened to be in their way when they crashed beacuse they were drunk. Does the law stop it? No, but it does decrease it substantially I think from the stats on drunken driving related deaths.
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Rommie
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Post by Rommie on Aug 15, 2007 15:39:33 GMT -5
I guarantee you that if the drinking age was lowered to 18 you would see far less binge drinking. You wouldn't have these people who drink just because and who act drunk.
Would DUIs increase in 16-20 year olds? Yes, but they would decrease in the 21 and older crowd. If you want people to be more responsible then you need to give them responsibilites. They will mess up, no doubt, but they will do it if the drinking age is 21, 19, 18 or if the driving age is 16 or 18 it doesn't really matter.
Here is my suggestion, some have suggested have an alcohol license so why not have that but if you give alcohol to minors you lose that alcohol license for 2 years, any anyone who is convicted of a DUI loses their drivers license for 2 years automatically. Have stiffer penalties like this.
I'm not for drinking and driving. However it doesn't matter what the legal drinking age is, it will be done and therefore the government needs to make the penalties stiffer IMO.
What I think would be very interesting is how would lowering our drinking age to 18 affect other countries tourism, like Mexico, especially over Spring Break? That would be very interesting I think we would keep a lot more Spring Breakers in the states for sure with a lower drinking age.
Here is something I have been thinking too and I hope it makes sense.
People say, well these 18/19 year olds get drunk and drive. And then they supply it for their under 18 year old friends and they do the same. Well I can go buy myself a gun, and hey shoot someone with it or sell it to someone under 18 and they can go shoot someone. This is something that gets ignored.
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Post by Bender on Aug 15, 2007 16:32:46 GMT -5
it's a fact i am more mature now then i was when i was 18. three yrs is a lot. three yrs in college is a lot most people who are 21 are about to leave college hopefully. and are focused on getting a jo and are more worried bout the futrure then getting wasted every night. I'm sorry 18 yrs old should not be the drinking age. there is just not enough experience at that age
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Rommie
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Post by Rommie on Aug 15, 2007 16:44:31 GMT -5
But if people at 18 don't have enough experience and be responsible to drink then why do they have enough experience to buy a gun, get married and have a family, smoke, chew, buy a house, have a full time job, serve in the miliitary, etc but these same 18-20 year olds are not mature and responsible enough to drink a beer?
That is a big reason why people get drunk, it is thought highly of since you have to be 21 to legally do it. Lower it, educate, and show people that you don't have to binge drink to enjoy alcohol.
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