Adams against drinking at 18

Why don't we raise the drinking age to 31, that would save more lives than 21? Or how about 41 or 51? This is total BS. There is plenty of research that indicates we would be much better off if we had no minimum at all, and allowed parents to introduce kids to alcohol use at a very young age and teach them to drink responsibly throughout their lives. At a maximum IMHO the age should be no higher than 18. 18 is the age of majority. Either you are or are not an adult at 18. At 18 you can vote, pay taxes, get married, raise children, elect to have surgery, carry a gun, go to adult prison, join the military, fight and die for your country..............but we don't think you're mature enough to have a beer or glass of wine with dinner? I say either lower the drinking age or raise the age of majority to 21. It's not right to send people off to war without giving them the right to decide for themselves if they would like to have a shot before they risk getting shot. "You can't have it both ways"! We have for more than 2 decades now..............and it is wrong, just plain wrong!

It's just another form of prohibition. How well did that work? Our goverment is founded on freedum, unless they think we're too dumb to enjoy it.

How about anyone who joins the military or goes to college can legally drink when they are 18 and everyone else can drink at 25? That would make people a little more responsible and students would think staying in school actually would pay!

How about no one can join the military until they are 21 and leave the drinking age at 21? That makes more sense than lowering the drinking age to 18 because they go to war at 18. Why allow drinking, which lowers inhibitions, depresses the nervous system, lowers reaction time to an even more immature age which already tends toward risk-taking and impulsiveness. Why don't we just throw liquor into the mix at 18, 19, 20, and 21 when they are just starting out on their own and making significant life decisions for the first time? We're already seeing the disastrous effects of cellphone use on the roads, especially by inexperienced drivers, can't wait what inexperienced drinkers might do when they get behind the wheel. And you know many of them will. 18-21 year olds tend to think they are immortal and the rules are meant to be broken.

In Germany there is no real age limit and they do not have the problems that we have here....kids want what they can't have....that will never change.

I am in total agreement with you baroness!!!

5:00smwhr, actually there were 20,000 alcohol related accidents in Germany last year. 30% caused by young drivers. I am not sure if there is a legal age or not.

I am not sure but 25 years ago or perhaps 30 the age was 18 for beer or wine, then to drink liq it was 21 so can someone tell me the stats on the numbers on reduction of accidents since then?

They already drink out in public at 18 in Athens anyways. You do not need a good fake ID to get in a bar there. Any fake ID will do.

German kids grow up on beer. They are taught to drink responsibly by their parents. If young men and women 18, 19, 20 years old can join the military and risk dying for their country, elect the President and Congress, etc. why are they not mature enough to drink responsibly? Who's kidding who? College kids of all ages drink now. They can get their 21 year old buddies to buy it for them, and do.

Yes people are responsible drinkers. They are responsible for many highway deaths. A womem drinking one drink a week raises her chances for breast cancer 50%. Prohibition was not a failure. Alcohol deaths went down 42%, crime went down 54%, mental problems dropped 66%. It worked better than any government program before or since. If you are so insecure that you can't function without alcohol you need to find the source of the problem instead creating more problems for yourself and society. For every dollar of tax revenue collected the alcohol cost is eight dollars. One of 12 children taught to drink responsibility will become an alcoholic. Would put your child on a plane that crashes one of of 12 trips??

The difference in the military thing and drinking age IMO is that they are to immature to take the responsibility of drinking as serious as it should be and then they are let loose on the public. I'll bet there are tons more people for lowering than aginst it, this young man Adams is one of the few!! Most adults do not drink responsibly, so you think a young person will? And when they go into the military they have some form of adult supervision with training and responsibilty implemented in them, so those may be able to drink at 18, just not your average young joe. I think it should be banned all together since people can not stop drinking and driving and our politicans and judges etc... are to stupid and greedy to legitimately punish those caught drining and driving. They would rather keep getting the money from the fines rather than protect our families from these irrisponsible idiots!!! IMO, 3 strikes and your out... for life!!! If you wont be responsible and not put the public in danger than someone should do it for you and keep you behind bars!!!!!

A National Institutes of Health study(2005) suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully formed until age 25. This sheds a whole new light on a lot of things that 18 to 21 year olds are allowed to do legally. On the other hand, there are many 40-50 year olds who participate in risky behavior. Someone has to set a limit and people should just be willing to follow the law because it's the LAW.

workingmom, well said.

This gripes me. Basically if they get the drinking age lowered, then they won't be liable for underage drinking and the consequences that have been associated with it. Good plan-NOT! Just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it right. Props to USC-Aiken for not going with the flow. I've told my that there is nothing so great about alcohol that it needs to be used before age 21.

The deal with the military taking young folks is that they can "mold" them into the kind of soldier/sailor/whatever that they want. Nothing to do with maturity.

Usually my husband, Techlover, responds in the posts, but now it's my turn. What all of these posts seem to miss is the obvious - kids are going to drink when they decide to regardless of the legal age. VERY FEW folks can say that they had their first drink on their 18th or 21st birthday. Therefore, we are making one more personal choice into an illegal act. This is not stopping drunk driving, it's just hiding it more effectively. Do we want to teach our children to hide from the law?

No, we want to teach our children to OBEY the law. Laws that keep the drinking age at 21 are wise, they make sense. Teach your children that if they break the law, they pay the price, one way or another, sometimes more than one way.