18 - Vote and Drink???

Bills to Lower Drinking Age Filed in Seven States

News Summary



Seven U.S. states are considering legislation that would lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 either for all residents or for members of the military, UPI reported April 3.

Lawmakers in Missouri, South Dakota, Vermont and Minnesota have introduced measures to lower the drinking age for everyone, while the military-only bills have been filed in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.

Some proponents argue that 18-year-olds who volunteer to fight and die for their country have proven that they are mature enough to drink. The proposals face a major hurdle in a federal law that penalizes any state that lacks an age-21 drinking law with the loss of a percentage of its federal highway funding.

Sure, it doesn't bother me any. If teenagers want to drink they will get it from somewhere, especially between the ages of 18-20 when they don't live at home. I don't see the benefit of it being 21.

As if they don't all drink already anyway.

I've been legal since I was 18, and I survived okay. Not that I touch the stuff any more.

18-20 year olds don't live at home? Darn! I guess my eldest never got that memo!

If you're old enough to join the military you should be old enough to drink.

wow--this is the same argument we had when they were taking the 18 year old drinking age away when I was 18...moved to TX, I was legal, moved to PA, I wasn't..moved back to TX and drank...and survived..heck, if you are old enough to be charged as an adult for all crime, and can be a soldier, then you should be able to have a shot once in awhile!!

Wow, look at the isolated stories of binge drinking and over the top pledging drinking games at universities.

What I am saying, looks like if an 18 year old wants to drink they do. For those 18 year olds without issues great. I definitly find it ridiculous to tell a soldier who is 18 and going to Iraq that they can not have a beer. Weird logic on that one.

Just seems so individual, a lot depends on your situation. It was always one of those one size fits all laws.

For those gone wild, I only hope they survive and don't wipe anyone out with them.

I say lower it to 18 as well -- if you're old enough to fight for our country you've earned that beer. Part of the allure of alcohol for people 18-20 is the fact that it's illegal and a real treat when you can get ahold of some (at least when I was that age). After I turned 21 my alcohol consumption went down. I remember in high school, the Spanish/French teacher told us that there was no drinking age in France, and in schools you could get milk or wine with your lunch in the cafeteria. It blew our collective minds! But he said that even though access to wine was easy, underage alcoholism wasn't a problem over there because it was just an accepted part of their culture...of course this was a conversation I had with him 20 years ago so maybe it's changed. But still, I thought that was pretty interesting. The whole illegality-makes-underage-drinking-popular issue.

I was legal throughout my college years and drank a lot. These days I avoid it completely because it's just not part of my lifestyle. But being legal, at least there was a lot less drinking and driving around. Much of the time, thanks to a bar being within walking distance of campus, we walked drunk. Which was a whole lot safer than driving drunk! Even when we went into downtown Philly to hit the clubs there, we took the subway. We were legal, so had nothing to hide.

Since college aged kids are going to get alcohol one way or another, I think it's probably safer to let them do it openly and give them lots of guidance on staying safe about it.

I could be wrong on this, but I think ours is the only country to have the drinking age at 21. Canada is 18, I believe Mexico is also as is Puerto Rico. (Yes, I know Puerto Rico is a US territory but they seem to have their own laws regarding this.) I think most of Europe does not have a drinking age. I agree wholeheartedly that if you are serving in the military, you should be able to buy a beer to celebrate your return from tour of duty.

I think in Spain the legal drinking age is actually 16... I say once you are 18 and have all other rights as adults, you should be able to drink "responsibly" as well. Key word being "responsible". The only thing that gets me is the fact that some states were actually talking not too long ago about raising the legal driving age to 18. So, you are just old enough to learn to drive & now you can drink too???

If teenagers want to drink they will find a way. The legal limit doesn't make too much difference. I don't know about 16 though. I feel that 16 year olds are still kids (especially the immature ones I've taught). They can't make their own logical rational decision as it is, don't allow them to legally impair it. They are new at driving too, don't throw alcohol into the mix.

Here's a site giving the legal ages of some countries.
I don't understand what they mean by "Consumption not prohibited" for MD and other states.
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

You have to be 21 to purchase a pistol. MD is one of 5 or 6 states that don't have the right to bear arms in their state constitutions, interesting.
http://www.firearmslawcenter.org/states/maryland.asp