Anti-teen drinking jihad gets ridiculous

Submitted by Elrod on Sat, 2007/06/23 - 7:57pm.

So Tennessee has just enacted a law that requires vendors of off-premises packaged beer to card EVERYBODY that buys. This includes 90-year olds.
Link...

I understand the desire to be consistent on this and not put vendors on the spot, but this whole drinking age business is just ridiculous. We are the only country in the world with a 21-year old drinking age. We enforce that drinking age more strictly than every other nation in the world. And yet, it is the United States that has more problems with binge drinking and - to some extent - drunk driving than others. Why?

I vigorously opposed the 21-year old drinking age when I was underage myself - as did just about all under 21 folk. But at 33, I still think it's just an idiotic law that does nothing to control the effects of alcohol abuse or drunk driving.

Supporters of the draconian American drinking age cite the dramatic drop in drunk driving deaths after the Federal government passed the 21-year old drinking age law (revealing Ronald Reagan's so-called federalism to be a fraud). A big problem with this argument is that the same time the Feds and the states raised the drinking age, they also jacked up the penalties for driving drunk. As recently as the late 1970s, many states gave drivers nothing more than a reckless driving ticket for drunk driving - and that was only when the driver was OBVIOUSLY intoxicated and out of control. Of course the drunk driving deaths were going to drop when states started actually punishing drunk drivers. There is no evidence that the increased drinking age alone accounts for the drop in drunk driving deaths.

Here's the reality in high schools and on college campuses today: alcohol is abused in large part because it's illegal. I vividly remember turning 21 and being thrilled about it for about a week. I got into all the bars I never tried to before. And then, quickly afterward, a big part of the drinking appeal wore off. It wasn't "cool" anymore because it was perfectly acceptable. In the end, the drinking age works just as effectively as sex abstinence campaigns: not at all.

It's time to encourage responsible drinking to young people instead of threatening their livelihoods even when they drink responsibly. Cracking down on "underage drinkers" may drum up votes from the MADD crowd and from neo-prohibitionists, but it does nothing to stop or control binge drinking or drunk driving. If anything, let's lower the drinking age to 16 and raise the driving age to 18. Learn your limits with alcohol - with adult supervision - before getting behind the wheel of a car. Every other culture around the world does it that way. Why not us?

Yes, I think it is totally

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sun, 2007/06/24 - 2:28am.

Yes, I think it is totally absurd to card someone obviously old enough to drink. But, hey we just can't trust the judgement of storekeepers, bartenders, waitresses, etc.

I agree that there should be no problem with a drinking age of 18. If they can vote and fight for our country then they should be able to drink. If it was such a big deal though, to drink alcohol prior to the age of 21 then maybe 18-21 year olds should speak up, register to vote, and vote.

I guess the older crowd should speak up, register to vote, and vote to get the law changed so obviously older folks don't have to show ID to drink alcohol. What's obvious? 40, 50, retirement age?

Agreed

Submitted by MJ on Mon, 2007/06/25 - 9:11am.

When I was underage I thought it was a ridiculous law and even now that I am in my later 30s with 2 kids I still think it should be 18. Is this possibly a law that may be able to be changed easily within 20 years as the generation who put the over 21 law into place passes on? I hope so.

if adults had a more mature attitude it wouldn't be a problem

Submitted by Carole Borges on Tue, 2007/06/26 - 8:07am.

When it come to alcohol or drugs it's the adults who set the pace and teach kids by their own behaviors. Prohibition has always been a stupid idea. It just makes the allure more heightened to rebellious teens. The fact that grown-ups lie and the government lies about drugs soon becomes obvious to kids. Most of them think, "Hey, if they're lying about pot (and they do, sometimes out of ignorance and other times only to control substances for monetary means), then the kids figure,"Hey, maybe they're lying about heroin or crack too. We ought to try it." We glorify alcohol in every way possible. Drinking has become a national competitive sport and "boogie til you puke" is an acceptable method of adult behavior almost everywhere you go.

Can you imagine a world where alcohol was treated like nicotine? Can you imagine a world without any commercials inviting young kids to buy alcoholic products or movies that didn't show mature successful people enjoying getting high on booze ? Last month a new line of kids' drinks came out that looked like teeeny wine coolers. How blatant is that? Why do we glorify some substances and call others evil? Plain and simple, it's all about control and power.

To me alcohol is far more dangerous to our society than either pot or cigarettes (oh, dear, I know...I know...this is a very unpopular view). But literally millions suffer health and mental health problems from drinking, and domestic violence involving alcohol is huge. Fetal alcohol syndrome creates new generations of fuzzy thinkers, and drunk drivers kill a lot of people. The loss of time at work is also more astronomical than most people think. Of course few reliable studies are done on this, so who knows?

In spite of my fears involving the results of alcohol, I am not for prohibitions being placed on it. Hopefully life teaches people lessons, and laws for actual crimes commited under any influence help enforce the knowledge that over-indulging in mind altering substances (including alcohol) can have serious consequences.

How many people truly believe in their hearts that it isn't necessary for young people to drink in order for them to have a good time? How many parents actually buy alcohol for under-aged drinking parties. They won't let their children have a small glass of wine when their eight at the family dinner table like in other countries, but they will purchase alcohol for a full blown bash in the basement for their high-school age kids to party on down.

It's no wonder our kids are confused. It's like we show them that growing up means being able to get f*cked up, that you have to be a grown-up to handle it. Then we act surprised when they start wanting emulate grown-up behavior.

I imagine a lot of kids think if they're only going to be able to drink when they're 21 then should start early so you will know what drinking is all about. Kids today are trying alcohol at like 12 years old because they know without a doubt it will be a large part of their life someday. They are preparing themselves.

Then kids also see that Paris Hilton just got paid $1 million for her dysfunctional drinking and sad behavior. You didn't hear many people expressing sympathy for the fact that Paris is a very sad girl in spite of her money and probably hurting. How many parents were pointing that out to their kids? Instead many were sucking up every detail of her life as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Drugs and alcohol have been around as long as people have been around, so they obviously have their place. They might even play some necessary role in our lives. But if that's the case, shouldn't people more familiar with them instead of relying on second hand information? That way the knowledge they pass on to their kids will be honest and personal.

Banning things always makes them more attractive. It's a law of nature.

Those who think children should be far removed from the truth about alcohol and drugs, that these substances should be totally prohibited until you're 21, simply have no faith in kids. They think without prohibitions every kid in America would soon be shooting up and swilling whiskey in the school cafeteria.

To me that's a very negative viewpoint.