There is a debate on the drop in age to drink alcohol to 18. What's your opinion? You can die for your country at 18.

Mark Davis

Yeah that's real stupid. I'll be 21 in a month..if they do that..I'm going to be real upset. 18 year olds don't need to drink, but I do reason with the "you can die for your country at 18"

y'all have to be 21???????????????

I think they should keep it at 21, but make an exception for active duty military.

As if 18-21 year olds aren't boozing it up already. The only result from this will be everyone's insurance premiums rising. The already high risk drivers will be an even higher risk.

The college presidents are using the argument that it will curb binge drinking... I seem to recall numerous stories where frat members and other college students did some binge drinking using water and dying...What makes them think this will curb binge drinking?...It won't...

My cousin was killed while riding around (he was passed out drunk in the passenger seat of the truck) with a drunk 18 year old on December 1, 2002. It wasn't the crash that killed him. It was the 18 year old pulling his head back through the windshield after the crash...I'm just glad nobody else was killed or injured due to their stupidity....

Great idea when I was 18, horrible idea at 59.

Yep

The ones that want to, are, so you might as well make it legal.

old enough to fight, old enough to drink.

terbul, kenny, thats terbul

they shouold make alcohol illegal period.

hell, i been goin to the local pubs since 16 lol i didnt realise you guys had to be 21 to legally drink

Couldn't have said it any better!

If anything maybe they should make it a little older.

MADD claims that 900 lives have been saved because of the change from 21 to 18. I would have thought much more, but that is their figure. We can sign contracts at 18, join the military, and die for crimes committed at 18 and somtimes younger, why can't you have a bud?

If you make it older, shouldn't you have to be older to vote, join the military,[think of the much smaller recruiting that would be done], sign a contract?

This one really hit home... at 20, I'd gotten my strips and could lead men into complete hell, but legally I couldn't have a beer.....

Good thing I worked in a hospital unit I suppose...

Not a god idea. I did stupid things at 18. I don't want drunk text messaging teens driving around me and mine or you and yours.

they already tried that once, didn't work to well

This could go on and on. The fact is that there are 15yr olds and so on that are drinking now (believe me, these kids have ways of getting alchohol..). The big change that I see that may have a negative impact is think of how many more people would be going to the bars and getting hammered and then driving home. I'm sure there are alot of kids inbetween 18-20 that would love to see this just so they could go to the bars and drink.

?? Who knows, but I don't think it's got a chance in heck of getting passed.

I could see them making it legal to purchase BEER or WINE at 18. However, I don't think it's a good idea to make liquor legal and available to 18 year olds. Yes, alcohol is alcohol...But IMO, liquor is the greater of the two evils..

Yeah, it's true, if a kid wants to drink, a kid's going to find a way to drink, whether he's 16, or 18...It's going to happen.

How could they possibly know if someone's life was saved?? There are so many scenarios involving how someone could die that they have no way ever knowing if one particular moved saved a life or took one. Someone could be stone cold sober and walk out in traffic and die, while 50 drunk people could drive from point A to point B without ever hurting anyone. My point is, no can keep statistics on something that they have no idea of how often it is happening, can they?
TFP, can you provide any statistical data to support this kind of claim?

Ditto...

They are drinking already may as we move it to 18. I can say that I drank more before I was 18 then after I was 21.

Personally I drank more before I was twenty one than after.So the drinking age doesn't keep kids who want to drink from doing so. I do think they maybe if I was legally able to drink then I would have done so more responsibly. I sit here a little older and not much wiser but it is absolutely a miracle that I didn't get hurt or hurt someone who was innocent.

Me too. By the time I was old enough to go to bars, I was already tired of going.

I like the idea. 18 year old girls in bars! Look out!

I had my first taste of Bud from my dad at about 3 (with pic). I got drunk the first time on Tequila when I was in 7th grade at a friends house.

This guideline only gives the authorities the authority to make a move. Responsible parenting is the key.

Haven't we done this before in Texas ?.
I remember the long ride to Liberal, Kansas to get a beer when I turned 18. ( a Texas panhandle tradition)

I had High School buddies that would walk in a bar and
order a beer , when asked for ID they would respond,
"They Don't ask for ID In Saigon", They would either be served or thrown out.

I also remember Beer Joints with drive thru window , and
getting to go beer in a plastic cup. What year was that ?

Mo

18 for military leave it at 21 for civilians. The argument of it curbing binge drinking is a joke. I had a place in my hometown that started selling to me when I was 16 and never ID'd me. It is true if kids want to drink they will find the alcohol but I don't want a bunch of 18,19,20 year old schmucks in the bars. It will just cause more problems.

sounds like a plan

Hey watch it about the senyers!

Easy pickins

Drop it. If your are old enough to die for your country then your are old enough to drink with the ones that have survived and tost to those who didn't.

No problem.

Drop the mil age to 18 and confine their intake to on-base only.

I would be okay with those that are active in the military being able to drink on base...Other than that, it should be left alone...

3.2 beer

So what does being in the military have to do with earning the right to drink at age 18?

Nothing. The arguement by some in support of this is that if you are old enough to fight for your country(18), then you should be old enough to drink.


Don't let your contempt for the United States military cloud you reading skills.

Joining the military shows a level of responsible behavior devoid in many 18-21 year old kids who go to college to party.

I wouldn't think you would understand. People actually respect the military.

Old nuff to kill, old nuff to swill

If caught drinkin underage would you have to join the military?

drinkin made me join the military

I wish they would raise the age limit to 50, it was more fun when it was illegal.

HA HA HA HA

RIGHT!

They are the exact same kids who would drink at a college party but instead didn't have the initial $$$ or the Grades to get into college.

Do not read contempt where there is none. I understand the theory of "if you're old enough to fight you're old enough to drink".

But advocating that 18 year-olds can drink if they are in the military but not drink if they are not in the military is just special treatment.

As they should get.

Join the military and drink legally!!!

There's a great recruiting slogan. Once again, the group that despises treatment for particular groups advocates special treatment for their little group.

Agree.
Raise it to 25 or 30 is even better.

What have you or your students done for the country?