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[ian]

I found this article on MSNBC.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/  It talks about how their is a movement to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. 

Over the strong objection of federal safety officials, a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18 is taking root as advocates argue that teenagers who are allowed to vote and fight for their country should also be able to enjoy a beer or two.

I personally agree with it.  If an 18 year old is allowed to vote, and is allowed to die for their country, then their is no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to drink. 

Granted at first there will be 18-20 year olds who take advantage of it, but in a short time it will settle. 

[biodan]

I tend to agree with you on most of the matter, but I don't get what drinking alcohol has to do with voting and fighting for ones country. The majority of teens (18-20) don't even vote or join the military anyways (unless they're drafted). I agree that lowering the drinking age would be a little hectic at first. I'm only worried that some of my group (age 18-20) would make poor choices (mainly drinking and driving) taking other people's lives. The thing is, for many, if they want to drink, they'll find their way to get it. Since this is a college forum, I would hope that university dorms would still prohibit open drinking (it would become a hazard I believe - and not too healthy for students first flight from home, if you know what I mean. Otherwise I'm not affected by this - I've already made a pledge with myself that I would never drink.   

[Chris]

It's funny that you bring this up because just this Sunday there was an article in the Star Ledger (New Jersey's Newspaper) which talked about the new push for lower drinking ages. The article brought up some good points such as that many kids will drink anyway and since it's illegal they will usually do it in a setting that is shadier than if it were legal. There is one group called Choose Responsibility which I found very interesting. "The group promotes intensive education and drinking licenses for 18-year olds, akin to learner's permits for young drivers. Get caught drinking before 18 or break any of the strict rules after that, and the license is gone." I think this is the correct approach because underage people are going to continue to drink and it's better to do it in a safer setting.

[ian]

I think the point that this group is arguing is that if this age group (18 - 20) is responsible enough to fight in a war, and elect a leader to run the country, then they should also be responsible enough to consume alcohol.

biodan - I agree with the points which you made where most students don't vote or join the military, but if they wanted to they could.  If the drinking age was dropped to 18 it doesn't mean every 18 year old would hit the bar, but if they wanted to they could.  As you said, it will be hectic at first because all these kids will go to the bar with this new found freedom and get a drink. However I think this is better then a bunch of kids going into the woods, or to their parent’s basement to get drunk.  At least at a bar the bartender and/or manager can cut them off if they feel they had too much, and also call them a cab if need be.  However, now the question remains is, how great is the "maturity difference" between an 18 and 21 year old?

Chris - In the article you read, did it say exactly how the proposed 18-20 year old drinking license would be used?  For example:  I don't think they would be able to say that if you are 18-20 you can only have 3 drinks at a bar only because 3 drinks affects everyone differently.  For a 100lb girl 3 drinks will be more then enough, whereas 3 drinks for a 220lb guy will have minimal affects.  Overall I like the idea of the license and the idea it is trying to promote, however its instituting it and setting the rules which may cause a problem.

[Chris]

The article didn't say exactly how the license would be used, the only thing that it said was that exact quote that I gave you guys. If I had to take a guess I would figure it would be something like if you get caught drinking before you're 18 you're not allowed to drink until you're 21. Then some kind of restriction like you get cut off at midnight instead of 2 AM when most bars close. Then probably like some other restrictions like zero tolerance on the roads and if you get pulled over and blow anything higher than a .01 you lose your drinking privileges. Stuff like that would be my guess but I'm not certain.

[Singer]

When I went to Italy on the exchange in highschool (junior year, 2004) I noticed how much of a different mind set Italian kids had on drinking than most of us.  Alot of the kids I went with embarassed me because all they wanted to do was get smashed cause it was legal for them.  I forget whether Italy's drinking age was 16 or 18, but they didn't seem to care either way (people selling the alcohol).

The Italian kids were much more level headed about drinking.  They were social drinkers at most.  It was a popular pass time to go and hangout at pubs...but most of them had maybe 1 drink if any.  I would think this is because alcohol was never illegal or "taboo" to them.  Therefore making it less appealing cause it wasn't rebelious or anything like that.

If our drinking age were to be lowered to 18 again (cause I know it was 18 when my dad went to college) I think there would have to be some strict refulations enforced for the generation of kids that were getting close to 18.  It would be a hairy situation, no doubt.  You would have those groups of kids who make a stupid and costly decision and then it would be hyped nation-wide through the media.  I can see it now, "NEW DRINKING AGE CLAIMS 3 IN FATAL CAR ACCIDENT".

It could definitely be done.  It would be tricky until that 18-20 bracket matured more, and of course you'd still have the kids under 18 drinking illegaly to deal with.  But eventually I think it would become more like, say Italy.  Where the new generations of kids will be used to the lowered drinking age, and perhaps won't be so inclined to break it.  But the think about Italy is that drinking, even "under-age" isn't looked down upon at all.  It would still be taboo here, and I think alot of problems would still be present even if it was lowered.

I'm and SOOOO not going back and proof reading all that