DrS and Hydrok: your arguments depend on the assumption that all teens want to drink. This is obviously not the case. Even with the age limit as it is, any underage teen who seriously wants to get a beer can, provided they somehow know someone over 21, whether that person be a friend, a friend's friend, or so on. Lowering the age limit would indeed make it easier for teens to get drunk, but that doesn't mean they will.

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Eh, see they lowered the age to 18 back in the 70's. Teen alcohol related deaths skyrocketed. Drunk driving deaths especially. Or at least that's what I've picked up over the years.

" Research from the early 1980s until the present has shown a continuous decrease in drinking and driving related variables which has parallel the nation's, and also university students, decrease in per capita consumption. However, these declines started in 1980 before the national 1987 law which mandated states to have 21 year old alcohol purchase laws."

http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cqoped.html

"As of 2006, 20 states do not specifically ban underage consumption and an additional 15 states have family member and/or location exceptions to their underage consumption laws. [4]
4. http://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?Type=BAS_A...F-917D-5E7CBC9F58B9}

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If my local bar was suddenly flooded with shithead teenagers I'd be far more likely to get into bar fights.

Isn't that more your problem, then theirs?

The United States has the highest drinking age (To my knowledge) in the world. It is my belief, that you could safely lower the drinking age to 18.

I think that NY was the last state to raise the drinking age to 21. Before it did, 18 years old from neighboring states would drive to NY to buy alcohol. Guess what happened when they drove home heavily intoxicated..

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Originally posted by Hydrok:

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Originally posted by clpo13:
I've actually never understood why the age limit is so high. Kids are going to drink regardless of what age you say is legal. It's not as if it's terribly hard to get ahold of beer if you're underage.

Yeah but that means you had a provider who is responsible, also, if the drinking age was lowered you'd have a mad rush of 18 year olds still in high school getting tanked. I think it's understood that they CAN get their hands on it if they try hard enough, but the amount is somewhat limited.

Exactly. You have no idea how much people get wasted if they have unrestrained access to booze and no experiance with it, ha. Right now, by the time you get to 21, you've probably got some experiance with it.

I mean, yeah it would make sense if the 18 year old would go out and buy a few six packs for him and his friends. But the likelihood of them instead going out and buying a few handles of shitty vodka and whiskey and giving themselves alcohol posioning is far greater, ha.

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Originally posted by clpo13:
I've actually never understood why the age limit is so high. Kids are going to drink regardless of what age you say is legal. It's not as if it's terribly hard to get ahold of beer if you're underage.

Yeah but that means you had a provider who is responsible, also, if the drinking age was lowered you'd have a mad rush of 18 year olds still in high school getting tanked. I think it's understood that they CAN get their hands on it if they try hard enough, but the amount is somewhat limited.

I've actually never understood why the age limit is so high. Kids are going to drink regardless of what age you say is legal. It's not as if it's terribly hard to get ahold of beer if you're underage.

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You shouldn't be aloud to drink, join the military, or drive until you can type correct English. Either way you're screwed. Stop complaining.

You beat me to it...

You shouldn't be aloud to drink, join the military, or drive until you can type correct English. Either way you're screwed. Stop complaining.

Yeah, I've seen what underage Army and marine grunts do when intoxicated, and I have to say that I'm IN the military and I think it's a bad idea.

Eh, see they lowered the age to 18 back in the 70's. Teen alcohol related deaths skyrocketed. Drunk driving deaths especially. Or at least that's what I've picked up over the years.

And personally, since I'm 21 now, I don't give a crap. If my local bar was suddenly flooded with shithead teenagers I'd be far more likely to get into bar fights.