Should legal drinking age be raised?

Question

To the public:
i am doing a research about our legal drinking age. So far most countries drinking age is 18 and over, in now days young people are so into drinking and drugs and as each and everyday pass by we are getting more car accident or groups of young people fighting on the street, frighten their own communities, youth die at a very young age because of alcohol and more other serious things. So would you help me and answer my question to give me more download, wether if we need to raised our drinking age or just leave it as it is? Thankyou...

Answer 1

Raising the drinking age wont help. Kids are gonna find a way to drink and get drugs no matter what. What we need to do is lower the drinking age to match the military enlistment age, then we need to enforce the age limit, with more consequences for those who contribute to under age drinkers.

Answer 2

I think at least some of the problems relating to alcohol have to do with the fact that it is ILLEGAL. If you tell a child they cannot climb a tree, you know that the first time you aren't looking they are going to climb it. I know in many latin American countries the drinking age is much lower. When I was in Costa Rica the age was 14. I think the trick is for parents to teach their children how to use alcohol intelligently. There is nothing wrong with a drink now and then and I think in families where kids are allowed to drink some WITH their family, they are less likely to binge when they are with friends. I think in the United States, especially, that instead of educating their children, parents are just trying to shelter them. And the more you enclose a person, the harder they fight back. If people are taught how to drink without abusing it, many accidents would be prevented. Of course just lowering the age without having the parental support could be disaterous.
I could jump into many other subjects, but I won't =)
So I guess my answer is- keep it as it is, but encourage parents to educate their children, so that one day we may safely lower it.

Answer 3

The law is supposed to be a deterrent to the crime. However it fails miserably. Check out the success of prohibition!

Raising the age assumes that people are continuing to be children meaning that they are not capable of making moral decisions. Do you want strangers telling you not to do what you should already know not to do?

Where is the logic that an 18 year old can die for our country but they can't have a drink?

There should be fewer laws and more parenting. The problem lies with the family unit. Core values are no longer taught.

When Cain slew Able, should they have instituted an ANTI CLUB law?

Answer 4

I don't know that much about it. About the countries where it is only 18....is the death rate of accidents higher or lower? I would think, and I could be wrong, that it would be best to raise it. I believe the earlier a person drinks, the more they will make it a part of their lives, and not just a social thing or something they do occasionally. Maybe they should raise it to 25! haha! That would make some people made, heh?

Answer 5

No, it should be left as it is. Raising it won't make a difference. Anyone who wants to get their hands on alcohol will find a way no matter how old or young they are. I drank long before I was 21 and I know many other people who did too so it's not the age that matters. It's more of a lack of responsibility.

Answer 6

leave it the way it is, the drinking age here (Ontario Canada) is 19, but you can vote at 18. So at 18 you are old enough to decide who should run the country, but you can't have a beer? How much sense does that make? Ther is also much more awareness about the dangers of drinking, and if you look at statistics ther are accually far less fatalities due to drinking and driving, then there ever have been.

Answer 7

I will say no, and this is why: The legal drinking age has very, very little to do with the age at which people start to drink. I know no one who is even a social drinker who waited until they were twenty one to take a drink. Raising the drinking age will not raise the age at which people start drinking. If you are old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to buy a beer. Period. A younger drinking age and more education re:MODERATION are our best hope to fight the issues you speak of above. It is not drinking in and of itself that is the issue, it is drinking to excess that causes problems. I have always let my children see me drink in moderation, a glass of wine with dinner or a bottle of beer while cooking. This way the veil is raised, the mystique is gone, it isn't something that they feel they have to use to go out and prove themselves.

Answer 8

I was "lucky" in that I got to try (small amounts) of beer, when I was in my mid-teens. It was at times when I was suervised & when I overdid it, there was someone to help me deal with the consequences.

Even at (an English) boarding school, we had a fortnightly bar for 6th form (11th & 12th grade). The concept was the same. We got a little drunk in controlled conditions & learnt our limits.

It was not like some places in the US where a youngster waits until 12:01 on their 21st birthday & totally rat-arsed at college, where there is no-one to look after their well-being.

I have had problems with alcohol over the last few years (I'm 43yo now). But I think that is more to do with the stresses of my job - it went to India 3 times in 5 years), than any early drinking record. I am a little OCD & if I don't zone out every now & then I'll be heading for the funny house - although I now know alcohol doesn't really help me zone out.

Answer 9

Raising it will NOT help this situation. If anything, it will make it worse. People won't want to wait longer than that. If you're legally an adult at 18, shouldn't you be able to drink responsibly? Hell, I can drink responsibly and I'm 16. Know why? I'm not an idiot like most teenagers. Here in NS, Canada the legal drinking age is 19. I tihnk that's fair.

Answer 10

I don't think the legal drinking age actually matters to most youths. If they want to drink underage, it is amazingly easy.

But for those who wants to keep it legal, I am a believer that if the legal drinking age is at around 18, most kids are still under the supervision of their parents, so they can learn how to drink safely. If it's set for 19 or above, then they'll start drinking while they're away at university/college.