Why are Americans so hung up on the minimum 21 drinking age?

Question

This has always intrigued me. I live on the Canadian border, (States Side) were the drinking age is 19. Why is everyone in the U.S. so hung up on the minimum age of 21 to drink in the U.S?

Answer 1

Americans like to "git tuff" on things; young people drinknig is an easy target.

Answer 2

It's all about control. What our government doesn't seem to realize is that when you make something 'wrong' it becomes intriguing to the youth. If you make it a what ever thing, they won't care as much.

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Common sense isn't developed, as one of the other responders stated, it's learned from the people who bring you up. That's another issue with the drinking age. Parents idea that they can snuff off their responsibility on to the government and let them do the raising through laws and school. You can see this today with how many adults in the US are still living at home with their parents and not taking care of themselves. My 11 year old has more common sense then a lot of the 25 year olds out there. If the parents would actually sit down and speak truths about drinking rather then just telling them that they aren't allowed to do it till they are 21 because that's what the law says then there would be a lot less alcoholics out there; these people would have been taught personal responsibility and to be accountable for their actions. That includes drinking and driving.

Look at places that don't have laws regarding drinking and drugs, less addicts running rampant then places that do.

Answer 3

What do you hung up? 21 is just the minimum age to drink..that's the law just like 19 is the age for drinking in the Canadian border. I personally don't drink ( still 20) but I think that its the perfect age because most people aren't fully developed mentally until their 21, so people can make better decisions.

Answer 4

i'm British yet I lived in ny for seven years. while i grew to become into there the ingesting age different from state to state. In ny it grew to become into 18. although, a pair of years once I decrease back to the united kingdom President Reagan observed via law that ought to deny federal highways investment to states that did no longer enhance the ingesting age to 21. for this reason all 50 states complied. although, issues are actually not that easy. Few states limit the intake via decrease than 21s and a few explicitly enable it. to illustrate in ny a be sure can grant a baby an alcoholic drink in a eating place presented the be sure asks for a pitcher, pours the drink and provides it to the baby. Few people understand approximately this regulation or comparable regulations in many of the different states.

Answer 5

Usually a person doesn't develop common sense until that age.Maybe people in Canada mature more quickly and can handle the responsibility of drinking at 19.

Answer 6

The minimum age used to be 18, now it is 21. Drunk driving is the culprit. Drunk driving kills.

Answer 7

Because we still have a lot of people here who are 50 years old ands thier still not mature enough to drink.

Answer 8

We already have enough Adults dying behind drunk driving. I think it is appropriate since I'm past 21 now