Lowering the drinking age

[Stopper]

5 years old?!!!
F*ck me, I've been drinking since I was 2! Guess I should have moved to Sierra Leone (where it was apparently legal according to the wikipedia link).

Don't worry, you may not have been breaking the law, anyway. According to this page:

According to the Children and Young Person's Act of 1933, children under 5 "may only be given alcohol on medical order".

Now I'm off to find out what medical conditions there are that require the prescription of alcohol, so that I can fake the symptoms, and get my beers at prescription price from Boots...

[Stopper]

Rankings in liters/yr of beer imbibed per capita.

But what is your source? Because the top 10 beer-drinking nations according to the WHO report are:

1. The Czech Republic - 9.43
2. Ireland - 9.24
3. Swaziland - 7.49
4. Germany - 7.26
5. Austria - 6.42
6. Luxembourg - 6.16
7. Uganda - 6.14
8. Denmark - 6.02
9. United Kingdom - 5.97
10. Belgium - 5.90

The numbers are per capita volumes of pure alcohol in litres per year, restricted only to beer.

The United States and Canada don't even make the top 20. Uncivilized countries like Swaziland drink more (or stronger) beer than you do. You people need to get a grip of yourselves.

[Alexwales93]

C'mon Britian! Do your bit for the country!

[DAZMCFC]

i do my fair share of drinking, but not much beer. mainly rose wine and vodka, a few pints of strongbow goes down well though.

[Huckleberryhound]

Here in the Uk and Ireland, the drinking age is already 18.
We groups of 13 year olds drinking on street corners, is this what you want for your country ?

I think if someone is in the army, they should be able to drink, otherwise....maybe yous should keep it as is. ( i am 33 right enough, so what the frick do i care )

[Anarchist]

Here in the Uk and Ireland, the drinking age is already 18.
We groups of 13 year olds drinking on street corners, is this what you want for your country ?

"Sweet cherry wine,
So very fine,
and everybodies gonna feel so fine,
Drinking sweet cherry wine!"

Tommy James and the shondelles

[Iz Man]

But what is your source?

The United States and Canada don't even make the top 20. Uncivilized countries like Swaziland drink more (or stronger) beer than you do. You people need to get a grip of yourselves.

I just google'd it and found answers.com.
Similiar numbers were found in Wikipedia as well.

I have no idea what you mean by your other comment.

[RobinJ]

Probably isn't a good idea but sure all us teenagers do it anyway. I have friends whose livers are probably fucked already, and I'm only 16.

[Ruben Cassar]

Where I live drinking age is 16 but driving age is 18. We have no draft thank God.

[Backglass]

If I can VOLUNTEER to die for my country, I should be able to drink

Agreed. IF you join the military, you should be able to drink at 18.

No one is being forced to die for their country today, so equating the two makes no sense.

[flashleg8]

5 years old?!!!
F*ck me, I've been drinking since I was 2! Guess I should have moved to Sierra Leone (where it was apparently legal according to the wikipedia link).

Don't worry, you may not have been breaking the law, anyway. According to this page:

According to the Children and Young Person's Act of 1933, children under 5 "may only be given alcohol on medical order".

Now I'm off to find out what medical conditions there are that require the prescription of alcohol, so that I can fake the symptoms, and get my beers at prescription price from Boots...

It was Buckfast tonic wine, (though the label does say tonic implies no medicinal purpose!)

[coconut4paws]

16 to drive
18 to drink, vote, and be drafted
21 to smoke weed
25 to lower insurance


That is the way it should be....

Gosh, this dude id like my double.

[btownmeggy]

If I can VOLUNTEER to die for my country, I should be able to drink

Agreed. IF you join the military, you should be able to drink at 18.

No one is being forced to die for their country today, so equating the two makes no sense.

And if the draft were instated, it would make sense?

[vtmarik]

If I can VOLUNTEER to die for my country, I should be able to drink

Agreed. IF you join the military, you should be able to drink at 18.

No one is being forced to die for their country today, so equating the two makes no sense.

Ah, yes it does. Supposedly, when you turn 18, you're mature and sophisticated enough to know whether you want to sign up and die. So how is this maturity any less than the maturity to be able to drink a beer?

I'd think that the mental capacity for someone to risk their lives for freedom by joining a branch of our armed forces would equate to the same level of mental capacity that someone has at 21 to decide to drink alcohol.

At the risk of sounding like some rhetoric-junkie, i'll quote the slogan for Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions: "There is no magic age."

[Psilocbin]

Dude, but, what the f*ck is there to look after 18? At least when it's 21 you can still feel young at 19.

[vtmarik]

Dude, but, what the f*ck is there to look after 18? At least when it's 21 you can still feel young at 19.

What does that have to do with anything?

[Psilocbin]

Dude, but, what the f*ck is there to look after 18? At least when it's 21 you can still feel young at 19.

What does that have to do with anything?

drinking ages, after 21 it's like yay, now what?

[Iz Man]

drinking ages, after 21 it's like yay, now what?

Well at 25 your car insurance rates will go down.....

[Psilocbin]

drinking ages, after 21 it's like yay, now what?

Well at 25 your car insurance rates will go down.....

That's awesome.

[Backglass]

If I can VOLUNTEER to die for my country, I should be able to drink

Agreed. IF you join the military, you should be able to drink at 18.

No one is being forced to die for their country today, so equating the two makes no sense.

Ah, yes it does. Supposedly, when you turn 18, you're mature and sophisticated enough to know whether you want to sign up and die. So how is this maturity any less than the maturity to be able to drink a beer?

I'd think that the mental capacity for someone to risk their lives for freedom by joining a branch of our armed forces would equate to the same level of mental capacity that someone has at 21 to decide to drink alcohol.

I agree...like I said, if you are mature enough to sign up voluntarily and die for your country, you should be able to also buy/drink alcohol.

[Jenos Ridan]

A short list of the ways you can royally screw over yourself and others before 21

(17-21) Join the military or get drafted: possibly find your corpse in some filthy gutter on the otherside of the globe.
(16) Driving: kill others and self in car wreck. Also insurance is the Devil !
(virtually any age) Gun Ownership and/or Hunting: kill others and/or self via accidental discharge or foolish use.
(18) Vote: elect the worse possible candidate, screw up the election by refusing to pick one of the stronger contenters (whoring after those 'third party' candidates), via referendum enact a bad law (like a 21-drinking limit), etc.

I like how it was all handled back in the '50s; at 18 you could smoke and drink all you wanted but at 21 you could vote. It makes sence, cause at about 20 a person gets his/her act together. At in some cases, that happens earlier in life. 18 is the right age for alcohol, driving, voting and elisting/drafting. Oh well, so laws are just dumb.

[bigas]

A lot of people are saying that at 18 they aren't mature and responsable to drink, so 21 is ok, but to drive 16 is enough??
Like everything in the States it's better to hide it and forbiden it than talk about it or teach it.

[JCUGoose]

The draft age and the drinking age should be the same. Lowering the drinking age to 18, however, will most likely cause a lot of problems. Maybe the government should suck it up and raise the draft age to 21.

We should have no drinking age at all. Early exposure to alcohol will help curb binge drinking that is so common among the American youth. Of course, we cannot do this as the transition would be horrendous. Therefore, draft age to 21! Hooray!

[Jamie]

21 is not some random number picked by law makers. 21 is the age the human brain finishes its growth cycle, and is done developing. Alcohol is unsafe to drink before this takes place, as it inhibits development of the brain, if the brain isn't already done doing so. The drinking age in the US will NEVER be lowered, unless new medical research proves a new theory, or the US congress disbands the FDA.

[Jenos Ridan]

21 is not some random number picked by law makers. 21 is the age the human brain finishes its growth cycle, and is done developing. Alcohol is unsafe to drink before this takes place, as it inhibits development of the brain, if the brain isn't already done doing so. The drinking age in the US will NEVER be lowered, unless new medical research proves a new theory, or the US congress disbands the FDA.

If that is the case, then the Founding Fathers must have been way ahead of the curve by having the voting age set at 21 .
So, are you saying that Canada, the UK and other countries are retarded because their health agnecies don't require the same limits ?