Many Teens Getting Free Alcohol From Adults

The drinking age should be 18. If you read the statistics (lies) put out by MADD they love to say how since the drinking age moved from 18--> 21 the deaths from alcohol have gone down significantly. When in fact there has been no drop, just a three year change in the deaths.

Others countries have an 18 drinking policy and have far fewer problems with alcoholism. I've been drinking for a long time, and rarely have I done something very irresponsible. I think drinking when I was young helped me from making stupid mistakes when I got older. Let kids drink at 18, while many folks are still at home (at least for a summer) and learn some responsibility instead of sending them to college to binge drink and be generally stupid about the whole deal.

I don't find it fair that we're not mature enough at 18 to handle alcohol, but we can be charged as an adult in alcohol related offenses before 21.

On the flip side of that, I was ultra straight-edge when I was in high school. I NEVER drank.

So I get to college where it's readily available and I went absolutely nuts. I had nothing to compare drinking with so I had a 1.3 GPA after my freshman year fall semester.

Once I turned 21, I'd return the favor from time to time...probably took advantage of the younger guys sometimes (keeping change, buying extra off their money, etc.), but nothing that didn't happen to me. Plus being in a Fraternity, I made plenty of beer runs during parties (I volunteered to stay sober, and drive people to and from if need be). I know I made a run or 2 for AMD...You mean you ripped me off?!?!?! NO!!!!!
Oh well, I did the same thing to the youngin's when I turned 21.

You mean you ripped me off?!?!?! NO!!!!!
Who? You? Never...well, at least that I can remember.

Jsarno -- why do other countries have less of a problem with alcohol then? I'm talking pure alcoholism. More DUIs in this country makes sense considering the lack of mass transit, etc. But even alcoholism is much higher percentage wise here than most countries with fairly laid back drinking restrictions.

Plus, an 18 year old is an adult. Either make 21 the legal 'adult' age and everything before then is considered a minor, or make them an adult at 18 including alcohol. As I stated in my post, raising the drinking age didn't add responsibility, it actually just made people make bad decisions at an older age.

1- as first down pointed out, the punishments are more severe.
2- More importantly, they can drink from day 1. Therefore it's not something taboo. We americans like to break rules.
3- Believe it or not, I totally agree with NO alcohol restrictions. However, we can't do that since we already have restrictions because people would go buck wild. I am italian, and I've ALWAYS had wine at the table. Can't remember when we didn't. I've always been responsible with alcohol to boot.
There are far fewer accidents on the autobon as well, but that doesn't mean we should abolish speed limits. I do firmly think our lack of parenting in this country means we can not lower the drinking age, or abolish speed limits for that matter.

I was listening to the radio on my way home from work back in December and an interesting statistic was brought to my attention. "The Washington DC metro area consumes more alcohol in a year than the entire country of Ireland" I was shocked. A little off topic I know, but I thought that I would throw that out there.

I was listening to the radio on my way home from work back in December and an interesting statistic was brought to my attention. "The Washington DC metro area consumes more alcohol in a year than the entire country of Ireland" I was shocked. A little off topic I know, but I thought that I would throw that out there.

That's an interesting stat.

However, after a closer look, the entire population of Ireland is approx. 4.1 mil. According to washington post, the DC metro area is 5.9 mil as of 2005. So I think it's safe to assume that the DC metro area has a population of around 2 million more people.
I'm also not sure about tourism, but I would wager that the DC area gets more which would increase alcohol consumption as well.

D.C. Area Continues Strong Growth (washingtonpost.com) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52779-2005Apr14.html)

That's an interesting stat.

However, after a closer look, the entire population of Ireland is approx. 4.1 mil. According to washington post, the DC metro area is 5.9 mil as of 2005. So I think it's safe to assume that the DC metro area has a population of around 2 million more people.
I'm also not sure about tourism, but I would wager that the DC area gets more which would increase alcohol consumption as well.

D.C. Area Continues Strong Growth (washingtonpost.com) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52779-2005Apr14.html)

But there are more Muslims here that do not drink.

But there are more Muslims here that do not drink.

HAHA.

Yeah, but democrats drink more! ;)

When I was a teen it was never hard to find someone to buy booze. Hell sometimes even my managers at work would buy it for us. And of course once you get to college it's all downhill from there. I had a pretty good fake ID that I used everywhere. It was a real license but I swear this guy could have been my twin.

We got a Costco account on a fake ID. That kept us from having to risk it by showing the ID much since you could use your costco card to buy booze. Some states sold booze, but always lots of beer/wine.