College Presidents asking for a lowered drinking age.

Having lived in Europe for 6 years, I feel somewhat educated on this subject. In each of the countries that I lived or spent a good deal of time in (Iceland, Germany, U.K. and Italy) there was no enforced drinking age. Friends of mine who were brought up in this environment still liked to drink, but there wasn't the insanity that my fellow servicemembers and I would display, oh, every single night. Drinking alcohol does not have all of the connotations that it does here, so there's no real "rebellion" involved in the act of drinking. The people I knew had been drinking for a number of years by the time I knew them (18-20 yrs old) and they handled their alcohol with a maturity that would be uncommon for the average American twenty something.

I agree with the mindset there, wholeheartedly... but we have a completely different culture. Lowering the drinking age to 18 certainly won't evolve us into a culture that looks at drinking casually as young adults.

Recently there were some parents who made the news being prosecuted for having 'alcohol parties' at their house for underage kids. The kids were there with their parents' permission and had their consent to drink at their house. The parents had the sense to make sure that no one drove, and shuttled the kids home safely after the party, if they weren't staying the night. In my opinion these parents were teaching their kids and others responsibility. Plan to have fun, and plan to have safe fun... and of course they were prosecuted for it.

The complete separation of a "good time" and sensibility is the problem in our culture. Its far from an alcohol problem, and anyone who's ever seen "girls gone wild" can certainly attest to that. Kids being kids is one thing, but alcohol and drug fueled orgies, car-hopping, and the multitude of "jackass" stunts on youtube are proof of that.

I don't think ive ever used more quotation marks in a post before.

Mote of Maryland signed that. Its a good thing. I"m not just saying that because i'm 20. It makes no sense. It doesn't promote responsible drinking. Freshmen hide in dorm rooms drinking huge amounts of alcohol. Let them go out and go to the bar and have a few drinks. Obviously the current age doens't stop me or my friends from drinking. I never 'really' drank till i was 18 anyways. I'm going to be well past 21 by the time the rule changes so my view is still unbiased. Dumb rule.

Mote of Maryland signed that. Its a good thing. I"m not just saying that because i'm 20. It makes no sense. It doesn't promote responsible drinking. Freshmen hide in dorm rooms drinking huge amounts of alcohol. Let them go out and go to the bar and have a few drinks. Obviously the current age doens't stop me or my friends from drinking. I never 'really' drank till i was 18 anyways. I'm going to be well past 21 by the time the rule changes so my view is still unbiased. Dumb rule.

I saw a stat not too long ago, and I am scrambling to find it now...I'll find it eventually, but the stat was alarming on the age of DUI offenders. The majority are 21-27 years of age.
So while I could easily get on board with lowering the drinking age to 18 if they stayed inside, I would no way agree with them drinking in public. They have to drive home, and we all know an 18 year old more often than not will not make the best decisions.
If you want to see obnoxious teenagers drinking and doing dumb things, tune into MTV during spring break.

jsarno -- if you look at the stats, it used to be 18-24. The drinking age just delayed people doing dumb things. Stupid people do stupid things, and the more you do something the more educated you get with it.

Should 18 year olds be able to legally purchase handguns as well?

Yesterday 2 teenagers (both 18) died on RT3 driving too fast. Driving too fast on RT3??? How goddamn fast are you going to lose control on RT3 and hit a tree???

A few years ago my sister was dating a guy who had killed his girlfriend driving too fast. He took a curve with a 35mph advisory speed limit at 70 in a 1985 beamer. What a moron. Killed his 16 year old girlfriend.

No alcohol was involved in either case, these kids just think they're invincible and have no sense. I'd make a minor in posession charge an automatic revokal of driving priveleges until 18 if I were making laws.

EE21 -- the problem is young drivers are only the second most dangerous driving demographic. The elderly are clear and away the most dangerous drivers on the road. They can't see, they can't hear, and they often drive dangerously slow (and in multiple lanes). We need to rip their licenses away, but that will never happen, they have money to lobby.

Yes, 18 year olds make stupid decesions. Guess what, so do old people. It comes down to experience. If you never let people get experience, they will forever be bad at things. When I started driving, I wasn't very good. I consider myself an excellent driver now. I do drive very fast, but I don't tail gate, I stay in my lane, I use my turn signals, and I turn off my brights (that goes to you assholes following me last night).

You seem to not want to allow people to do anything EE21. As far as guns, I couldn't care less myself. But I don't see why you can buy a rifle drunk and at 17 like me and some buddies did to go skeet shooting, but can't buy a handgun. You can easily kill people with both.

The fact is, people need experience to be able to handle something. The reason you're having kids driving at 16 is so that their PARENTS are there to help them learn and practice. You would really wait till kids are 18 and will be leaving home soon to college/start a life/whatever when they start driving with little to no direction or rules. IE be home by 10.

PS -- Close to you in Rappahannock, a drunk 41 year old just had a girl I went to high school with fly out of his convertible. It's obvious age doesn't mean you're more responsible or smarter. People either make good decisions or bad decisions.

I would be 100% for stiffer penalties for DUI -- however, everything must be determined by blood tests. If I were pulled over stone cold sober, no way I would take a breathalizer. Those things are absolutely terrible in determining actually BAC.

Yesterday 2 teenagers (both 18) died on RT3 driving too fast. Driving too fast on RT3??? How goddamn fast are you going to lose control on RT3 and hit a tree???

A few years ago my sister was dating a guy who had killed his girlfriend driving too fast. He took a curve with a 35mph advisory speed limit at 70 in a 1985 beamer. What a moron. Killed his 16 year old girlfriend.

No alcohol was involved in either case, these kids just think they're invincible and have no sense. I'd make a minor in posession charge an automatic revokal of driving priveleges until 18 if I were making laws.

Dude, there is nothing to do for 18 year olds at night. I mean, you can only play so many video games, go to so many movies before it gets boring. So you just drive around and act like complete jackasses. But! If the drinking age was lowered then.............think about it. They wouldn't be driving around like bored jackasses looking for something to do.

Nope, they'd be drinking and driving around like jackasses. Awesome. I just think having younger sisters and seeing them and their friends at those ages... I never really realized how stupid teenagers are as a whole.

As far as the argument that kids should get experience at home... Kids usually graduate at 18... Making the drinking age 18 would simply put one more thing on an 18yr olds plate that they don't need, and the college bound kids would still be brand new to drinking away from home.

And I certainly don't get the assumption that if alcohol is legal there won't be ridiculous house parties and all these kids will hang out at bars, or that that would even be a good thing.

I'm 28 and I still go to parties. Hell I host them from time to time, keg stands and all... The difference is now I don't drive drunk (you bet I did when I was younger) and don't invite stupid people. People tend to make more responsible decisions as they mature. They mature as they get older.

I'd honestly rather there be no restrictions at all. It would have a better effect than an 18yr old age. I see the logic, but the 18yr old age limit would not have the desired effect.