Drinking age

What do people here think that the drinking age should be? what are your opinions on the current ages.

Here in Canada, it's legal to drink at 18, and (correct me if im wrong) its 21 in the States. shuld the ages be lowered or raised or kept the same?

i myself think that if you let people drink at a younger age, itll make it less appealing. People do things because your not supposed to do it and it gives you a rush (sex, alcohol, drugs, etc)

 

im sticking with 21, it just makes the most sense

 

Well...In my opinion,Canada is the more controlled out of the two,so they wouldn't worry about teens going crazy and doing drugs.
Meanwhile...

...well,you get me.
They should leave the age limit like that!

 

I could swear there was a thread devoted to this debate already somewhere here. However, I think the age should be reduced to 18. Those who say it saves lives, I am not seeing it. As a teenager, I could and did occasionally go out with friends who were older and had alcohol any way. I grew out of the big deal of having alcohol when I was 21, which I then was inebriated on my birthday but eh, after that it was much more just a casual social thing and now I don't drink so much as I have a lot of studies and things I have to do, and I'm not really dependent on it.

Using myself as an example probably isn't the best thing since there are people I know who still get smashed etc after 21 and in reality I'd say some people I know shouldn't be drinking at 45. However, I guess I'm under the thought that if you are 18 you have the right to vote, which makes you an adult. You also have the right to become a soldier and die for your country, which makes you an adult. Therefore, I think 18 is sufficient since I really cannot say anyone I know that actually does not drink at least at home when 18 years old on up. Sometimes I think it's more deadly to have the age at 21 because then people are in secrecy doing what they would do more sensibly if not held from it. I do realize some people are idiots with alcohol but I've seen that a lot from people ages 15 to 30 some.

 

Is it 18 or 19 for Canada. (eh, talking as a 14 year old living here xD)

anyways, no, most of the people in my school have already drank beer =/
^ they don't drive yet.
I don't think lowering it will make it less appealing, I think it will be more influenced.

 

Hmm...well, I think 21 is fine, since if you're introduced to it when younger, you'll be more influenced by it, increasing the desire to drink more of it in the future. It isn't very healthy (in large amounts) so I think drinking when you're 21 (an adult, where your body is more capable) is fine - it shouldn't be lowered nor raised.

 

meh...I really don care about the drinking age very much so long as it's over 18...

 

I stay it stays at 21, or goes higher.


Even at 21, people are still quite immature. They decide to hang out at parties, get drunk, and wake up in the morning next to someone in their bed and they have no idea who the hell they are.

I'm not really going to explain it all, since there's a bit too much for my attention span, and I just finished typing up an essay not too long ago, and my hand's cramping up.

21? Yes. 18? NO.

 

i dont care im not gunna drink anyways

 

I also think there is a thread to this somewhere, lol I may even have made it. But I think it was in the main section not in the Debate Corner >_>

On-Topic: In the UK you can drink under adult supervision in your house from the age of 5. The age to purchase alcohol is 18 but there have been calls to raise it to 21. I personally think it is fine at 18. Raising it to 21 wouldn't solve anything. Under-18s can get alcohol very easily, making them wait 3 years longer won't stop them.

As for people not being mature enough, there are some people who will never be mature enough, should we just bring back prohibition? There are people who are mature enough before 18, do you think it is fair on them to raise the age even further?

It statys at 18 in my opinion.

 

I would say there should be a law on how much you can drink a week, like people in spain drink wine every day, and they are teenagers, or younger!! I would say age does not matter, but it's the way you drink. so if your permant record says you aren't very careful in a situation(or somthing like that) you are not aloud to drink.

 

I believe that if you lower the drinking age, you should increase the age you need to be to get a license. Keeps drunk kids off of the road. If you lower the drinking age to 18, any 18 year old regardless of whether they are still in school or not will be getting smashed and going to parties, be a little less focused on school.

Sure teens do it now anyways (sadly, I was one of them. I flunked high school because of my immaturity and stupidity), but only the ones who really want to and know who to go to to get their stuff. But think about if they were able to do it themselves?

I'm not so sure of the statistics of other countries, but my friend is from Germany he grew up there and he is pretty responsible. Yeah, they're drinking age is 16 for beer and I believe 18 for spirits (correct me if I'm wrong on that, but don't flame me!) but they're driving age is 21.

 

The drinking age in the UK is 18, so it's fine here. I think the US is a bit OTT, though :\

I mean, you can get married and have sex legally at 16, you used to be able to smoke at that age, though now it's 18 here. So, if you're doing all that way before you're 18, why not be able to drink when you reach that age, rather than wait an extra 3 years?

 

I don;t know about in the UK (here) but in France they introduce alchohol to children at a young age (3-4). The parents and schools work together to build up a respect for alchohol that the British or Americans just don't have. You barely see any drunk french people baceause of this, they know when to stop. I think that this should be addopted in the Uk and States.

 

The thing is with the U.S. is that there's so many well... Drunks... Out there. *no offense to anyone*

People who are drunk, and are around kids with that. Putting kids at that age might screw them up a lot more than living in that home. My parents bought me fake alcohol and I hated it so much after a few weeks I never have touched real or fake alcohol since.

I think it's personally up to the parents and the country. In high school, I was scared out of anything involving drinking and/or smoking. Here at least for me, they told you all the horror stories behind the joy of drinking and smoking.

But a lot don't, so I don't know...

 

I think it should be whatever age the *public* thinks that boys and girls are mature enough to handle it... =/

 

Tbh I think the public rarely knows what good for them. Although that's not saying the government knows any better as after all they are the public, just more corrupt ;D

Anyway, I think raising to 21 would not solve anything. People drink before 18 already so what's to stop them drinking before 21? You'd just end up with protests and more people drinking who normally wouldn't just to 'stick it to the man'. Also, the government would probably lose too much through the loss of tax on the alcohol as less would be bought, and you know how much they love their money (70% of the cost of petrol in the UK is tax, meaning 70p out of every £1 spend goes to the taxman x.x)

 

Yeah.. .I think Canada is 18 I forget... but in way.. it doesn't matter because people are already drinking underage...

 

Here they just keep on raising the tax for cigarettes. Doesn't really stop a lot of people from buying even if they don't have enough money for much more.

The problem is, both of them are highly addictive. You can put a 5 billion dollar tax on cigarettes and people would still buy it because they need it. It's the same with caffeine. My mom is so addicted she can't do anything until she drinks her first cup of coffee. She even told me once she wouldn't even be able to drive without that first cup.

 

I think that keeping it at 18 is fine, but they really do need to be more responsible wiht it *not including responsible people*