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Should the drinking age in the U.S. be lowered from 21 to 18?

I really want to know what people on both sides are thinking.

7 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    meh.

    most other countries out there have lower drinking ages (europe its around 18, canada it's 19) and the stats on teens and drunk driving and accidents don't differ that much between them and the US.

    Plus I find it pretty stupid that a kid can practically graduate college, be an adult, go to war, yet can't buy a beer. And it just leads to more underage drinking.

    So yeah, I think it should be lowered, at least to 19 the way it's here. Kids are gonna drink whether it's legal or not, and it's not like Im surrounded by alcoholic teenagers because of the lowered drinking age.

    Just my two cents.

  • 1 decade ago

    Not unless they can fix the transportation problem. Too many people drink and drive in this country no matter what their age.In Europe they have trains and subways that go everywhere so they don't have as many deaths. Also parents teach their children how to drink responsibly there. They know their limits and don't over indulge. I'm not saying that no Europeans over indulge but it's not as glamorous, if not considered repulsive there when someone is "wasted." Here, kids think it's cool to just get wasted. Alcohol is a great and you can have a lot of fun with it without abusing it, or driving after drinking. It's too bad we don't have the sense to teach responsibility while drinking instead of just saying NO to drinking. I think if kids could call their parents to come get them when they think they might have had a little too much to drink, it would be a lot better than fearing that they might get in trouble and getting in a car accident b/c they didn't want their parents to know. That's just my opinion. And public transportation would help a whole lot too.

    Also, my parents let me have a glass of wine here and there when I was at home with them before I turned 21, which is completely legal. Many kids that I went to college with that never had a drink before then, were the ones getting alcohol poisoning and had to go to the hospital because they didn't know how much they could handle.

  • 1 decade ago

    Probably not. 18-21 year-olds experiment with alcohol enough already and make mistakes. I know I did dumb things at that age, and I'm a pretty responsible person overall. Things happen, so even though they can fight in a war, get married, pay taxes, etc., preventing more stupid things by an age limit probably is the better thing to do.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It used to BE 18, then it was raised years ago... but the thing is: even at 18? MOST people are not mature enough to make the proper decisions... even at 21... so they took the 21 yr old thing and it works!!

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    If an 18 year old wants to drink, they are going to drink whether or not it's legal. No, it shouldn't be lowered.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Hell no! People that are 21 can't handle it let alone some one younger. How about we raise it to 25?

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    No, the roads are dangerous enough as it is...if you said raise it to 25 maybe...

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