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The presidents of Occidental, Pomona and Whittier colleges were among the California representatives who signed a petition that called for "an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age," according to the LA Times. Around 100 schools around the country signed the document.
The force behind the petition poses the age-old debate that if 18-year-olds can be on a jury or go to war, they should, at the very least, get a license to drink.
Of course, there's opposition. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is, needless to say, mad. In a CBS News TV report last night, they said the organization was urging members to think twice before sending their children to those campuses where student's might be more in danger with those liberal-thinking presidents. Sheesh.
Photo by DMBFreakNo41 via Flickr
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What would become of us if we gave in to the voices of common sense?
Those college presidents asking for it to happen are of the age they should remember that social experiment was tried in the late 70's. It failed miserably.
Several states lowered their drinking age. I was in MN and IL, both states that participated in the experiment. I don't remember all the details on the repeals, but do remember a lot of the factors that lead to the raising the drinking age back to 21.
-high school students hitting the bars at lunch
-binge drinking increased on college campuses, despite attempts to educate otherwise
-increased dui and carnage in the age group
-road trips from neighboring states that didn't lower the drinking age (bootlegging and crossing to drink then drive back, guilty as charged).
I would oppose such an attempt to lower again.
Oh god, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Please. People who are 21 can't even drink responsibility. Please don't allow assholes who are younger and dumber to be able to do this.
No. Please. No. There are already enough douchebags at bars.
Many studies have found that the younger someone begins a pattern of substance abuse, the more likely that it will develop into a problem. I think this is an irresponsible solution. And I'm someone who thinks all drugs should be decriminalized. Decriminalization does not necessarily mean permissiveness. Lowering the drinking age would be permissiveness. Human brains are still developing and changing after 18. They need the chance to be able to develop without being bathed in toxic chemicals like alcohol.
I'd like to see studies and statistics about drinking and driving incidents in Canada and parts of Europe, for example, where the drinking age is lower..
I've always thought it was odd that it was 21 here, with everything else that becomes "legal" at 18. The drinking age being 21 didn't stop me at 16, or just about anyone else I know.....
i bet if we were 18 we'd be for it
If people are introduced to alcohol early, and actually taught how to use it responsibly, then the chances of them binge drinking themselves into oblivion when they finally become legal are dramatically lower.
I agree that we should lower the legal drinking to 18. Why don't the opponents to lowering the legal age do some research to find out the legal drinking ages of other countries and look into their DUI/alcohol poisonsing statistics. (I'll give you a hint, it lower than 21 and pretty non-existant.) In fact, since most DUIs in the US occur to "white men" between the ages of 21 and 34, why don't we make it illegal for that demographic to drink until they are 35? Or illegal to drive between 9pm and 5am? Give people some sense of personal responsibility and accountability. As a recent graduate of Occidental College, I commend their effort at appealling to the real world and challenging hypocrisy.
"The force behind the petition poses the age-old debate that if 18-year-olds can be on a jury or go to war, they should, at the very least, get a license to drink."
The problem appears to be American culture not age limit. Other countries with lower drinking ages don't have nearly the problem we do in America. Their kids appear to be more responsible for some reason. However, if a slight improvement in safety is the goal, I would suggest instead that they raise the other limits. Raise the age for armed services, voting, jury duty up to 21+.
AwwWWWWWWWWWWWWWw who gives a flying FUCK?!
You'll be 21 SOME DAY! Get over it! Unless you are a soldier, then go ahead and grab a cold-one!
Does the argument that other countries have lower DUI statistics take into account that, with the exception of a few major cities, we have much less public transportation, requiring a lot more people on the roads?
Maybe we should raise the voting/war-fighting age to 21. Seriously, if they lower the drinking age, they should definitely raise the driving age to 18. It's ridiculous to let people drive if we don't trust them to vote, drink, etc. Some reconciliation of all age-related rights needs to happen.
When did Americans become so intolerant of other people's rights? It's a damn shame none of you remember what it's like to be 18-21. There will always be douchebags among you regardless of age.
All drinking and drug laws are preposterous.
Lower the drinking age to 18. Keep the voting and armed service ages 18 but raise the driving age to 21. Solves the immature drunk driving problem and takes more cars off the roads.