Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18?

As someone barely older than 21, I think the statement "There isn't that much difference in maturity between 21 and 18" is the most stupid thing I have heard. I was most definitely less mature at 18 than I was at 21.<p>That said, I think people are missing the point - there are two "drinking ages" in the United States. 21 is the age at which you can socially drink with no hesitation and purchase alcohol. However, the age at which you can clandestinely drink alcohol that others have purchased is much younger. At that younger age, you're never quite sure when your next opportunity to drink will come or if the tap will simply run dry - akin to the way cookies were rationed out to many of us as children. Somehow, having the ability to go to the store and eat as many cookies as I want whenever I want has lost it's appeal.<p>It's a combination of maturity and access that changes one's behavior and I really think that we need for groups on both sides to stop throwing around casual theories and actually figure out how we can have people have more fun with less risk - wow, what a concept! But I guess when I become less idealistic that we can actually create better solutions, I'm going to have to pick one of the stupid sides and become ignorant like them. I'm glad that day isn't today.

I sure think it should be lowered.<p>I went to UCSD, and groups of college students regularly made the trip to Tijuana, where the drinking age is 18. I read about some parents who wanted TJ to raise its drinking age to prevent this. Amazing. Yeah, Mexico should not be like France, Italy, Spain, Canada, England, Ireland, South Korea, or pretty much 95% of the civilized world. The US has decided drinking ages should be 2-3 years higher than everywhere else in the world, so dammit, anyone who borders us needs to change! Typical.<p>As for binge drinking... well, yeah, I did a ton of that as a US-based college student. I spent a year abroad in Ireland, and honestly, and we did a fair amount of binge drinking there too, but pub culture does encourage conversation and music over heavy drinking, so 18 year olds did at least have a path toward more responsible drinking.<p>The lowest incidence of binge drinking I've seen so far was in France, where I lived when I was 13 (though I looked older than my age). Cafe owners would typically go ahead and serve me a beer if I asked for one. Technically I think the drinking age there is 16. They also let me into bars provided I was there to watch a sporting event but bars were a little more serious (and they definitely wouldn't serve spirits to a kid). The shopkeepers would let kids buy wine if they knew it was for the parents (ie., the parents had sent the kids out to buy groceries). It really was a different world, much more relaxed about the rules.<p>The funny thing was, I was all ready to take advantage of the lenient rules, but the kids on the beach (this was in the south of France) were essentially uninterested in binge drinking. They were perplexed, and slightly amused with my interest. But once I discovered there were no takers, I lost interest myself (what am I going to do, go get tanked by myself?). So I had a beer or two as a novelty, and that was it.<p>The thing that irritates me so much about MADD is that they won't just let it be a state-by-state decision. I see absolutely no reason why voters in Utah should have the slightest say over the drinking age in Louisiana. Yes, "State's rights" have been used as a cover for severe civil rights violations, but if ever there was a situation where one state should butt out of another's business, this is it.

I'll preface with saying that I am 18 and I support lowering the drinking age, but there is a fallacy that needs to be pointed out. A common argument is that if you are old enough for the army then you should be able to drink. This is an illogical argument. The reason why 18-21 year olds make good soldiers is why they make bad drinkers-- their decision making ability is not fully developed and they have not matured completely. There are great arguments for lowering the drinking age, but the fact that 18 year olds can join the army or be drafted is not one of them.

"'It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses,' said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD."<p>Wait, do they seriously not know? Somebody please tell MADD that underage drinking occurs on every college campus in existence, and will continue to forever

If you can vote and go to war you should be able to drink.<p>In fact, I'd be curious as to how people age 18-21 were constitutionally able to be disenfranchised for so long. What would people say if we decided, for instance, to prohibit driving after the age of 75?<p>People would be pretty dang angry. And for good reason. Public safety arguments be damned, freedom means nothing if it doesn't allow you to take risks. As long as you don't have a reasonable chance of hurting others, we should respect your freedoms once you have suffrage.

It just annoys me that the age where you're "an adult" is completely subjective. It used to be you're an adult at 18, which should imply you're done with age restrictions, but no, you can't drink for three more years. But if you go to the movie theater or a fair and they charge more for adult tickets vs. kids tickets, suddenly you're an adult at age 12 in their eyes

I think it should be raised to 28 - because I'm 28 now and nobody younger than I am should have any fun.

In terms of strict legality, in the U.S. you can vote, run for office, and serve in the military at the age of 18. Though rare, we actually have elected officials that can hold office but not drink. I detest the idea of different rules for different groups of people, especially when they are largely mandated by public opinion and much less on scientific data.

To allow marriage without being able to drink is just cruel. Also in the UK the whole <i>point</i> of going to university is to get drunk and meet people... surely.

I always found it strange this link between drink driving and the drinking age. To me it reads as follows: "We can't let people drink until they're 21, cause they'll drive drunk". Okay, but what happens at 21? You're so much more mature at 21 that you'll not drink drive? Once you're 21 it's okay to drink drive?<p>What's really odd is that attitudes to drink driving in the US are so much more lax than other western countries, _despite_ the 21 age limit. Maybe the work MADD should be focusing on is how to change the general attitude to drink driving, as opposed to pursuing their prohibitionist agenda?<p>Just my 2¢

I enlisted out of high school and had the good fortune to be stationed in Germany. Having a drinking age of 18, as Germany did, didn't cause any problems for them (compared to our problems). As one expert said, "the 21 year-old drinking age fosters rampant violation of and disrespect for law…"<p><a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/legal-age-21-erodes-respect-for-law" rel="nofollow">http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/legal-age-21-erodes-r...</a>

I live in Ontario, Canada, where the drinking age is 19. The neighbouring province of Quebec has a drinking age of 18.<p>The main problems I hear of are on the edges of legality. For example, 18-year-olds from Ottawa, ON cross the border to Hull, QC, where they can get into bars. And, of course, as with anywhere else, there's binge drinking of newly of-age teens.<p>The worst problems happen when underage kids drink themselves to the point of alcohol poisoning, then don't get medical help because they're worried about getting in trouble.<p>Basically, my opinion is that the drinking age should be set to the point where there's a medical reason for it not to be any lower. I'm not sure exactly where this is, but 18 is probably a good number. I don't think that you can count on males being finished developing at 17.

No, there shouldn't be a drinking age. Let parents decide. Why is this on Hacker News?

does MADD back up the claim that it will increase drunk driving with any hard data?

Lower it, you shouldn't be able to kill (join the Army) before you are legally allowed a beer. It just seems to me like a law from god knows when, which the US government don't want to change just in case the majority don't like it. Same with legalizing cannabis (Marijuana) to an extent.<p>Its not like the age limit works, teens drink anyway - it just means bouncers have to turn away ADULTS from bars.

Here's a proposal: reduce the drinking age, forbid drivers under 21 from driving with <i>any</i> detectable level of alcohol, and raise the alcohol tax.<p><a href="http://www.samefacts.com/archives/drug_policy_/2008/08/of_amethysts_and_fake_ids.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.samefacts.com/archives/drug_policy_/2008/08/of_am...</a>

The drinking age should be 13, with supervision. In practice, it is. What kid doesn't get xmas or passover wine?

Well, it would go great lengths to control the population.<p>If someone can come up with a much better way to combat drunk driving, I'm all for lowering the drinking age. A combination eye-scanner/breathilyzer to start the car might do the trick.

What I'll say to that is that if you lowered the age now, there will be a few years of excessive drinking by those previously not allowed to drink. Which President will take that responsibility?

No. It should not exist.

Lower the drinking age to 16, raise the driving age to 18.

no, it should be lowered to 14, that way the kids can adjust to alcoholic before they get behind the wheel of a car.

I read<p>Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18? (cnn.com) <i>18 pints</i> by thedob<p>Lol.

What is your goal? Do you want to save lives?<p>Accidents involving those aged 18-20 dropped by 13% when most states upped the drinking age to 21: <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-20-drinkingage_N.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-20-drinkingage_N...</a><p>OTOH if your goal is to reduce global warming then we should lower the drinking age as much as possible. And also start more wars, spread more diseases, &#38;etc.