What do you think is the best legal age for drinking?
 

and why?

In retrospect I think 21 is good. It kept me from drinking in high school, and made it difficult for me to drink the first 2 years of college. Also I hear the brain is pretty much mature at 20 yrs old which is a plus.

If it had been 18 I would have only done more damage to myself.

At 21 it helps keep alcohol out of high schools

I think its far more important to educate youth on the perils of alcohol. They will drink regardless of what the legal age is.

At 30 you typically have a better head on your shoulders and aren't trying to impress as many people... But none is also a good answer.

As proud libertarian, it even astounded me to choose 0
Guess coz of no good results to show for it but its a free country & people can & will do what they want

I merged two threads :)

I have no opinion on the question, although I agree with Scott that education is a far more important issue to me.

I drank when I was underage. I think most drinkers like us did.

The age here is 18...the BAC for young drivers is 0.00...That I do agree with.

D

There's no selection for 18 which is what it was here at one time. Then they changed it to 21. Even with the way that I feel about alcohol I still scratch my head that they can put a gun in the hands of an 18 year old and send them off to war but they aren't mature enough to have alcohol until they're 21. Voting also begins at 18.

I am in full agreement with education. Age isn't going to make a difference. In fact, the quickest way to get a teenager to do something is to tell them that they can't.

Yea,there is no option for 18,which is what I would select.
As LadyBlue0527 said. At 18 you are old enough to fight and die for your country. But you can't legally walk into a bar and have a beer. That is WRONG.
The enlistment age needs to be higher,or drinking age needs lowered.
For whatever it's worth,I didn't have that much of a problem getting booze at 16. A teenager looking for booze will find it.
Fred

I went with 21 but would agree with others here that if you are old enough for the military (18 yo) then you are old enough to drink. I think, therefore, that 18 is reasonable. But, I also think that better education on drinking would benefit all of us.

When I was growing up the legal age to drink beer and wine was 18 and the legal age to drink high proof alcohol was 21 (forget what the alcohol % cutoff was). I felt that those were fair laws, but I have to admit that drunk driving fatalities have dropped significantly since the age went up to 21 for all alcohol. I think that the change in the law may have contributed somewhat to the drop in DD fatalities, but I think it is due more to stricter law enforcement and less tolerance for those who drive drunk.

The age here is 18...the BAC for young drivers is 0.00...That I do agree with.

I think the legal limit here for under 21 is almost nothing too, I forget the exact number. My sister (not at ALL an alcholic or problem drinker) got a DUI when she was 20, in college, because the legal age was 21. She had literally had 2 or 3 beers (not the drunken person on "Cops" falling over lying saying 2 beers haha), and was not "drunk", but was just over the "limit" since the limit was almost nothing. She was pulled over randomly because it was 2 am around a college campus. Did she deserve a DUI? No, I do not believe she did. Did she deserve some sort of underage consumption violation or warning or something, yes, absolutely, as she was not technically old enough to drink (by one year). So those are the situations that are sticky.

All of that being said I would agree the legal age for both cigarettes and alcohol be maybe 19. That way you are out of high school, but college students who do socially have two beers at a party (not those who get wasted) aren't likely to be in trouble for drinking moderately among others who don't. Then again others argue the whole you can go to war at 18 but not drink a beer thing, which I do see the point of, but for sake of this hypothetical argument I'll stick with 19 :)

Would have picked 18 but, since that was not an option I didn't vote. I think 16 is too young and 21 is too old.

Jess

98.

I think 18 is a good age. According to law, if you are old enough to carry guns, fight in battle, and vote for who you want to run your country, you should have the right to purchase an alcoholic beverage.

I agree with the zero tolerance policy that some countries have on DUI.

In college, you're going to go through that culture of drinking in school whether you partake in it or not, so I don't see why in the US, it's up to 21. At 18, you have easy access due to all the college keg parties.

I would also vote for 18. Don't think any age limit does too much but at least there is some level of restriction for the youth. Also agree with everyone who said better education would be more important, and by this I mean a more general education on emotional and physical well being, the phenomena of social belonging and pressure, as well as how to deal with goal setting and perspective in healthy ways for young people.

18, if you're old enough to defend your country, you're old enough to drink.

Does a legal age restrict drinking? In Ireland many start drinking before aged 16, I was drunk for the first time at 12yrs old!!

I guess it probably restricts access from buying or going into bars, but then how many of us when we drank did it on our own in our own houses, away from other people.

I guess I'm probably in the category of education and educating society!! . . . many drugs that are illegal are still obtainable, same with alcohol below a minimum age!!

Legal age discourages drinking more than restricting it technically I suppose. If someone buys it for you or provides you with it, it is what it is. I for one only drank a couple times before age 21, and never drank with any type of regularity until I was 25. I definitely wasn't one to partake during high school especially because I was afraid to get in trouble.

Started at 14 so the age limit didn't stop me.

I am with Ladyblue and others with 18. If you are old enough to be cannon fodder for your country, you're old enough to make an informed decision about drinking. Focus should be on education.
Or even better
b: We should raise the age for a disadvantaged youth (who is too young to drink) to join the armed forces and maybe go die in the Middle East because that's the only way s/he will be able to get a proper education and better themselves and their families. After all, if they are not considered old enough to make good decisions about drink, they are definitely not old enough to make a decision about dying or getting scarred for life.......hmm

19 or 20. This would keep it out of high schools still. In college, everyone can get access, so 21 just doesn't seem too logical.

Just thought I'd throw into the debate, you can sign up to the British army as a soldier (but not an officer) at 16yrs old with your parent's permission!!

I don't think it matters. I never had a problem getting alcohol when I was underage. Could Always find a "cool" parent or someone's older sibling to buy it for me .

i agree that proper parenting is most important. I have read that the countries with the lowest legal drinking ages have the lowest alcohol abuse rates

we will never entirely stop normal ones from drinking (why should we)

21 seems to work just fine for normies

but

us drunks should never (legally) be allowed to drink

we have proven in most cases that we are a danger to ourselves and others

Mountainman

I have also read about lower abuse in countries with lower legal age. I think it sort of comes down to less stigmatization sometimes. Often, young people want to do something simply because they can't or shouldn't. When it's not so forbidden it's less appealing, many young minds work that way.

It's not a health drink as it's toxic and slowly destroys body parts.

At what age indeed
 

Well, where I grew up in Canada, it was 19 but of course, I drank alcohol for the first time when I was 11 and then again when I was 15, so had the legal drinking age been set to 21 or 30 I'm sure I would have gotten my hands on it by that time. At the time it really bothered me that I had to pay taxes, could vote in an election, and get married legally without the consent of an adult before I was able to drink alcohol as an adult, but what did I really know? I know now I shouldn't have gotten married at the age of 18, so it just tells me I knew nothing then. Likely my decision to consume alcohol was also driven by the curiosity of my innocent mind and desire to experience something forbidden.

I'm really not sure how alcohol can be used responsibly by adults or children, I don't know. I question the whole notion, because of the direct physical sensations that are felt from immediate consumption.

This question is pretty touchy. You've got balls for polling it.

21 years old for general public - 18 on base for Military.

Speak with anyone in the US that lived through the drinking age being lowered from 21-18 and they will tell you high school seniors were getting drunk before during and after school.

With regard to the Military, being old enough to be ordered to kill and/or die for ones country should justify being old enough to drink.... But only within the confines of the Military base.