Frank Robertson's Blog

"It's very difficult to legislate human behavior."

That's the key, Frank. I'm a couple of years younger than you, apparently. I was legal at eighteen. The drinking age was raised to twenty-one shortly after I reached that age.

I'd have to say that I'm on the fence with regard to this. It's hard for me to say that the drinking age should NOT be lowered. Hey, 18 worked for me.

In my senior year of high school (I turned 18 in November), I used to drive around with a bottle of Jack Daniels in my back seat. With 20-20 hindsight, that's not a good thing.

On the other hand, kids are GOING TO drink one way or the other if they want to.

I do not believe that lowering the drinking age to eighteen would lead to an increase in traffic deaths any more than legalizing drugs would lead to an increase in the number of addicts.

I agree with you, MO. When I was a child (I'm not that much younger than Floyd), my brother and I were both allowed a glass of wine at dinner on Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Easter afternoon, my family would go to a local bar (we were a big family) and I was given sips of beer from my uncles and grandfather. I was also allowed sips during my birthday parties which were big barbeques. I've been drunk three times in my life, no more, and have a healthy respect for drink and do so moderately. You see, there's no thrill in it.
Sometimes forbidding someone (particularly a teen or young adult) makes for a worse situation since 1) they always think they know better and 2) they always have to try or be daring. If you instill a healthy respect, there's no thrill or enticement to get drunk or act stupidly.

Well mmustangg, this BBC article is from last year, but it talks about how the drinking age will not be raised to 21 in the UK:

http://tinyurl.com/4umofy

Perhaps they've since changed their minds? Tho I didn't see any articles saying so.

Googling "What is the legal drinking age in the UK" brought up many interesting articles. Like this one: ttp://tinyurl.com/4lh3d6 Permissible at 5 eh? That is a wee bit young for my tastes.


Leasheryn, I was raised similar to you. Alcohol isn't that big of a deal. Tho, I've been drunk more than three times.

Forbidden Fruit only leads to temptation. Period.

Tying the drinking age to highway funding is just another example of big government. Did we vote on that? Who knows...

MoonOwl

MO,

You seem to be right. I was just talking to my fience there and she said it's still 18 but that a lot of pubs are inforcing 21 as the at at which they will serve. Still proves my point and that the UK has a problem with kids drinking and the current age bares that out. That's why they are looking to change it. I just thought from talking to them that it already had.

Your forbidden fruit thing aint cutting it. Drugs have always been forbidden for me and I have never been tempted to try them. It's called good parenting and education! That analogy of yours is a cop-out.

So you think we should make everything legal then so there's no temptation? Yeh right! *lol*

Times are way different now I remember back when I was 16 and had a fake Id and drank like a fish to make matters worse one time I was pulled over and the cop wrote me a ticket. The ticket was for underage drinking and running a stop sign. He told me to go home. look back at that now i don't know how i kept from wrapping around a tree in the mountains of PA. The bottom line is that if the drinking age is 21 ant it saves one life it's worth it.
Lets talk about the real issue if I am driving down the road I would much rather confront a driver who is smoking pot then drinking beer and Jack.
Leave the Age at 21 and it's time to legalize POT.

There are people out there that don't have enough sense to drink and be responsible no matter how old they are, but to allow 18 year old teenagers the right to drink is just asking for trouble. It's been a while since I was 18 but I do remember that at that age I was no where near responsible to drink. And when you put several teenagers in a room at one time trying to impress each other you are asking for trouble. Being 18 dosn't mean you are responsible and some of them should not even be driving because they aren't mature enough to obey the rules of the road. When you add alcohol to that it's an accident waiting to happen. I raised one 18 year old and I know he wasn't mature enough to drink. I hope this law dosn't pass just because they need to mature more to be able to be responsible. We want our teens to grow up not kill each other on the road because they are drunk. And drunk teens don't think about birth control either. We don't need more teen's giving birth because they got drunk and don't remember what they did. Times are hard enough for teens without adding alcohol to the problems they already have.