Do you think the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18?

^ Ditto. Most of the big drinkers I know/knew did it at fifteen and sixteen. Now we're eighteen, no one really cares.

If you go to France though, you find that culture much less. Maybe because a lot of French children drink watered down wine (with sugar too - it's still nasty) before it even occurs to them that alcohol could be cool?

I think it's because it's taboo: that's why kids will do it.

Same with drugs and sex. You make it seem uncool, there will be less of it.

That's sort of what the government are trying to do though, isn't it? With those "want respect, use a condom" adverts. (In the UK that is - are you in the UK? I can't remember.)

*tries not to laugh*

*fails*

I totally agree that if sex, drugs and alcohol were less taboo, or made to look as ridiculous as they can be, then there'd be far fewer people getting knocked up at fifteen or being admitted to hospital for alcohol poisoning at fourteen. I just can't really see how we'd go about doing that.

^Oh god those ads are ridiculous. *giggling maniacally*

But yeah, once you can do something, it loses its air of mystery.
A bit like when a kid really wants a toy and then gets bored of it three days later.

I mentioned to one of my friends how marijuana should be legal (cause then it would be easier to get, and we'll get goverment issued weed which is like heaven) and he said he wouldn't want to because it wouldn't be cool anymore XD That's half the fun, knowing you are doing something illegal.

Like, the reason why New York's drinking age went back up in the 70s (I think it was) from 18 to 21, was because the Jersey kids would come over, get smashed, and drive home drunk. But the kids in New York didn't do that because they had already been legal to drink. See, it was all New Jersey's fault.

Okay...I live in Australia, and here it's legal to drink and drive at 18. This does cause a lot of problems, however with drink driving and such.

I think it should actually be the other way around; you should be able to drink when you're 18, but not drive until you're 21...that way you'd be more mature and when you started to drive.

Just the way I see it!!

xD

Definitely not.
Not that it matters much, people from the age of 13 and above find ways to drink anyway.

radioactive01:

Okay...I live in Australia, and here it's legal to drink and drive at 18. This does cause a lot of problems, however with drink driving and such.

I think it should actually be the other way around; you should be able to drink when you're 18, but not drive until you're 21...that way you'd be more mature and when you started to drive.

Just the way I see it!!

xD

That doesn't make much sense...
If I'm 20 years old and in college, how am I supposed to drive around? Call my mother and ask her to drive me? Take a cab? Do you know how much money and time that will cost? The driving age should stay where it is and so should the drinking age.

radioactive01:

I think it should actually be the other way around; you should be able to drink when you're 18, but not drive until you're 21...that way you'd be more mature and when you started to drive.

I can't agree with that. When you're 18 you become an adult and, generally, responsible for yourself. You probably get a job or go to college. If you don't live a huge city, mass transit isn't an option. How are you supposed to be able to support yourself if you can't walk to work?
When I was eighteen I lived in a town of 200 and drove 20 miles each day to work. I needed to be able to drive. I didn't need to be able to drink.

TrueBloodCupcake:

That doesn't make much sense...
If I'm 20 years old and in college, how am I supposed to drive around? Call my mother and ask her to drive me? Take a cab? Do you know how much money and time that will cost? The driving age should stay where it is and so should the drinking age.

Public transport.

Elliott Preston:

Public transport.

It's not available everywhere.
Until I was twenty and moved to a suburb, I'd never lived anywhere that even had taxis.
Small towns rarely have any form of mass transit.
What do they do?
Not work?

I'm talking buses not taxis. I'd never take a taxi...too damn expensive.

Or you could carpool. You don't necessarily have to be able to drive yourself. My friend is 27 and she's only just going for her license today.

Elliott Preston:

I'm talking buses not taxis. I'd never take a taxi...too damn expensive.

Or you could carpool. You don't necessarily have to be able to drive yourself. My friend is 27 and she's only just going for her license today.

We didn't have buses, taxis, train, subway, anything. We had 0 mass transit unless you were in school and even then they were very strict about who could ride the bus.

I also couldn't carpool. There wasn't a single person at my job that lived in my area. I was 20 minutes out of the way from them and had few friends.

So, like I said, what would I do?
I also lived with my narcoleptic mother who wasn't on the right medication for her narcolepsy and occasionally needed me to drive her places or else she would have fallen asleep at the wheel and died. My stepdad was in the Middle East a lot, so no one else could do that.

inside druscilla.:

We didn't have buses, taxis, train, subway, anything. We had 0 mass transit unless you were in school and even then they were very strict about who could ride the bus.

I also couldn't carpool. There wasn't a single person at my job that lived in my area. I was 20 minutes out of the way from them and had few friends.

So, like I said, what would I do?
I also lived with my narcoleptic mother who wasn't on the right medication for her narcolepsy and occasionally needed me to drive her places or else she would have fallen asleep at the wheel and died. My stepdad was in the Middle East a lot, so no one else could do that.

Okay so perhaps people should, at least when it comes to getting your license for the first time, get it on a need-to basis.

Elliott Preston:

Okay so perhaps people should, at least when it comes to getting your license for the first time, get it on a need-to basis.

I don't think there's any problem with the way we have licenses set up now.

When you're eighteen, I think you should be able to drive yourself around. If you're going to take responsibility for yourself, you need to be able to rely on yourself.

Yes. And if public transport is available one should use it. At least some of the time.

Elliott Preston:

Yes. And if public transport is available one should use it. At least some of the time.

I agree completely. It cuts down on fuel, money, and hurting the environment.
But I just don't like it when people assume it's really easy to find mass transit.
I'm from small towns. [Actual small towns, not the "small" towns with 10,000 people.] And I know that it wasn't possible where I lived.
We didn't have a lot of buses in my suburb either. More downtown and inter-city.

I apologise for the assumption. I've driven through enough small towns to know that's not easy. I guess, I just conveniently forgot. Then again I know a lot of country kids learn to drive from when they're quite young and don't have issues. [And they don't have a license].

Elliott Preston:

Then again I know a lot of country kids learn to drive from when they're quite young and don't have issues. [And they don't have a license].

I knew kids who could drive a tractor by the time they were twelve.
I went "driving" when I was fourteen, but I didn't get my license until I was eighteen.
I actually drove illegally on a permit for nearly a year.

Wow...I didn't think my comment would spark such a long debate!!

I guess...it's easy for me to say what I said...cuz I live near 2 trams a bus and a train...but I see where you're coming from with that...

xD