Legal drinking age?

i came of age as the vietnam war was ending and the united states constutional amendment to lower the voting/legal responsibility age was being passed in the mid 1970s. the same argument was used to lower the drinking age ( old enough to serve, should be able to buy a beer...), but afterwards a lot of late teenagers proved to be irresponsible and stupid; too many drank, drove, hurt others and died; the alcohol purchase age was raised. only fools/morons/idiots drink and drive, but they can leave alot of pain and tears behind them. i think if you're on active duty, you should be able to buy alcohol. anyone who drinks and drives should be strongly punished, regardless of age.

Here in new zealand, we used to have the drinking age at 21, recently it was lowered to 18, this has not proven to be a good thing, now even younger ones are getting into the night clubs etc, yes they are meant to check, but talk to the young ones, piece of cake they say, the nz government is considering raising it again, well there has been a whisper that they might, hmm i wonder how that would work,
u can vote at 18 here
drive at 15, u have to get a learners licence first, then a restricted for around 18 mths and then complete another test before u get your full licence, however that might be reviewed or has been too.

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only fools/morons/idiots drink and drive, but they can leave alot of pain and tears behind them. i think if you're on active duty, you should be able to buy alcohol. anyone who drinks and drives should be strongly punished, regardless of age.

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I totally agree with all of that, they should be punished severly, no matter who they are or their age... I remember when I was a kid, my brother was hit by a drunk driver, and my parents didnt know at first how bad he was, they were just told to get the next plane out, they did not know what they would find...this was in the early 70's. luckily he was ok, well by ok, I mean he lived, but he broke his leg, which normally would be no big deal but he had a alot of problems with it, and the one leg is 2 inches shorter than the other, he has to wear a built up shoe , and a blood transfusion he got, gave him hepatitis...

and I will add, he was on a motorcycle, the only reason he is alive now is because he wore his helmet!!

I agree with y'all. At 18, we're supposed to be able to make an informed decision as to who we can vote as President, but you can't make an informed decision about drinking until 21...same with signing up for military. Either raise it all to 21 or drop it all down to 18. FYI, most rental car places and even some hotels prefer you to be 25. I'm 23 and had a heck of a time renting a room in Florida. They wanted a $200 deposit because I wasn't 25...as if 2 years magically makes a difference. I managed to get around it, but I still felt it was a tad age discriminatory. Same with renting a car. When I visited Joey in CA, we rented a car. At first they wouldn't rent to us because we're 23 and not 25. But, because he's in the Military, they dropped the age requirement down to 21, so we could rent the car.

LOL, really?! Well, that's really lame...

when you turn 18 and join the service there is someone there
to train you to stay alive.....

when you turn 21 and start to drink there is no one there
to train you to stay alive.

I never had a problem renting a hotel room before I was 25 ( but I never tried in Florida, where they get a lot of Spring Breakers...Ralph and I did have a hard time renting a car when we went to Spring Break my senior year of college (he was 24, 8 months from 25, I was 23). We ewre able to get arounf the additonal charges for being "underage" by putting it on his coprarate credit card. Responsible enough to have a corparate account, but not to rent a car :)

If the military age wasn't 18, there would be a lot of young people getting out of high school with no where to go. The military gives some of them the first real disipline and training in their lives.

As for the drinking age, I remember when it used to vary from one state to the next. The the MADD (Mother's against drunk driving) movement kicked into high gear and lobbied that the national age be 21.

One thing to ponder - when I was in my late teens and early 20's, taverns did not check ID as much as they do today. Also, the drunk driving laws were much more lenient (I'm glad they are tougher now), so that a first time offender got a slap on the wrist. The term "designated driver" didn't even exist.

Inexpereinced drinkers and inexperienced drivers are a bad combination.

unfortunately catland, here in nz anyhow, the military also has a lot to answer for in producing young alcoholics, it is very cheap to buy on shore at the naval bases, and the navy give them a tot of rum everyday, i dont know if this practice has stopped now or not, its tradition and probably is still done now.
I do know as i was a civilain worker in the navy and air force, and young at the time, we used to spend every weekend at the 'WETS'( it was called ) drinking, .
My fiancee was in the air force, he turned out to be an alcoholic, then my first husband who was in the navy and had joined at 16 turned out to be an alcoholic.

I rest my case, the services is not a place i want my son to be, and thank goodness he has shown no interest in joining. so far.

The military services have a lot to answer for in this country, to ruining young lives and many others as well.
This part of the services really angers me, and its time they did something to stop ruining so many young peoples lives.

I curious if usa has the same kinda problems in the military.:(:( :(

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Originally posted by carole
unfortunately catland, here in nz anyhow, the military also has a lot to answer for in producing young alcoholics, it is very cheap to buy on shore at the naval bases, and the navy give them a tot of rum everyday, i dont know if this practice has stopped now or not, its tradition and probably is still done now.
:(:( :(

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That's so sad and irresponsible. I don't know anyone in the military right now so I can't answer your question.

woohoo! in a few days, I will be old enough to hold a drink in each hand...hehehe