I know this has been mentioned before, but we have several new members on the forum, so I wanted to give them a chance to chime in. Should we lower the legal drinking age? What about the smoking age?

Yes and no -- it should be 18 for both. If we're going to be sending kids off to war, they should be able to buy beer.

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I say raise them. In fact, there should be a mental exam to determine the maturity level of the person before allowing them to drink alcohol or smoke.

Mental exam? Wha? What is that going to show? Pretty mature people still drink excessively and smoke excessively.

Raising them would amount to prohibition.

I agree with Midtowner.

For those who may not know.......

The drink age in the military is the law of the land or age 18 if the local government has no drinking age. Years ago service members could drink at 18 on base here in US. I certainly support restoring that policy.

I was active duty Navy for five years. The current policy took effect back before I enlisted. From what some of my military buddies told me they changed the policy because of MADD, too many DUI's and other misconduct issues.

The policy changed back around the same time that women where allowed in forward deploying units.

The need to reinstate the old drinking policy. Belive it or not the military does police itself. You can get tried in a military court and a civilan court for the same crime. Just simply because UCMJ and the law are two seperate entities.

Actually, although it'd never happen, I wouldn't mind adopting what they have in Europe. Beer is legal at 16, liquor at 18. They have fewer alcohol related incedents per capita than we do in the U.S., so their policies can't be all that bad.

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Gotta warm them up on the beer first, teach them to be responsible before giving them hard liquor. At least that's how the people I visited in Germany explained it to me. I think it would work here. Nothing younger than 18, though. There are issues with young bodies ingesting alcohol as they are still growing, especially the liver. There are still some teenagers who don't drink, so let's not make it available to those kids if we don't have to!

Look I just wanted to say that it's clearly visible that it's a very very bad change to make if the votes sway for the law to change on the drinking age. If the public at 18 are able to get out of the house and then purchase one of there own they should have all the right to have the choice to buy alcohol. You only live once, you gotta make the most of every second. My question is how the hell can you if you’re not able to make your own decisions I.e. Drink.

old thread, but what the hey...

i agree that it's a little odd that a person can give consent, enter into a contract, be convicted as an adult, go to war, do everything 'grown ups' do... but not have the ability to choose to drink.

while europe isn't completely free from drinking problems, the likelihood of underage binge drinking is lower. the forbidden status that liquor holds in this country by dangling adult beverages just out of minors' reach gives them wide appeal in this country... i think the current situation does just as much to perpetuate a problem than it does to stifle it. -M

People always want what they can't have. Besides, 18 year olds always know someone older who will buy them beer. While I don't think that drinking at a young age is good for the body, as it is still growing, maybe if we loosened the restraints a little, kids might not get a kick out of the whole "taboo" nature of the thing. If it's not rebellious anymore, maybe they wouldn't be so inclined to be stupid with it heh.

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Still corrupting young minds

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i think that's just it... while changing the laws will help, there's always a point where liquor will be out of reach. if parents didn't lock everything up in the liquor cabinet, drinks wouldn't be such a forbidden fruit. i'm not suggesting that parents allow their kids to get blitzed, of course... but like in europe, parents allow their kids to drink a little... under their supervsion.

that's the way my folks raised me. while they didn't drink anything beyond wine and occasionally beer, i was allowed to have a sip as a child and larger and larger portions as i aged. as a result i never saw the big deal in drinking. -M

My mom was the total opposite. I know she enjoyed an occasional drink before she had my sister and me, but she became super conserva-mom after that and was very anti-alcohol. My dad would have a beer with his son whenever my half-brother would visit, but that was about once a year, sometimes less.

As a result, alcohol seriously scared me. I didn't drink a drop in high school (except to take a taste of some wine I was cooking with...that scared me away even more lol) and my mom didn't let me go to parties where she knew alcohol would be present...which was pretty much every party heh.

I was afraid I'd immediately become addicted and become an alcoholic! I had no idea how much was too much, or what I would like, or anything.

I turned out okay, I'm certainly no alcoholic now, though I do enjoy some drinks, wines, and beers. My mom now talks openly about it, even commenting that she really likes champagne. She just kind of blurted it out, it was really funny hearing that from my mom!

If I ever have kids, I'll be sure to at least talk about the use of alcohol with them, unlike my parents. Not that they did a bad job raising me, but I wish they would have at least talked about it.

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Still corrupting young minds

i'm with midtowner,

if its ok to hand a kid an assault rifle at 18 and send him off to a place where he could get killed, don't insult the kid by telling him he can't drink a beer.

Responsible enough to drive a million dollar tank but too immature to drink a $2 beer. How F***** up is that???

Think of all the new recruits that would sign up if military members were exempt from the 21 law on and OFF base.

Their laws are also more strict than here. You get caught drunk driving you can wave goodbye to your driver's license. Basically you have to jump through more hoops rather than the slap on the wrist you get here. Several years ago my German uncle crashed into a school bus while intoxicated (thank goodness there were no children on it) he still catches a bus to work.

Personally I would think 18 years old for both. If they can vote they can drink and smoke.

I think at the very least, Oklahoma should adopt laws that Texas and other states have: 18 year olds are allowed to drink alcohol at a restaurant or wherever if they are with a guardian. I think this encourages an environment where safe alcohol consumption can be taught.

As far as lowering the actual age, I am for it, but logistically it is a nightmare. Underage kids will always drink. Now, it is easy for 18, 19, and 20 year olds to drink because alcohol is easily furnished by their 21 year old friends. Very few 14-16 year olds drink because its simply harder to get your hands on at that age. Not impossible by any stretch, but much more difficult, especially liquor. If the age was 17 or 18, that encompasses high school seniors or juniors. Therefore, the underage kids that they will inevitably furnish alcohol to are high school freshmen and sophomores. If the age lowers, the illegal drinkers get younger.

One thing that could be done is allow all college students and 18-21 year olds in the military to purchase alcohol, or at least beer.

Military recruiters everywhere salute you!

This thread makes me want to drink. Anyone want to go grab a beer?