The teenager in me wants to agree, but brain deterioration from alcohol would make all of those things a hell of a lot harder, and your brain doesn't stop developing until your mid twenties.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

people can enjoy things responsibly, your brain only rots if you let it...At my high school there were these really fucking smart kids who could show up to a test fucked up and still ace it

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's assuming that at least 70% of Americans aren't dumbfucks, which we all know isn't true.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

or some weed, they cant trust anyone with that even though its not as bad as alcohol. My friend has ADD,but smokes weed instead of taking the pharmaceutical speed they give you

by Anonymous 13 years ago

:D

by Anonymous 13 years ago

True. But it's also illogical trusting 18 yr olds with all of that stuff :P

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It doesn't really matter though, because teens are going to drink anyways. And most of the time, you probably won't get caught unless you're out doing something dumb, or being irresponsible. In those cases, you should get in trouble anyways.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Maybe it's so they can handle all of those things, then add alcohol into the equation. otherwise lots of people might go down the toilet earlier than usual.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

My dads a chp and he says that ONE arguement against lowering the legal drinking age is to HELP prevent drunk driving. Even though teens will do it anyways, a good majority won't becuase at 18 they're still using mommy or daddys car or their parents are still paying their insurance/gas/etc so they're less likely to put themselves in the situation of getting a dui because then they would lose that.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's stupid how the drinking age in Europe is lower, yet people drink less. It's stupid to have such a high drinking age, it's like America is begging for teenagers to have alcoholism. Teensdrink so much in the US because they know it's not allowed. It's like reverse physiology, as soon as someone says you can't have something, you want it more just to piss off the person in charge. If the age is lowered, teens will drink, but they won't be as motivated, and it wouldn't be as "cool" because u won't look like "that cool kid who breaks the law and drinks illegally" Oh and btw, u can buy a house and adopt a child. But sorry, no sip of wine for you!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Drinking alcohol actually affects growth. The reason the laws require one to be 21 to drink is because PHYSICAL growth officially ends at age 20-22. At age 18, though, people are mature enough to marry, pay taxes, drive, etc.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yes, exactly; proponets of marijuana law reform also favor 21 as a legal age for pot. What's counter-intutive is that cigarettes are legal for 18, and they stand just as much or even more chance of stunting your growth, given the frequency of use compared to alcohol or pot. Having a legal age of 18 hasn't stopped teens younger than that from smoking out of rebelliousness either; the arguement that rolling the drinking age back similarly would negatively affect drinking under 18 is pretty specious in that light. Oh yeah, and I don't know where nowayitsadria got the idea European people were smarter than Americans, but even as much as I dislike the US sometimes that's not statistically true. You sound like either an American kid who thinks it makes them cool to prefer Europe, or a European kid with a sadly groundless case of elitism. The point is; if you really don't care about never reaching your physical and mental potential, by all means party up. If...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

... you have the foresight to realize you're gonna need that brain and health later, it's not really that big a deal to wait until at least over 18 to start bombarding your body with mind-altering chemicals. Yes, I was over 18 before I really did anything, so I'm not being a hypocrite. I took a hit or 2 off a joint in 9th grade and once again in 11th, but never got "stoned" or drunk until almost 19. I don't really object to 18 being a legal age for everything, I just disagree that it would discourage underage drinking, as I said earlier.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

In europe the drinking age is younger because most kids grow up having a glass of wine (france) or a mug of beer (germany) as they grow up during lunch dinner etc. Then when they can legally drink, its nothing really new to them except they can do it excessively. But the government trusts them enough to be responsible and in comparison to the US, they are

by Anonymous 13 years ago

What you don't mention is that became a custom when the water was too polluted to drink; it wasn't really out of any more faith in kids, it was out of neccessity.

by Anonymous 13 years ago