+327 It's good that the drinking age in America is 21. Even though people can be trusted with everything else earlier, it's not good to trust someone with drinking that early, because they have the possibility of ruining other people's lives, with drunk driving. There are too many people who do it, and it's not fair to the people who died because of it. 21 is a more mature age. amirite?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not...

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It's not.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

In most parts on Canada its 19 in Quebec its 18 maybe your speaking for the American population but the Number of drunk drivers in Canada is much lower

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Well, Canadians are much cooler than Americans. And they're smarter.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

*you're

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Right. I should really learn how to spell correctly one of these days.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

My comment was directed towards DoctorHouse :3

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Shit. Sorry, I didn't realize. D:

by Anonymous 14 years ago

No it's okay <3

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Just going out on a limb here, but maybe it could be because the U.S has a population exceeding 300,000,000 and Canada has a population of only about 35,000,000.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

... Obviously the statistics take into consideration the population on average it is much lower.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah... I was just being a sarcastic little bugger.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Ah I enjoy sarcasm

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I should move to Canada then

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Probably. I would like to move there someday, too.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Drinking to the excess we do is fairly idiotic anyway.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I disagree. 21 is more mature, maybe, but it doesn't really matter. People that are under 21 still drink and drive. The legality is regardless. In my opinion, people should be exposed to responsible drinking at a young age. In my family, for as long as I can remember, we were allowed to drink, but it was always supervised and in moderation. It never became a big deal and so, I don't have any desire to go out drinking. It goes with that saying, "you want what you can't have." I was always allowed to drink alcohol, so the desire to have it never established itself (or at least, not like in today's youth). So, I think it should be the parents' responsibility to show their children how to drink responsibly. Instead, they just say, "don't drink until you're 21" and the kids don't listen, and they drink when they don't know how, which causes all kinds of problems.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I agree with you on everything, but unfortunately I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon in the US. My parents are like yours and let me drink with them moderately, so I really don't care to get wasted when out with friends. In fact, I don't really drink at all with friends. All the media makes most parents freak out about giving their children alcohol so they never really expose them to it properly. I think if we lowered the drinking age, it would just make it easier for the irresponsible people to get it.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I agree with you too. In some countries there is no drinking age at all. When my mom was a kid in Albania, she had a glass of wine to go with dinner every day, but she started with very small portions. She grew up with alcohol as part of her daily life, not something to "look forward to doing legally." I never hear any drunk driving stories from her or any other of my relatives still living in Albania.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

They drink nothing but Raki rushi over there. Also, the roads are extremely empty most of the time, especially in the suburb areas.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

They're still more responsible than some Americans.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah because we are raised more disciplined.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Wait you're saying you're Albanian too?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah I am haha

by Anonymous 14 years ago

High five!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

haha woo :p

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Your famliy is cleaver. It make sense.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

America lacks a drinking culture, which is one reason that younger Americans tend to drink more irresponsibly. If buying alcohol were legal at 18, there would most likely be a worse proble with alcohol in high school than there already is. The law may not scare away some of the more committed drinkers at a young age, but it does make some people who are just a bit curious think twice.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

when i lived in Spain the official drinking age was 16 and bartenders etc. really didn't care unless you were causing a problem they never checked any IDs or even looked twice. Most people in Spain actually handled alcohol much more responsibly than in America. I think that ties in with the "Rules/laws are made for breaking". And as Voldemort said "America lacks a drinking culture".

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I never understood how they came to the conclusion of 21 years old. Why not 22? Why not 20?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

The point you guys are missing is- when people say the legal drinking age is wrong here, they generally cite how we feel like it's ok for a kid of 18 to learn to kill/possibly die for his country, but they're too immature to have a drink. This is ridiculous and unfair. Perhaps they should raise the enlistment age for the military to 21?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

the only reason they can fuck up someone else's life with drunk driving is because they're allowed to drive before they're allowed to drink. I've grown up being able to drink before I was allowed to drive a car and therefore was given the responsibility over multiple people... so I learned to drink responsibly before I could drive

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It's unjust that you can get married, die for your country, and vote before you can legally have a drink. Either the drinking age has to go down to 18 or those other ages have to go up.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Fact is, people will drink REGARDLESS of what the law says. No matter how old they are. drunk driving happens usually lets says after a party or something. Kids get wasted at a party because theyre not allowed to just go home and drink. But when kids learn about drinking from their friends it always ends up as the cool thing to do by getting completely wasted. parents AND the government need to think twice.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

The reason for the drinking age is that researchers found that the liver is not fully developed until the age of about 21. However, I disagree with this post because of your reasoning. No matter the drinking age, drunk driving is never legal. Also, alcohol is not the only substance that can harm someone else. Smoking tobacco is still legal at 18, which is absurd because the lungs will never be developed enough to handle the smoke, AND can cause secondhand smoke, which does affect more than just the smoker. In my opinion, the drinking ages should be the same.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It dosen't really have to do with maturity. 21 is when our bodies are fully done developing. If we drink a lot before that it could mess up our growth and health.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

The age of 21 makes absolutely no sense... i believe that if at 18, you are allowed to get married and are allowed to go to war for your country then you should be able to have the choice to drink or not.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I agree with a bunch of these other people. People are going to drink regardless of the legal age.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

People over 21 still drink drive - it's stupid to say that someone who is 22 is less likely to drink drive then someone who is 20.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

agreed.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

China called. They want their wall back.

by Anonymous 14 years ago