BlameThePixel!

Well, here's something interesting, someone that thinks the USA would be better off with a lower drinking age:

Dear Editor:

You won't find college students dying of binge drinking in England, Italy, Germany or anywhere else but in the good ole U.S.A. But where else in the world do they expect kids of 18 to fight and die for their country and to be mature enough at that same age to get married, hold credit cards, exercise the franchise and run the country - but not to drink?

By what logic are persons competent at 15 to drive vehicles that kill but incompetent until 21 to handle even one beer?

Our liquor laws make drinking a rite of passage to adulthood, fostering rather than discouraging teen alcohol consumption. We set kids up for an "I'm 21 now, so gimme my sixpack" mentality.

We make it illegal for kids to serve an apprenticeship in responsible drinking, virtually ensuring that what little instruction they get comes from their most immature peers in the high school parking lot rather than from family members seated around the dining table at home.

Then we wait until three years past voting age to thrust these ill-prepared drinkers onto the bar scene, equipping them well with vehicular horsepower but poorly with sober wisdom.

Jewish children traditionally have a glass of wine as part of the religious ceremony accompanying the Friday evening meal. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), Jewish families have very little alcoholism and almost no teen-age drunken driving.

Many European countries permit minors accompanied by a parent to enjoy a glass of wine with a restaurant meal, typically beginning at age 12. In France, Germany, Italy and Spain, a young adult of 16 may buy wine or beer unaccompanied by a parent, whereas the drinking age for distilled beverages in Europe (and throughout most of the non-Islamic world) is 18.

By the time a young European is old enough to drive a vehicle (at a sensible 18, certainly not at 15), he or she already has had some experience with responsible drinking and, more important, alcohol already has lost some of its allure.

Dodi al Fayed's chauffeur notwithstanding, drunken driving is rarer in Europe than in America. The auto fatality rate in England, for example, is half that of the United States - this is on a per capita basis adjusted for population differences.

But then, Europe doesn't labor under the delusion that the best way to stop drunken driving is to deny people alcohol. Most other countries simply punish drunken drivers. Severely. How sensible! Why has that idea not been implemented here?

America's puritanical, prohibitionist mentality has created a serious drunken driving problem. When we raised the drinking age to 21, we exacerbated our teen drinking problem. Now we seem headed down the same road on tobacco as well: prohibit the activity rather than discourage it, thereby making the activity a badge of adulthood, setting the stage for a teen black market.

I can't believe that the alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries don't know exactly what they're doing: suckering well-meaning but naive legislators into enacting cosmetic and often draconian prohibitions intended to fool the masses into believing that something is being done, while at the same time actually promoting rather than discouraging teen consumption.

Isn't it time we raised the driving age, lowered the drinking age and repealed unwise laws that prohibit kids from learning to drink in moderation under supervised apprenticeship within the family? But that's the problem, isn't it: Moderation just does not inhere in our national psyche, so neither will moderation be found in the halls of Congress or in our state legislatures.

The harvest of our shortsighted mindset is binge drinking in college, alcoholism in adult life and increased carnage on America's highways.

Can't really say I agree with that letter, cause well, binge drinking is a huge problem here. Everyone just goes out and gets completely drunk from about 15 onward, and they dont' really stop. so... meh.

it's not a problem though - it just happens. Most poeple tend to be fine on the saturday morning, hangover notwithstanding.

It's not a problem if they dont hurt anyone.

I mostly disagree with that letter. I think the problem with alcahol isn't alcahol, it's the type of person that consumes it. The senisble person has no problem, hurts no one. The idiotic person is likely to abuse alcahol and go out and do something stupid.




I think denying people alcahol is sensible, it prevents the crime, while punishing doesn't, the crime's already happened. :/

but think of the livers...

oh god wont somebody please think of the livers!

meh, never liked liver anyway that article isn't about the health risks to individuals though, it's about a 'drink cos now we can' culture in modern america.

Well its Saturday morning and I dont exactly feel great right now.

ah, but your not dead.

Worst i tend to get is a sore throat in the morning. And thats usually cos the bars i go to are load so you have to shout a bit to have a conversation.

I hate going to bars where you gotta shout...
plus drinks are so expensive, and most likely they are watered down.

I like the "hang out" bars, like pool halls or sports bars.

I can honestly say I have never had a hang-over ever before, I have puked.... oh yes... but give me a 5 hour sleep, I will feel like I have sleeped for days.

But I do only drink hard liquor on account of my Diabetes. So I guess it's hard to get a hangover...

Alcohol is bars/pubs etc is pretty damn expensive, but buying it from a shop is a Lot cheaper. Anyone know a reason for this?

(or am I just thick?)

[offtopic]


Wow, that sucks. What type of diabetes do you have? My cousin has had type 1 since she was 14 months old (and she's six now).

Please don't mention Diabetes, it scares the crap out of me.. I sorta breakdown when I hear it.. I'm scared of diseases.... ANYWAY

When I'm older, I don't plan on getting drunk alot. It makes people look like a fucking tard.

Yeah, type 1 I got, since I was 5.. I'm 21 now... so thats 2 needles a day for 16 years and counting....

And to boot, I was born premature 3 months, my lungs collasped.

And that isn't even half of my lifes downside.

But I guess I can't complain. I am not the only one that has it bad... and that is an understatment.




Because it is the perfect scam.... you think you are gonna care that a shot costs you 6$ when you are hammered.

I say get drunk before you go to the bar, and just buy a drink or 2 when you are there.

hehe, i got a nice bottle of sminoff blue label back form holiday, only cos me a tenner. in a bar £10 would buy me about 4 double vokda, but it'd only be smirnoff red label.

i'll prolly use it as birthday present for someone's 18th anyway.

Blue label? is that the 50% stuff?