Should the legal drinking age be raised to 25?

While intoxication kills off irreplaceable brain cells of anyone who is drinking, in an immature brain (under 25 years old) it can cause moderate to severe brain damage. Binge drinking leads to dissolution of the pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for decision-making, paying attention, emotions, and monitoring impulses that lead to irrational behavior. It can also stunt brain growth, causing the brain to never reach its full potential or altering the way it matures.
By 21 people are expected to be mature enough to handle themselves and drink responsibly. However, by that age people have only been graduated from high school for a matter of a few years, and have not been “adults” for long. Many are in college, in which case their focus should be on studies, not partying and getting drunk. However, by the age of 25 many have graduated college or are in their final years there, and are living in the big, bad, grown-up world in which they work, pay their own bills, maintain homes, start families, and represent what an adult should be, and at that point are adult enough to better manage their drinking habits. Drinking at a younger age is also linked to alcoholism—the younger people are when they begin drinking, the more likely they are to become addicted later on.
http://psychcentral.com/news/...

anything other than 18 is unconstitutional

i wanna have my drink at age 21 and i will!...i just kinda weish i could at 18 b/e i'm a legal adult than ><

I'll only say yes if the military age changes with it too, I don't understand how 18 can be old enough to die for their country but can't drink. It's asinine

Grrrrrr!! :X

That's insane! 21 is already much older than the rest of the world.

The government has no legitimate, Constitutional authority to arbitrarily tell individuals what they may consume or at what age they are allowed to consume any drug (alcohol IS a drug) or any other substance. In countries where there is no age limit on alcohol ingestion, children learn to use it responsibly. Besides, who owns your body, you or the government? And who is responsible for raising and teaching your children, you or the government?

But hell, raise it to 40, don't mean I will stop. :p

The drinking age should be eliminated.

No, I wasn't any smarter at 25 than I was at 21. That's expecting a lot from me in just 4 years.

No it should be lowered to 18, the legal driving age should be raised to 25.

To what end?

How about raising it to 65 so that those working can't go for the after work cocktail or beer?

No... 21 is fine.
Personal responsibility ... drink stupid, pay the price.

How about doubling the fines of DUI's if no accident or injury is involved

Accident without Injury caused by DUI, automatic suspension for a year and tripling the DUI Fines.

Accident and Injury(ies) caused by DUI, automatic revoking suspension, jail time and five times the DUI Fines.

And that's just for the first offense.

Second offense on any level... no car, no license, and TEN times the fines of DUI.


If but then the personal responsibility hasn't kicked in... well... I guess you can't help stupid.

This is such a complicated question, and I don't think I could do it justice here. Generally speaking I would like to see booze disappear from the planet. Knowing that is just a fantasy, I had to say no. Just because we (the law) says you can't do this or that doesn't change things. Meth, and cocaine and several other drugs are completely off limits, no age requirements, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Adding an older age limit might make it harder for younger people to purchase the booze, but it's not going to stop them. I think the best deterrent would be is to have young people spend some time in the ER, or around a bunch of heavy duty alcoholics and see where the booze drinking (could lead). I have seen SO many lives ruined by booze I've honestly lost count. I know that not every person who drinks is going to be a problem drinker, most won't, but maybe early teaching about the negative possibilities it can lead to, might be better than making a new law.

Uh huh....
As one who enjoys alcohol beverages, I disagree with your post.

What about personal responsibility?

So if alcohol is a problem, so is food. There are those who are compulsive eaters. Ban food from them?
What about compulsive shoppers... ban shopping malls.

I am not denying that there are people who cannot, will not or unable to control their alcohol.
There are treatments and there personal responsibility do so.

I prefer DUI fines to triple on the first event, and permit insurance companies to place the risk factor far higher than they are permitted today, in the event of a DUI conviction.

Yes - ban the fork! Rosie O'donnell could finally slim her fat butt down.

BAN THE FORK

Bwarney says "BWAN IT!"

That's why I started my post saying that it is such a complicated question, and I don't think I could do it justice here. There are so many variables, that's why I said it wouldn't be a good idea to change the drinking age, I don't think changing laws around is going to make a difference. And as far as personal responsibility goes, I suggested that teaching younger folks more about the damage it can do would be very helpful. If I knew what I know now about booze I don't think I ever would have started drinking. The drinking age for me was 19, back in 1977, drinking and driving wasn't even a topic back then. If a cop pulled you over and saw you were buzzed, if you were cool to him, he'd usually just say be careful getting home. Then things changed by 1988 when I got my one and only DUI. That was enough of a scare that I haven't had any booze since, and believe me, I loved to drink, too much obviously. That's not the only reason I haven't had a drink, health issues cropped up, and I had at least 10 friends mess up their jobs and marriages, one of them being my older brother, who went on to destroy his body too. The issue goes very deep with me, and I probably shouldn't have opened up this can of worms. Have a good evening.

Your issue with alcohol is yours and not mine.

I respect that you recovered and are seemingly doing well, however, I took exception with your call to do away with alcohol.

NOT MY problem.... do not take anything away from me because it is your issue.

I only said it was my fantasy, my wife wouldn't be very happy with me either if I made booze disappear. Stats show that Over 75 percent of domestic violence victims report that their assailant had been drinking, and 64% of women that were raped reported their attacker had been drinking. These stats are almost 20 years old, and it is much higher today, so alcohol is not MY problem, it is the worlds. I would also like to see anger and violence gone, but that too is just wishful thinking. A coroner from Russia said that if they tested every person that died in Russia, 90% of the people would be considered legally drunk, that again is not my problem, it's a freaking epidemic. Your last line is funny, I'm not taking anything away from you, and booze will be here until humanity is extinct, so you don't have to worry.

I don't think so. It should be lowered to 18.

That's ridiculous. While brains may be developing all the way to 25, people will be drinking whether they're legal to or not. At least if they're legal, they're more likely to drink reasonably than go out every weekend and get completely hammered.

Hell, raise it to 30.

No, 35.

Why not make it illegal for anybody under the age of 40 to drink?

Hm. How about prohibiting the manufacture and sale of ANY alcoholic beverage in these United States?

We could call it "Prohibition."

Wouldn't that work just fine?
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Sarcasm... I like that!

100 Raves!

No!

NO WAY..>:/

I'm going to drink and drop PILLs no matter what.

18 is fine, but people under 18 are going to drink anyway (parks around here have on average 40-100 people under 18 drinking 2 - 3 times a week).

Pushing the age limit to 25 would just mean parks and other places people can drink would be overpopulated.

Idiot nations would no longer be able to ignore underage drinking, so go ahead America, sick of hearing you talk about drink like only people who are old enough use it.

Of course not, it should be lowered to 18. Why?
-If you're old enough to be drafted, you should be old enough to drink.
-Almost every kid drinks anyway.
-It's not making anybody drink more or less. The underaged people I know who drink, don't really care about the law or not. They just do it.

It should be lowered to 18.

Yeah.... I agree..

I think 18 is the right age.

The drinking age for beer and wine should be lowered to 16 , hard alcohol remain @ 21.

It should be dropped to 18.

I'm fine with it at 21. When I was younger, I adamantly wanted the drinking age lowered to 18. However, I'm past 21 now and still rarely ever drink anyways.

It does not matter what the legal age is, young people will still find a way to drink. what we need to concentrate on is being responsible.

i think it should be lowered to 18... if i can hold a rifle and fight and die for my country, why can't i have a beer or a glass of wine?