Rant: United States Drinking Age

[Echo Wolf]

So I recently turned 18 and as you all know I can now,just to name a few things, use tobacco, get married, make a legal contract, consent to sex, buy a rifle, vote, gamble, get drafted into the military, and enlist in the military. So I can do all those things but I can't drink. What sense does that make!? Seriously I can screw my life up 100 times worse with those things than I can with alcohol. And please tell me how it makes any sense that I am mature enough to own a rifle now but I can't be trusted not to do stupid crap with that evil guy Jack Daniels. Also why can I go kill and possibly die for my country but I can't but trusted with my friend Sam Adams. Finally I can smoke now, that is way worse for my body and way more addicting than the occasional drink with Jim Beam. These laws make absolutely no sense what-so-ever...

[Mxpklx]

The only reason you don't drink is because your brain is still forming, and drinking would damage it. It stops growing around 21. As for tobacco and cigarettes they don't damage your brain, but other bodily functions.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Zenia]

Big deal. Drinking isn't all that great anyway.

[Echo Wolf]

Smoking damages the brain too, it just hurts the rest of the body worse. It decreases the amount of oxygen in the brain. But anyway I think a bullet to the head would harm my brain a bit more than an occasional drink... I mean seriously I can do all these things but I am apparently not mature enough to know moderation, it makes no sense.

[Term_the_Schmuck]

Typical 18-year-old rant. Short answer?

Deal with it.

You can get your hands on alcohol by other means. You can live the next three years of your life without walking into a bar and jeopardizing people's livelihoods by trying to order booze underage.

[Onnes]

The only reason you don't drink is because your brain is still forming, and drinking would damage it. It stops growing around 21. As for tobacco and cigarettes they don't damage your brain, but other bodily functions.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're wrong. It has absolutely nothing to do with brain development. Used to be that 21 was the magic age where everything happened going back to before anyone knew what brain development is--and even up until WWII you couldn't be drafted until 21. When the draft was lowered to 18, the drinking age followed. You could for a time drink in the US at the age of 18. However, anti-alcohol groups brought it back up to 21 through a federal law which ties highway funding to a state's alcohol sale and possession laws. As you can see, there is no real logic to any of this.

I should also note that moderate drinking has no proven effect on brain development, which I'm fairly sure continues even past the age of 21 according to current research. Otherwise Europe would have some serious neurological problems.

[Echo Wolf]

Big deal. Drinking isn't all that great anyway.

Even if you think this you have to see my big problem with this whole thing. Whether I drink or not should be my decision now that I am legally considered an adult.

[catilda lily]

I don't see what's so great about drinking honestly. It never really interested me. I've seen what it does to people and I have to say I am kind of happy that the drinking age is 21.

[Echo Wolf]

You can get your hands on alcohol by other means.

Yeah I can but that's kind of hard to do when your mother is strict about that kind of crap. My point remains the same though, the law makes no sense.

[Term_the_Schmuck]

Yeah I can but that's kind of hard to do when your mother is strict about that kind of crap. My point remains the same though, the law makes no sense.

Then drink with your high school friends whose parents don't mind it so much.

lrn2highschool

[Serbia Strong]

Answer to OP:

Wait like everyone else and quit with the angst.

Yeah I can but that's kind of hard to do when your mother is strict about that kind of crap. My point remains the same though, the law makes no sense.

When you are older you don't need to worry about such things, so wait your turn.

[Echo Wolf]

Then drink with your high school friends whose parents don't mind it so much.

My problem with that though is if I am going to go to a high school party were alcohol is present there is most likely going to be drugs present as well. Why should I have to be exposed to that as well?

[Aleu]

Alcohol tastes like shit anyway. You're not missing anything. The fuck is it with people and "OMG I NEED TO DRINK ALCOHOL TO BE COOOOOL"

Fuck that. Chug chocolate milk and not give two fucks.

[Serbia Strong]

My problem with that though is if I am going to go to a high school party were alcohol is present there is most likely going to be drugs present as well. Why should I have to be exposed to that as well?

OP complains about being restricted from a drug, and later says that he shouldn't be near other drugs.

>Mfw

[Term_the_Schmuck]

My problem with that though is if I am going to go to a high school party were alcohol is present there is most likely going to be drugs present as well. Why should I have to be exposed to that as well?

Beggars can't be choosers.

If you feel like you'll be so tempted to do drugs at parties now, then I got bad news for you friend.

[Xaerun]

My problem with that though is if I am going to go to a high school party were alcohol is present there is most likely going to be drugs present as well. Why should I have to be exposed to that as well?

"I want to be exposed to a drug, but what if I go somewhere I can get exposed to that drug and am exposed to other drugs as well? I'm not responsible enough to make that decision for myself!"

If that sounds like a perfectly reasonable line of thought and you just can't wait until you're 21, use your legal adulthood to fly somewhere else. You know, on a plane. On your own. Then you can wind up passed out in a gutter and your mum won't try to cover up your glaring personality flaw of being unable to refuse substances in your vicinity!

Alcohol tastes like shit anyway. You're not missing anything. The fuck is it with people and "OMG I NEED TO DRINK ALCOHOL TO BE COOOOOL"

Fuck that. Chug chocolate milk and not give two fucks.

You ain't been drinking the right drinks, then.

[Echo Wolf]

Alcohol tastes like shit anyway. You're not missing anything. The fuck is it with people and "OMG I NEED TO DRINK ALCOHOL TO BE COOOOOL"

I am not a heavy drinker at all but it should be my choice if I do so or not. And I don't think that just because I think its cool, which I don't, I think that because of the principal of it all.

[Aleu]

I am not a heavy drinker at all but it should be my choice if I do so or not. And I don't think that just because I think its cool, which I don't, I think that because of the principal of it all.

And it will be in 3 years :U
Seriously, if you're drinking now (like you're implying) then the fuck does it matter?

You ain't been drinking the right drinks, then.

Well, this one place I've tried a Mudslide and DAMN was it good...but so expensive. Probably good too because I would've had like...20 of them.

[Echo Wolf]

"I want to be exposed to a drug, but what if I go somewhere I can get exposed to that drug and am exposed to other drugs as well? I'm not responsible enough to make that decision for myself!"

I don't want to get a contact high on someone smoking a dooby next to me and end up failing a urine test for a job. That's my real concern, I personally believe in legalization of a few drugs, I don't use any, but that's a completely different story.

[Term_the_Schmuck]

You ain't been drinking the right drinks, then.

She hasn't let me mix drinks for her. This is clearly the issue.

[Aleu]

I don't want to get a contact high on someone smoking a dooby next to me and end up failing a urine test for a job. That's my real concern, I personally believe in legalization of a few drugs, I don't use any, but that's a completely different story.

Uhm...pot doesn't work like that.

[Echo Wolf]

Seriously, if you're drinking now (like you're implying) then the fuck does it matter?

It's just that I shouldn't have to shady places to have access to something that I should be allowed to use.

[Aleu]

She hasn't let me mix drinks for her. This is clearly the issue.

Fine. If I hit up wherever the hell you are I'll give you a buzz so you can give me a buzz in return

[catilda lily]

The more I read this thread, the more I hope I wasn't like the OP when I was 18.

[Dragonfurry]

This is how I view the issue. College kids find ways to drink alcohol and they are under the age. But also I kinda question how just turned adults would be responsible with the alcohol if the law was changed to drinking at the age of 18. I am for changing the age of drinking from 21 to 18 but there would probably have to be a alcohol limit bigger than people who are 18. Like how most states says that if you have a blood-level alcohol level of 0.08 (I think someone tell me if it is wrong) you can not drive. I view that we should lower it to 0.06 for people who just turned 18 or who arent 21 yet but are adults. But hey this is just hypothetical and I dont see how anywhere in the future America would allow us to have the drinking age set at 18.