why 21 for drinking age?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - why 21 for drinking age?

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:12:11 PM EDT

why is the drinking age 21, and not 20 or 22? were there any studies actually providing a good reasoning for why 21 would be the ideal age? i think it's terrible, because it allows 1/3 of college students to drink and 2/3rds not. i think the age should be either 19 or 23. 19 would mean almost all college students can drink but almost no high school students can. 23 would mean that few college students could drink.

but, back to the original question, why 21? was there some sort of sound reasoning, or did they just say "well, the voting age used to be 21, so lets choose that number for the drinking age, as opposed to 20 or 22"?

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:20:05 PM EDT

[#1]

Don't know. I don't think there should be an age, I think it should be when you graduate from High School. That way, the kid that got held back 2 years isn't drinking and everyone else can't. HS kids will still drink, no doubt about it. I drank more in HS than college, especially Sr. year of HS. Also, homeschooling is an exception to the drinking rule. If you are 15 and graduating from your excellent homeschool degree, tough titty, you have to wait until people in your public school class graduate.

I guess it might be easier to just call it 19 years old, but again, there were 19 y/o dipshits in the Jr. class when I was in HS.

If you're old enough to go to Iraq or Vietnam or California or its communist counterparts and take a bullet in the chest, you are responsible enough to buy a keg and a Smith 686. Just my .02.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:21:24 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
Don't know. I don't think there should be an age, I think it should be when you graduate from High School. That way, the kid that got held back 2 years isn't drinking and everyone else can't. HS kids will still drink, no doubt about it. I drank more in HS than college, especially Sr. year of HS. Also, homeschooling is an exception to the drinking rule. If you are 15 and graduating from your excellent homeschool degree, tough titty, you have to wait until people in your public school class graduate.

I guess it might be easier to just call it 19 years old, but again, there were 19 y/o dipshits in the Jr. class when I was in HS.

If you're old enough to go to Iraq or Vietnam or California or its communist counterparts and take a bullet in the chest, you are responsible enough to buy a keg and a Smith 686. Just my .02.

if only logic were one of the tennants of government

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:21:50 PM EDT

[#3]

elisabeth dole wanted it to be 21.

she used the power of the federal government to make it 21 nationwide.

There are some studies,iirc, that showed alcohol related accidents for people between 18 and 21 dropped after the adoption of the 21 year old drinking age.

However, it's stupid to have the feds mandate state policy, and it sucks they way they do it (i.e. "we won't give you federal highway funs that likely came from taxes paid in your state unless you raise the drinking age to 21")

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:21:59 PM EDT

[#4]

Congress picked "21" out of its collective derrière.

Notice how meth use has grown since they raised the drinking age to 21? Young folks can't buy booze legally. Some figure that they might as well try pot or meth. Those drugs are usually easier to get than illicit alcohol.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:22:05 PM EDT

[#5]

Not enough folks under 21 vote.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:22:13 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
why is the drinking age 21, and not 20 or 22? were there any studies actually providing a good reasoning for why 21 would be the ideal age? i think it's terrible, because it allows 1/3 of college students to drink and 2/3rds not. i think the age should be either 19 or 23. 19 would mean almost all college students can drink but almost no high school students can. 23 would mean that few college students could drink.

but, back to the original question, why 21? was there some sort of sound reasoning, or did they just say "well, the voting age used to be 21, so lets choose that number for the drinking age, as opposed to 20 or 22"?

I don't know, but they should have left it at 18. The societal hypocracy that allows and encourage underage college students to drink their asses off, but won't allow military members that are <21 to drink is ridiculous. I've seen way too many good troops get their careers damaged for something as stupid and harmless as underage drinking. The blatant hypocracy when the punishment is meted out by an officer who partied their ass off in college with no fear of repercussions is laughable.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:22:33 PM EDT

[#7]

I dont even think an 18 year old should be driving,let alone drinking.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:23:09 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Not enough folks under 21 vote.

Bingo

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:24:35 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
I dont even think an 18 year old should be driving,let alone drinking.

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:30:32 PM EDT

[#10]

go to college in a border town, and 3/4s of the college kids can drink in canada

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:32:46 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
I dont even think an 18 year old should be driving,let alone drinking.

That's really nice of you. It's fine to join the military at 18, but driving would be bad?

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:34:19 PM EDT

[#12]

It is 21 because a bunch of politicians got together and made it that way. No other reason.

THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED. It was tied to federal road funding. If you don't want the drinking age to be 21, that's fine, but no federal road funding for your state. Since most governors were too scared of the federal government to say "BOO" and join together and say NO, you now have to be 21 to drink alcohol. Yet another fine example of the federalization of all laws.

Here is a link. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05197/538834.stm

Here is a quote from the link:

During Prohibition, most states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age, but a campaign to lower the legal age to 18 began in 1970 -- the same year that Congress lowered the voting age to 18, mainly on the argument that young people old enough to get drafted for military service in Vietnam ought to have a vote in national policy and otherwise be treated as adults.

Twenty-nine states lowered their drinking ages to 18 between 1970 and 1975, but many soon witnessed an increase in alcohol-related traffic accidents. A number of states then began raising the legal age to 21 again, but others did not -- creating what Mothers Against Drunk Driving called "a checkerboard of state laws."

MADD took the fight to Washington, D.C., where Reagan established a commission on drunken driving that eventually recommended denying federal highway funds to states that refused to raise the legal drinking age to 21.

Despite his state's-rights philosophy, Reagan agreed to push the recommendation after a major lobbying campaign by MADD and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers. Since Reagan signed the measure into law, it has saved an estimated 1,000 lives per year.

So there you have it. The nanny state at it;s best. WHy not make the drinking age 80 and save more lives? WHy not make it illegal to own alcohol and put people in prison? OH, sorry that was tried once already...

GR

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:39:27 PM EDT

[#13]

During Prohibition, most states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age,

huh? during prohibition, wasn't there NO minimum drinking age, because alcohol was illegal for EVERYBODY?

anyways, wasn't tbe NMDAA (national mminimum drinking age act) unconstitutional because it's one of the federal gov't responsibilities to fund postal roads?

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:43:12 PM EDT

[#14]

Because parents are not raising children to be responsible adults...thats why...
Age does not mean shit when it comes to maturity!

I have worked with very mature 18 year olds and child like 30 year olds...

Posted: 3/11/2006 7:46:58 PM EDT

[#15]