Drinking Ages. Do you believe the drinking ages should be lowered or should they rise? In the United States, the legal drinking age is 21. In the United Kindom, the drinking age is 18. In the UK, there are arguments that 18 is too low, while in the US, there are arguments that 21 is too high.

Today, I went to my cousins mates house, his parents have a kid aged 14, he casually walked up to his mum, in front of me, and asked her, "Mum, can I have a beer?". To my surprise, without even glancing at him, she answered "You know where they are."

Tonight, he had 5 beers. He offered me one, and I refused although I had a couple earlier... it just seemed wrong accepting a beer from a kid. He said the taste is horrible, but he loves being drunk. He got drunk and fell asleep right in front of me. His mum and dad didn't care at all.

What are your opinions on drinking ages? Too high? Too low? Or just right?

I once decided I would never drink, but now I drink quite regularly, but always in moderation. I have never been drunk or even close to it. I just physically can't consume that much alcohol, I couldn't even drink that much water for that matter. A few of my mates get smashed regularly but we are very responsible, always with several designated drivers, and they will hold off for a night or two after a big night.

America's youth have enough problem's without adding drinking to their agenda.

I think it should be 20. Too many young people are drinking too much these days.

I don't think it would make much of a difference. Underage people who want to get alcohol will always have somewhere to get it, and while it might be nice to think that if we raise the drinking age, it'll stop people from drinking irresponsibly and so forth, it won't do much.

I think that's quite sad that a 14 year old is getting drunk and his parents dont care.

The strongest argument I thought for the drinking age to be raised was because some 18 year olds are still in high school and therefore could get beer for their younger friends, if the age was raised to 21 this would eliminate most of this problem.

So with that said, I dont think it should be lowered, but I wouldn't say it should be raised either, there is perhaps a decent argument for it, but you could also argue that raising the age wont stop under age drinking and that it's more beneficial to educate the youth about the dangers of over consumption.

If it has to be raised, the it should only be to 19. But anything higher than that is too high, and 18 is definately the minimum.

My first time DRUNK was 15, but my first time that i had a few beers was at 14. I only had 2 lights and that was over 2 hours at least, and my parents were watching me lol :P

18 isn't young, most 18 year old are in year 12 or have finished just finished year 12, and IMHO getting your Yr.12 Certificate(HSC, VCE, whatever) means you're old enough to make your own choices.

That said, the only irresponsible drinkers I've incountered have all been underaged(mostly around 16yrs old), so I really don't think changing the drinking age would stop underaged drinking. If a 15 yr old wants to drink, they're going to drink no matter what the legal limit is.

It's not the law that'll change anything. 21 or 18, if the parents buy beer and let the kid access this, then theres your problem, irresponsible parents...

And stupid ass kids that wanna act gron up by getting drunk and bragging about it at school... if they even go to school.

Though in a way, I think underaged drinking has an advantage of sorts...if they get the whole binge-drinking thing out of their system when they are younger(15/16), they tend to be more responsible once they hit the legal age, as they know what the consequences of binge drinking are.

A good example is one of my friends and his older sister. His sister got drunk at parties and stuff while she was still in high school, and now she doesn't do as much cause she's "gotten over it". My mate on the other hand, only really started drinking when he turned 17, and he was kinda out of control(drunk 4-5 nights a week), and he only really started drinking responsibly recently.(he just turned 20)

Though that said, each person handles things differently. Like me, I only started drinking when I turned 19(last year) and even then I can't say I've ever drunk unresponsibly.

Oh, and I'm not trying to say that underaged binge drinking is a good thing, just stating what I know. :P

There's actually nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. "Binge-drinking" is the problem.

I think I probably started drinking when I was about 15 and I definitely "cooled down" a little around the time I turned 18.

My parents let me drink small amounts before I turned 18 (the occasional beer or two, a glass of wine at dinner etc) which I think was a good way to go about.

So I think the current laws are about right. Certainly increasing the age seems pretty silly to me and I wouldn't want to see it go down below 16 at the very lowest.

I don't entirely understand the term "Binge Drinking", someone explain it to me in their understanding.

If you aren't drinking to relax, loosen up etc. or get a little tipsy/drunk, then what is the point of drinking? You might as well drink coke or something, it's a lot cheaper.

i think it means drinking copious amounts until you throw up or pass out....restricted to 18 is fine its really all about the parents in my view

Yeah, I agree with you it's simply the parents who decide if you drink already on your 13th or on your 18th or something..

Binge drinking is statistically considered to be having 5 or more standard drinks. Obviously alcohol effects different people differently so some people may feel that 5 standard drinks is not an excessive amount.

Yeah I think pretty much all young teenagers do it just to be "cool". As soon as they stay at someone's place, the first thing they tend to ask is "got the drinks?" or whatever.

I was on the phone to my girlfriend the other night and she was at her 16 y.o's friends place. In the backround I could hear her friend going "1..2...3" then a pause before a small noise. I found out quickly that they were taking shots (only of standard drinks though - no spirits). This was quite offensive to me, because even though my girl doesn't really drink too much, most of her friends (15 and 16 y.o's) are all having sex and getting trashed every weekend, and she's the 'good girl'.. at the moment. I'm really worried she'll get caught up in it. She has been drunk before, but only once or twice, and she rarely has more than one standard drink.

But I was just there on the phone... and I dunno. It really offended and shocked me. Do ANY sleep-overs or get-togethers happen anymore WITHOUT alcohol? I really don't see the point. You don't have to drink alcohol whenever you're at a party or something. You can have a great time without it.

My point is that I think there needs to be a much larger crack-down on underage drinking. I know that it's generally irresponsible parents who are the problem (hell, in my above story I think my girl's friend's mum or dad was there), and I know it may be... impossible to stop it, but the issue really needs more importance and priority at being resolved.

MY GOD YOU ARE THE WORLDS BIGGEST PUSSY.

I think the age right now is it, and defintely shouldn't go any higher. I'm with Evo btw, if I'm drinking I'm doing it to it too have fun which means getting drunk. Not to the extent of passing out though but I have done that a couple of times and I don't know why people would want to do it.

It's more fun with your mates when you've all had a bit too much, that's for sure. Someone is probably going to say "why isn't it fun when you aren't drinking" or something to that effect and in response I will say because we do that the majority of the time and the occasional weekend drinking is the way to unwind.

Changing it to 19.5 in both countries sounds like a pretty fair deal! :P

I think it's fine at 18, they can legally vote, they're legally an adult and they are responsible for themselves. But there should be harsher penalties for people getting caught drinking in public who are under 18, and if the kid is under 16 then I think the parents should be held partially responsible as well.

If the parents want to give their kid a beer, a glass of wine or whatever in their own home, then that's fine. Nobody else's business, and the parents can keep an eye on them and control it, and essentially be responsible for them.



In related news, I first got drunk when I was 5 years old. My dad poured himself a glass of port, put it on the coffee table and left the room for a minute. 5 year old Stevo comes in "Oh a glass of dark liquid within reach!" he said to himself as he drank it and left the room. Father returned to discover the crime, and called out "Who drank my port?" and mother was left to look after a tipsy Stevo.

Didn't affect all at me.

Speaking of UK law, apparently instead of having an "age of consent" kind of thing like we do, where you essentially can't have sex below a certain age; In the UK the law is just that it's a crime to have sex with a girl under the age of 16. So like all those female teachers sleeping with their students wouldn't have been breaking the law in England. But if a 10 year old boy had sex with his 15 year old baby sitter he'd be breaking the law!

I thought you said sister, rofl.

Wow, Suity and i think exactly the same, poor him :P I agree, it's just a way to wind down. We have fun no matter what, but drinking is just another fun thing to do.

Alcohol is just another beverage to enjoy, exploiting it is 'binge drinking'. After a hot day, cleaning the yard or some other labouring work, a cold beer or any freezing cold alcohol beverage is feels deserved. You can enjoy alcohol without aiming to get drunk.
And some people prefer the taste of beer than Coke, btw.

Something is wrong with said people. Water pwns beer.

Rum pwns all.

Just to note, the drinking age is generally 16 in Western Europe. They pride themselves on the fact that people don't over drink there.

To be honest I don't think the legal age really affects many people. If you want to drink, then there is not much people can do to stop you. My first time drunk was when I was 16, and the legal age here is 18. I'm not even 18 yet and I have been drunk many a time. If you want to drink then do it, if you don't then don't.

Yeah. I know that in Switzerland, and I think Germany too, it's 16 for beer and wine, and 18 for spirits. As far as I know, they don't really have a problem with teenagers getting wasted all the time.

I agree completely, teens in those areas probably do not care for stupid foolishness such as drinking at a young age.

Yeah so they come over here to get pissed :P

if anyone actually had to wait until 21 to drink it would surely drive you nuts.

yeah it's kinda hard to imagine.

Don't you love it when they want to pimp their forum.

I don't think the drinking age is actually the reason they don't drink as much per outing in Western Europe. Correlation does not equal cause.

The difference in Europe (excl. UK) is the culture. In Europe an alcoholic drink is to be enjoyed with a meal etc. If you said you were going out to drink, they'd think you were crazy. The UK has a culture of drinking to get drunk and America and Australia have followed this culture.

Perhaps the drinking age is higher in the UK/Australia/USA because there is a problem with drinking and hence those countries feel that they need to protect the youth, rather than drinking being a problem because young people can't drink early enough.

I don't understand where this idea that Europeans don't over drink comes from.

The top beer drinking countries in the world are:

1. Czech Republic
2. Ireland
3. Germany
4. Australia
5. Austria
6. United Kingdom
7. Belgium
8. Denmark
9. Finland
10. Luxemberg

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_consumption_by_country

As you can see - the entire top 10 is made up of European countries apart from Australia.

And many of those countries definitely do have problems with over consumption of alcohol - probably all those countries have alcohol related problems. Certainly Germany, France, Ireland and the Czech republic are famous for having a large amount of alcoholics.

Nice one Australia....i didn't expect that i guess we have some decent beer but i wouldnt know because i generally hate beer

Yeah we definitely have decent beer. I think we'd be in the top 5 beer making countries in the world - along with Holland, Belguim, Czech Rep and Germany - in terms of quality of beer I mean.