We do a lot of silly things that no other countries do.
go to Colorado you drink smoke dope and ruin your life
Unfortunately this (total repeal of a drinking age) will probably never happen because no one wants to have their name and political career tied to the mess that will happen during the adjustment of our society to this. The drinking age has led to ridiculous "coming of age" madness surrounding drinking. Instead of people growing up around alcohol and drinking in moderation we have a society that keeps it from everyone until right about the time they are leaving home and exerting their independence; what a horrible combination. Instead of drinking being no big deal it is tied in our society to exerting independence and coming of age. There will be a horrible adjustment for our society to finally get into a healthy relationship with alcohol.
That makes sense. Just found the court case dealing with it too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Dole
People who are going to abuse drugs and alcohol are usually going to do it whether it's legal or not.
Why not spend the money treating people with these problems rather than spending all that money on the drug war.
Making it illegal forces the supply to come from south of the border, giving power to cartels, which causes a lot of violence and deaths.
From my understanding that is because the Federal gov't ties receiving cetain Federal highway dollars to requiring the receiving states to have 21 yr old drinking age.
Everyone says "19 to keep it out of schools".
Want it out of schools? Make it illegal to possess on school grounds.
A poor ruling that came at the height of "Just Say No" and all that jazz.
Its the only reason it went to 21 in the first place, and this type of law shouldnt be allowed. Hell, its one of the better examples of the negatives of the 17th amendment- there is no way senators elected by state legislators would have allowed that type of control over state governments.
At very least we need to remove that form of federal blackmail, and then let states decide for themselves. Some would likely still be 21, but at least states could decide for themselves.
For a local angle, its no coincidence that problems at veishea first occurred after the 21 law came into effect. With half the student body underage (and the drinking not stopping, despite the law) this just moved half the student body from controlled functions on campus or in relatively controlled campus area bars to house parties. House parties, as fun as we all know they could be, are also where most of the trouble is. Thats where the parties get to a size unmanageable for the host. Thats where you see some kid getting alcohol poisoning because there wasnt a bartender with the requirement to say 'you're done' (or a per-drink price at least slowing down the consumption). That's most often where you see someone walking home unsafely from and ending up in the lake or such.
And yes, i think as a society we might benefit from it being more accepted to have some drinks even earlier than 18. It makes no sense that we expect young kids to learn alcohol responsibility from their equally inexperienced friends. Kids should be learning alcohol responsibility at home, with moderate amounts of beer\wine (like with dinner) so they are well aware of their limits before they are thrown out into the world.
19 should be the age. End of story.
As one who was able to legally drink at age 18, I would recommend:
1. Change the age to 19. 18 was too young to drink. Students showed up at high school hung-over, and some would go out for a few beers at lunch.
Seriously, how much better would this country be without that amendment? I've always said, the problem with democracy is that all the idiots get to vote.
Unfortunately this (total repeal of a drinking age) will probably never happen because no one wants to have their name and political career tied to the mess that will happen during the adjustment of our society to this. The drinking age has led to ridiculous "coming of age" madness surrounding drinking. Instead of people growing up around alcohol and drinking in moderation we have a society that keeps it from everyone until right about the time they are leaving home and exerting their independence; what a horrible combination. Instead of drinking being no big deal it is tied in our society to exerting independence and coming of age. There will be a horrible adjustment for our society to finally get into a healthy relationship with alcohol.