Age Limits

[chuckman1]

Almost everyone I ask seems to want some type of age limits.
I don't. I see age limits as very problematic things that don't really protect.
I started getting drunk at the age of 14, in America the age is 21, I didn't have to go out of my way to get it or anything my friends just pulled out a bottle of vodka.
In America our laws are set up in a way where if you are under 21 and need medical help you and your friends will be punished for underage drinking.
This causes many teens to die covered in their puke because they didn't wanna pay a fine, should it be this way?

I just think no age limits work, you're no more mature the day you turn 18 than the day before.
Some 16 year olds could handle alcohol responsibly and some 30 year olds can't.
Why can only the 30 year old drink?

It's not just with drugs though, many people were fully capeable of driving before they were 16 responsibly and many people over the age of 20 get in to crashes or drive drunk.

They feel at 21 the average person is ready to drink so the responsible people have to suffer for the irresponsible because they make the average worse, and the irresponsible people who can't handle alcohol when they're 21 get to do it anyway.
Why do we put so much on an arbitrary number?

 

[evilneko]

Here you go.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.340004-Poll-Age-Limits-What-do-you-think-of-them

 

[Vault101]

here you can drink at 18..21 seems sooo old

I think it used to be 21, it seems weird that I still would have to wait a year to drink

 

[Ytomyth]

Not gonna quote/unquote everything.

"In America our laws are set up in a way where if you are under 21 and need medical help you and your friends will be punished for underage drinking.
This causes many teens to die covered in their puke because they didn't wanna pay a fine, should it be this way?"

(Wo)Man enough to take the drink? Be (wo)man enough to take the fine or exit life. Yes, I'd say this works perfectly well. Here in Holland we try to save idiots who drunk themselves in a stupor at the age of 14 or 16 to be cool or under peer pressure. To quote one of my favourite comedians: "We lost a moron! Fucking celebrate! "

"Some 16 year olds could handle alcohol responsibly and some 30 year olds can't.
Why can only the 30 year old drink?"

There are more 16 year olds that can't handle alcohol than 30 year olds, it's simply a matter of generalisation. Same with:

"the responsible people have to suffer for the irresponsible"
Yes, that's how it works. The 'good' always have to suffer from the 'bad'. It's impossible to make a different set of rules for every single person based on how they are, whether they're (ir)responsible enough to do stuff or whatever.
So they just took a number, they'd have to draw the line somewhere, right?

I don't think these age limits are that bad of a thing. On the other hand, allowing alcohol for every 12-16 year old that wants it would be helping us get rid of moar morons.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

here you can drink at 18..21 seems sooo old

19 here but I never got the allure of drinking before you were legally allowed. I waited, saved my money and didn't have to hang around shady characters to inflict alcohol on myself.

Age limits can be arbitrary at times but a little maturity never hurts.

 

[Vault101]

here you can drink at 18..21 seems sooo old

19 here but I never got the allure of drinking before you were legally allowed. I waited, saved my money and didn't have to hang around shady characters to inflict alcohol on myself.

Age limits can be arbitrary at times but a little maturity never hurts.

never got the apeal?

the apeal is everyones doing it , and trust me its not fun to feel left out...anyway its easy you dont have to hang around shady charachters, perents somtimes give you booze depending on the situation

anyway its not a big deal, I never did it much and thease days I dont drink often

 

[willsham45]

In the UK you can drink from any age more or less, there is no real age limit. You cannot buy alcohol until you are 18 and I think there are a few laws regarding under age drinking in the bar but in the garden at home, its all fine.
In some ways that is loads better as it means you generally have a good tollorence for it.
Although now at 21 age does not matter for anything I can do and buy anything...well except things for ages x and below...kids get all the fun

 

[Lucem712]

Well, I suppose it's because certain parts of your brain aren't fully developed and alcohol can hamper that *Shrugs* No matter what rule you set, people will break it. Although, alcohol is responsible for a-lot of kids dying (from drunk driving or poisoning), so it could be debated that they are mature enough to handle the substance.

I've never gotten the desire to get drunk off my rocker and prefer to remember my good times.(Not that you have to get wasted every time you drink)

Not of age yet (1 1/2 left), I have some mates that drink occasionally but none of them are drunkards.

 

[senordesol]

Almost everyone I ask seems to want some type of age limits.
I don't. I see age limits as very problematic things that don't really protect.
I started getting drunk at the age of 14, in America the age is 21, I didn't have to go out of my way to get it or anything my friends just pulled out a bottle of vodka.
In America our laws are set up in a way where if you are under 21 and need medical help you and your friends will be punished for underage drinking.
This causes many teens to die covered in their puke because they didn't wanna pay a fine, should it be this way?

I just think no age limits work, you're no more mature the day you turn 18 than the day before.
Some 16 year olds could handle alcohol responsibly and some 30 year olds can't.
Why can only the 30 year old drink?

It's not just with drugs though, many people were fully capeable of driving before they were 16 responsibly and many people over the age of 20 get in to crashes or drive drunk.

They feel at 21 the average person is ready to drink so the responsible people have to suffer for the irresponsible because they make the average worse, and the irresponsible people who can't handle alcohol when they're 21 get to do it anyway.
Why do we put so much on an arbitrary number?

^This is what happens when you start drinking at 14 XD

I kid, I kid. I am for more relaxed age limits, but to do away with them entirely is just fucking stupid. There are things you can choose to do because you are an adult. You want to ruin your liver at 21? fine. But at 14, you are simply not 'man' enough to appreciate the consequences of that choice.

Plainly, when you are an adult, you can decide what you want to do as an adult. Otherwise, be off the streets by midnight, and stay away from the fire water.

 

[Thyunda]

I think age limits should be kept the way they are. I was drinking from 15 - but it was in my own home with my parents, and only at New Year's. By seventeen, it was a bottle of cider every now and then. And now I'm 19, I have to pay for my own alcohol and really I have no reason to drink. I drink less now that I have to go out and get it myself, because I really can't be bothered to go all the way to the shop just for a drink.
However. If I had any local friends, I could go to a local pub - I know real cheap ones nearby - I just have nobody to drink with.

 

[renegade7]

The law doesn't work on a case by case basis. Could a 15 year old be smarter and more mature than a 30 year old? Absolutely. But the fact is that most aren't, and it's so much easier on the system to just say that you can drink at 21, and you can't if you're younger.

 

[370999]

Because otherwise we would have to give maturity tests to everyone for stuff like driving, drinking, having sex, watching mature films, etc. It's just stupidly over complicated. Instead an age is set as it is so much easier to do that. Laws have to be workable.

So yes it sucks but tough.

 

[Optiluiz]

I think it's an ok age. Though I hate alcohol, so my opinion isn't the best one regarding this subject. Here in Brazil it's 18. Driving too.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

Umm...Well...

The reason the age limit for drinking is at 21 is a scientific one. The age limit for drinking isn't really about (well it shouldn't be) being able to handle the "responsibility" or "consequences" of drinking.

One of the slowest (if not the slowest?) part of the human body to fully develop is the brain. The frontal lobe of your brain is normally fully developed around the age of 18 at the earliest and usually the age of 21 at the latest. The blood brain barrier inside your head that protects the brain from bad shit, does not stop alcohol from passing through. Alcohol tends to have negative effects on the brain. So I hope that you can make the connection here.

Alcohol damaging a developing frontal lobe is kind of bad.

So, I believe that the age limit of 21 is there to allow a person to reach their peak in frontal lobe functions, before choosing to potentially damage and/or kill it with alcohol.

P.S Your frontal lobe does some important shit. That's why you don't want it damaged.

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

I started getting drunk at the age of 14, in America the age is 21, I didn't have to go out of my way to get it or anything my friends just pulled out a bottle of vodka.

You sound more like an alcoholic teenager then anything from that wording :|

And as said above, its put in place not because you're not "mature", but because your body IS NOT physically meant to be filtering poison at such an age. and yes, Alcohol IS poison.

My question is, why are you so hell bent on drinking at 14? is it that much of a burden to wait a few years? does it make you feel cool? or is it a social thing with family? Then again I did and still grow up with an Alcoholic father so there's one addition to my stance.

@Vault101, It did indeed used to be 21, however during WWI A LOT of young men signed into the army at 18 and it was initially brought down for them for numerous reasons. then WWII hit, and since then the Gov' just decided to keep it at 18, which imo is reasonably fine.

 

[PotluckBrigand]

Man I was tired of drinking by the time I was 21.

 

[Berenzen]

We need age limits.

To the OP: shouldn't you be arrested? You commited a serious crime. A friend of mine purposly consumed some alchohol at the age of 16(legal age here is 18) and his parents handed him over to the police. They also refused to house him AND they denied him his college savings. I also stopped being friends with him, because who wants to be friends with a mad man?

He didn't commit a crime, he commited a misdemeanor. The worst you could get is a slap on the wrist and a fine. That's all, and getting disowned simply because you got drunk underage really is idiotic.

OT: I started having sips of alchohol when I was 15 (18 is the limit here). I have gotten tipsy with a few friends a couple times, but I can never say that I got totally wasted. I do believe that we should have age limits, mostly because of school. The age 21 instatement in the U.S. really is ridiculous because you can get shot at for your country, vote about who decides the future of the country for the next few years, but can't legally have a drop of alcohol in you for another 3 years.

I also believe that moderation should be taught rather than just straight up abstinance- it really is sad when you hear of a kid that goes away to college and dies of alcohol poisoning because he didn't know his limits and blows right past them the first time he drinks because of peer pressure.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

A friend of mine purposly consumed some alchohol at the age of 16(legal age here is 18) and his parents handed him over to the police. They also refused to house him AND they denied him his college savings. I also stopped being friends with him, because who wants to be friends with a mad man?

can I ask your age and where you're from? I'm curious to find out what demographics lead to these kind of values.

 

[requisitename]

I think age limits are appropriate, though you can count me amongst those who believe the legal age for drinking should be 18 here. No matter how mature a 14-year-old might think they are (or even be), I can just about guarantee that five or ten years is going to make a huge difference in actual maturity level.

I really understand teenagers chafing at being told what to do. It's human nature. Almost no one wants to be told what to do. But, honestly, choosing to disregard a law because it gets in the way of having fun kind of shoots the "teenagers are definitely responsible enough to drink" argument in the foot. Part of being responsible is obeying the laws put into place to protect you.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that I didn't feel this way as a teenager. Age and maturity have led me to where I am now in my beliefs.