Poll: Should parents be allowed to buy their (18+) kids alcohol in public?

[Old Father Eternity]

I believe the more useful in the long run course of action should be to focus on proper up-bringing or something like that, because a age restriction really does jack all, unless the people who are in charge of providing alcohol, tobacco or what have you, abide by the law.
If you get the children/young adults themselves to act responsibly, then everything is fine.

 

[Lucane]

Will it only be parents? or Guardians too? to what degree would a police officer inquire about it and what's to stop say a party at a college then being allowed to have 18-20 people drinking there as long as 1 person over 21 was present taking "responsibility" for them?

I can take or leave a lower drinking age but this would open up a nasty grey area. Or Say a parent has liquor in the house and his now 18 kid drinks it while the parents are out of town? would it be illegal then as in theory the parents bought it but would the kid then be arrested if they left the house and were found drunk in public(not doing anything else illegal.) Example the younger sibling is hurt so those to go to the hospital with a 3rd person driving and the younger sibling was hurt by a 3rd party making it impossible for the older sibling to have been able to stop it.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

all the alcohol I've had tastes bloody terrible anyway. Couldn't care less.

 

[Flames66]

I don't see why not as their children are now young adults and could buy it for themselves.

 

[SadisticBrownie]

I think it's a good thing. Also, would anyone really consider an 18-year-old a "child?"

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

Honestly this just seems to me like a big fuck around "compromise" instead of just lowering the drinking age to 18 like it is in just about every other developed country. It's like that medicinal marijuana episode of South Park, you get a bunch of people trying to fuck with the system so they can qualify for the "grey area" laws. All this will do is create more confusion and more of a grey area. Allowing parents to purchase alcohol for an 18 year old in a restaurant. Ok, define parent? What if your parents divorced and your mother remarried and changed her name so now you don't have the same name anymore? What if you are with your step-mum/step-dad? What if your parents died and your legal guardian is your uncle? Hell what if you mate is 21 you're 20?

Honestly as an Australian I couldn't imagine having to wait 3 extra years to drink, for better or worse it's deeply ingrained in our culture that people will just drink. But legislation like this is just stupid, bring the age back down to 18 and be done with it. Don't fuck around trying to semi-please everyone, the world won't end if you let a 19 year old walk into a bar and buy their own beer.

 

[88chaz88]

How the hell is an 18 year old considered a "kid"?

 

[Daveman]

Well it sounds reasonable to me. Here in the UK the age limit for drinking alcohol is 5 if you are in your own home. Buying it and having it in pubs, bars, restaurants and public places is where we have other age limits. You can have a bit when you're 16 or something but you need an 18 year old with you. Once you're 18 anything goes basically. In any case, whenever there is underage drinking, the kids don't get prosecuted, it's whoever buys it or whoever sells it.

tbh, these grey areas are ridiculously stupid in my opinion. They should just lower the drinking age and be done with it.

 

[Ashadowpie]

maybe im wrong with the ages, but if what i think its true, i find it very strange that an 18 year old can become a soldier, but they have to be 21 to drink yah'd think it would be the other way around?

 

[Tiamattt]

Sure why not? Trust me if 18-20 year olds want alcohol they will find ways to get it, so if they have their parents approval on the matter I don't see the problem. Whether they need said approval is another story, but 1 step at a time.

 

[Kopikatsu]

That has less to do with how our citizens act and more to do with the fact that our police/courts imprison everyone for pretty much everything. Most other countries have moved on to rehabilitation services, etc, especially for victimless "crimes" (which make up half of our prison population).

There is a reason we have 24% of the world's criminal population but only 5% of the global population.

Stupid over zealous laws on things that shouldn't matter? We have that in the UK too, Something retarded like 60% of the women in prison in the UK are in for not paying their TV licence...

Problems with booze almost seem genetic in northern Europeans, they never seem to be able to leave it alone.

I will copy/paste what I've said on the matter before. But before I do, I will say this. I have never broken any law, and that includes things like jaywalking. Therefore, anyone who does break any law deserves exactly the punishment they get, because it's entirely possible to live your life without ever doing so. There is a thing called personal responsibility, and most Americans are solely lacking of it.

Laws are about one thing and one thing only. But before I go into that, I will put this up as a foreword:

social contract
n.
An agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each.

Now for the main thing. There is no such thing as an objective evil/wrong. What is considered 'evil' is entirely based on the morals that you have come up with. The closest to objective 'evil' that you can get is something that is done maliciously with no benefit, but there is always a benefit. Anyway, purpose of law is to keep the citizens of a nation within the boundaries of the common morals held by that society. This is why laws preventing, say, homosexual marriage are not bad. If the majority of the society believes that homosexuality is wrong, then it is. If the majority of society accepts homosexuality, then it's not.

This concept is present within the legal system itself. Laws are open to change, because the morals held by a society are constantly in flux. Being openly Communist was a heinous crime not so long ago within the US, but it's no longer such a strong concern, so now it is not.

To tl;dr it, the law is right 100% of the time. It doesn't matter what the law is, if you live in that country, then you are expected (And should) follow the law. In many countries nowadays, you're free to argue against said laws, and even try and have them changed. But as long as the law is still law, then it should not be broken under any circumstance. Small note: The law is rarely changed because people break it. IE Protesting laws against marijuana with a blunt in your hand isn't very effective for the same reason that we don't allow convicted felons to vote. If you break the law, then you should have no say in whether or not it gets changed because you have not shown the self-control and acknowledgement of personality responsbility to make those decisions.

 

[KeyMaster45]

As my grandfather says, "If you're old enough to vote and go to war then you should at least be able to legally have a beer before doing either." So no, if a parent wants to buy their kid some booze and the kid is 18 then I don't see an issue. Besides, I seem to remember being told there are provisions that allow for the consumption of alcohol by minors if it is part of a religious practice or with family members.

 

[Hoplon]

Big ol' snip

Mostly I am talking about the bizarreness of spending a half million pounds on punishing some one for missing a £150 payment. Never mind the court costs.

You are correct, I just don't believe the punishment, nor the cost of the punishment, befits the nature of the crime and that this is true of a lot of the more minor infringements.

 

[The Wonder of the net]

I think the idea can only hold water based on how your parents raised you. My parents said we can drink and smoke if we don't hide it or make it a massive issue. Alcohol was always in the house and we knew where it was. We don't drink too much. But my parents did the same thing about firearms so I guess my parents are completely mad. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt because it could be sucky.

 

[ramboondiea]

i have always found the drinking age limitation to be massively arbitrary, i mean each country seems to have it sown definition of when its acceptable and when its not, but know im behind this, it would be nice if this was adopted across the board and maybe parents will feel more pressured to teach kids about moderation

 

[Hagi]

Our legal drinking age for 'lighter' drinks (beer, wine etc.) is 16. For 'heavier' drinks (whiskey, rum, tequila etc.) it's 18. Weed is legal in small amounts from 18 onward (or 16, not sure).

Our society is fully functional. We have among the lowest number of weed users even though it's the only country where it's legal... go figure... From what I can find we've got less alcohol problems as well than the US.

 

[lacktheknack]

The message it sends is "I trust you to drink responsibly".

Now, I don't think it should go through, only because I don't trust parents nowadays.

 

[RedDeadFred]

When I read the title I could only think: "dafuq? 18 is the legal drinking age!" Then I realized that you are form a less fortunate place (kidding! sort of...). I think it's a very good idea to introduce alcohol in moderation. This might make them less inclined to binge drink later on. Of course, it's pretty easy to get alcohol even if you're underage so it's quite possible that they've been binge drinking since they were 14.

Ya, I don't really see this solving anything but I don't think it's a bad idea.

 

[razer17]

To me it seems fucking hilarious that you're drinking age is 21 anyway. You can drive at like 16, but can't drink till you're 21. I know which of those two things I think is more dangerous.

In the UK you can have a beer, wine or cider with a meal, if you're 16, and have an adult 18+ with you, just like the law they're proposing, except with more reasonable ages.

Today, in my beautiful home state of Colorful Colorado, a REPUBLICAN state representative is planning on introducing legislation to allow parents to buy their children alcohol in public places (restaurants and bars) as long as they are 18 or over.

*Me as a Kansan*Oh this is great. JUST great. First you go and legalize weed on us, and now this. I though Brownback was bad with his education cuts[footnote]On the other hand, Kansas is growing fast, and many national level papers and news agencys are saying that due to his super-majority in both chambers and controling all 3 state government areas, it will be a good testing ground for Republican ideals, and are speculating if it works, he may run for president. So far its working........Brownback 2020 perhaps?[/footnote], but you guys are getting crazy on us. I guess I just need to put Colorado on my "Nice to visit, but will not live there" list with most of the rest of the world......wait, you guys legalized weed........Ok, I will put it on my "Avoid like plauge-infested" along with Washington [state] and the Netherlands.

Wait, are you serious? What do you think legalising weed and drinking for 18+ (and even that under supervision) is going to do?

Do you think if you live there you will suddenly be obligated to smoke weed and get your kids drunk? Do you think that the streets will be littered with 18 year old alcoholics and piles of stoners?