Quote:
Originally posted by AGDee
If these young people want to lobby to get the drinking age lowered, then they need to show that they can drink responsibly. High numbers of college drinking deaths isn't going to be seen as a strong argument for lowering the drinking age to most politicans or most people in the community.
The drinking age was 21 while I was in school, and hadn't been that way for very long, but we didn't think it was funny when someone drank until they got drunk or passed out. There was a level of drunkenness that was fun, but we weren't doing 21 shots on our 21st birthday, this century club thing or the power hour thing.
There is something about our culture now that says "It's hilarious and fun to drink until you black out". Back in the day, it was hilarious and fun to drink until you wore a lampshade for a hat, not til you passed out. It seems like the message for so long was "Don't drink and drive" that people think it doesn't matter how drunk they get, as long as there is a designated driver or they don't have to drive anywhere.
Why the change? I don't know. Hopefully more studies will be done. I have no idea what the solution to the problem is. And, my concern about lowering the drinking age is that we will just see the same problems occurring in younger drinkers.
Dee
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I don't know how 18/19/20 year olds can show that they will be responsible drinkers when they're not allowed to drink or (in PA) even be around alcohol. It's a catch-22.
You're right on with the "don't drink and drive" correlation - I mean I've seen people younger than me freak out if the DD has even a sip of beer, but if someone not the DD is so drunk we have to carry them to the car, that's OK.
Over the past 10-12 years things have definitely changed...I mean I remember as a high schooler going to an anniversary party w/ my parents and getting very poopy-faced. Nowadays some "well-meaning" person would probably call the cops and have my parents and the servers all thrown in jail. As people have taken it on themselves to judge others and make their decisions for them, the idea of personal responsibility has gone out the window.