Coors urges lower drinking age

The Washington Times ^ | 6/24/04 | Valerie Richardson

[Jim Noble]

The 21-year old drinking age is a travesty.

[AngryJawa]

How 'bout this?

Show a vaild military ID and you can drink at 18. We can solve the problems of recruitment quotas AND unfair government age discrimination in one shot.

I'm only half joking.

[SpyGuy]

I'm so sick of the MADD nannies.

I'm so sick of the all the socialist nannies.

Last weekend, I watched a large police power boat, with bull horns blaring, chase a tiny two-man Hobie cat sailboat well over a mile across the San Francisco Bay. The boater's dastardly crime against humanity? They didn't each have a life jacket stowed away on their little boat.

[itsamelman]

"BOTTOM LINE IS YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE MORALITY..."


You can't? How about the moral tenets of "Thou shall not steal" and "Thou shall not murder"? We believe these things to be immoral and, as a result, legislate against them.

[hchutch]

Coors would get my vote... if only because he seems to be willing to knock some of that stuff back.

[tjwmason]

Here in Merry England, one has to be 14 to enter a bar (many pubs have 'family areas', especially if they serve food), 16 to drink in a restaurant with a meal, and 18 to buy alcohol or drink it in a pub.The de facto age for buying is mid-teens, there is nothing like the strong enforcement and I.D. checking of the U.S. My vote would be to lower the age to 16.

[jalisco555]

Absolutely. The drinking age moved to 21 in SD just as I turned 21, thank goodness.

By coincidence the drinking age in my state was lowered to 18 the year I turned 18, in 1973. It didn't turn me into a dangerous binge drinker. My 19 year old son is certainly mature enough to drink without getting crazy.

[AFPhys]

I believe that the law ought to be that if you have graduated from High School you can drink, otherwise the age is 21.

That would eliminate the problem of having some 18yo highschoolers who can drink when their buddies can't, and as well, would get rid of the disparity in the college age population.

It might also serve as an incentive for some to get a diploma...

.

[AFPhys]

I believe that the law ought to be that if you have graduated from High School you can drink, otherwise the age is 21.

That would eliminate the problem of having some 18yo highschoolers who can drink when their buddies can't, and as well, would get rid of the disparity in the college age population.

It might also serve as an incentive for some to get a diploma... who knows?

.

[jalisco555]

I remember visiting London when I was 17 and freely being served in several pubs. My age was never questioned. A wise country indeed.

[kinghorse]

no kidding, huh. Glad to see the rich and powerful peddlers of vice have a way to voice their opinions where it counts, in the halls of congress, national and state.

These Coors cats with their glorification of getting flat out drunk (wild and crazy parties as depicted in their stupid ads do not add up to moderation) deserve to be horse whipped.

That is all.

[kinghorse]

I like your idea much better. It's a damn shame so many promising lives are snuffed out in alcohol related accidents. We need kids being kids longer, not vice versa.

[Little Ray]

There should not be a drinking age, not for beer and wine.

Instead there should simple be laws regarding "drunk and disorderly" and "public intoxication."

IMHO, half the reason for excessive teenage drinking is the "mystique" of consuming the forbidden beverage. If its just another dring, like pop or soda, you might not have problem. Its worth a try.

[monday]

"OR...we could raise the voting age to 21 as well as the age to volunteer for the military."

why not raise it to 25 or 30..or 65?

18 yo's make good soldiers. I am not sure what those who advocate that 21 is a better time to start drinking than 18 are thinking? If an 18 yo is going to drink they will drink whether it is legal or not. The same with a 21 year old or a 50 year old.

Prohibition doesn't work, it doesn't matter what age you are. All it does is make scofflaws out of otherwise law abiding 18 yo's.

[July 4th]

I wholly agree with this policy, and I also am well aware of how this will appeal to your average college voter.

[monday]

"I know I felt differently about it thirty years ago, but lately, I'm not unhappy with a 21-year-old drinking age"

Sad to get old. Turns people into Scrooge. Bah..Humbug..

[Morgan in Denver]

Another great idea from the UK. Another is, many pubs also have two sides: one for adults and the other for their kids. Wild and crazy on one side and more sedate on the other. (Without saying which is which.) Still, it seems to work well and families can go out together.

[BigAzzHam]

If an 18 year drinks a beer in their own house, who is the victim? In order for an act to be a crime, there has to be a victim. Murders and pedophiles have victims. 18 year olds drinking do not.