Drinking age still debated

JS Online ^ | July 17, 2005 | RAQUEL RUTLEDGE

[Last Dakotan]

Tying the drinking age to federal highway funds was a blatantly unconstitutional overstep of Federal authority.

[RockinRight]

Yes it was.

My opinion-if you are old enough to serve your country, you're old enough to be served alcohol. JMHO.

[sharktrager]

In high school I drank. The fact is, the difficulty of getting alcohol didn't deter drinking at all. It did, however, give me a built in excuse to drink more heavily.

Scared Bunny Blog
Not for the timid

[Zero Sum]

... was a blatantly unconstitutional overstep of Federal authority.

Yeah, but we're used to those by now... :-(

[E Rocc]

In Ohio, a 1983 referendum to raise the beer age from 19 to 21 failed by a 2-1 margin. So of course our wonderful Dimocratic senators vote in favor of the MADD-pushed federal blackmail. This push meant that MADD was no longer an anti-drunk driving group...it became a prohibitionist group.

Fortunately, we no longer have Dimocratic senators.

-Eric

[NJ_gent]

"My opinion-if you are old enough to serve your country, you're old enough to be served alcohol. JMHO."

Old enough to take a bullet for Uncle Sam, but not old enough to take a shot with your uncle Sam.

[Illuminatas]

Wrong premise, right idea... A more valid premise would be that if you are old enough and responsible enough to vote for POTUS, then you are old enough to have a beer (or wine, or gin&tonic)

[You Dirty Rats]

And, sad to say, it was our beloved former President Ronald Reagan who pushed this very hard.

Anyone who believes these laws stop 18-20-year-olds from drinking is beyond delusional. Kids need to be taught how to drink responsibly. An outright ban actually interferes with that.

[Ouderkirk]

I have no problem with the drinking age being 21. However if they are too young to drink then they are too young to VOTE or be conscripted.

[July 4th]

The higher drinking age has meant fewer injuries and deaths at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Susan Crowley, director of PACE (Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education), a 10-year, $1.2 million program aimed at curtailing underage drinking. The study is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

As a former Madison student, I hereby testify to the fact that the drinking age of 21 does not apply in any way, shape, or form to the students. If you want alcohol, it's about as easy to come by as a gallon of milk. Most weekend house parties selling cups will grant access to just about anyone, so that an 18-year-old can drink their face off unsupervised.

The RWJ Foundation is worse than MADD, by the way.

[Meldrim]

How about tying it to military service. Old enough to serve, old enough to drink.

[RockinRight]

OK better analogy.

[getsoutalive]

The alcohol-related crash rate for 19-year-olds dropped from 22 per 1,000 licensed drivers in 1985 to 5 in 2003, the latest year for which data is available, according to DOT figures. And when Wisconsin raised its minimum drinking age from 18 to 19 in 1984, the alcohol-related crash rate for 18-year-olds fell from 21 per 1,000 licensed drivers to 12. By 2003, that rate had dipped to 5 alcohol-related crashes per 1,000 licensed drivers.

These numbers are meaningless out of context. What happened to drivers of all ages over the same time frame, or more specifically, what are the rates for drivers who were just above the legal age? There is no doubt that drunken driving has dropped significantly for all drivers of the last several decades, without having all those stats, these mean nothing.

[SoDak]

South Dakota took that to the Supreme Court and lost, which was unbelievable to me at the time.

[Last Dakotan]

One of the games the MADD crowd plays is to overstate the drunken driving statistics by the use of the "alcohol related" phrase. If in addition to the driver if any of the passengers has any alcohol in their blood stream the accident is deemed "alcohol related".

So say you are stone sober and driving a drunk friend home and you are rear-ended, your accident will be alcohol related and used as a statistic against drinking.

[AngryJawa]

I have no problem with the drinking age being 21. However if they are too young to drink then they are too young to VOTE or be conscripted.

Amen.

I don't see any difference between this age-based double standard versus an example whereby say, blacks, were allowed to drink and be drafted, yet not be allowed to vote. I believed this at age 18. I believe it even more strongly at age 37.

[Last Dakotan]

South Dakota took that to the Supreme Court and lost, which was unbelievable to me at the time.

Give it a little time and a couple new justices.

[Zero Sum]

Fortunately, we no longer have Dimocratic senators.

Coulda fooled me.

[Buck W.]

"Fortunately, we no longer have Dimocratic senators. "

In Ohio, one has to question whether that's really a victory!

[Last Dakotan]

Drinking ping.