Drinking age

[uofom3]

If they really felt that way then a MIP would be more than a little $200 ticket.

200$? it was way, way lessthan that in Oregon. like 90 or something.

[der affe]

For 10k you can hire lawyer to get you off the charges too .... If caught with a DUI refuse all sobreity tests !!! Refuse to blow in a breathalyzer(?) and say not unitl your lawyer is present. By this usually it is late in the evening when you are caught and since it will be the next day before your lawyer could be present that more than likely you would not test drunk. Also make sure you have the very best lawyer money can buy that is known to get people out of dui charges.... more likely than not you will get off with anything serious other than driving school or something like that... Granted it still costs the same but you will not have the record showing a dui.... And a real good lawyer will keep putting this off until statue of limitations is up as well

NOT IN AZ!!! you used to be able to buy your way out of one, not any more. you are just screwed. if you get a $10k lawyer then it'll just cost you $20k in the long run. it sucks, but they are just hard asses about it now. they even have ads on TV " get a DUI, expect the MAX"
if you refuse the breathalizer here you get an automatic guilty plea. also they some times make you wait to take the samples so your blood alcohol levels will go up (like the last couple of shots you had at last call....) when any more drinks get into your blood stream. the higher your B.A.L. the bigger the fine and penalties!

[browntown]

Leave the drinking age alone - make it 21 to enlist. If you are going to give an arbitrary age to deem people fit to make real decisions, then let's err on the high side rather than the other.

It seems more tragic when I hear of a soldier who dies in-country & is less than 25, can't say why I think that way - just always strikes me a little more.

less than the soldier and voting business, the biggest thing that happens at 18 is legal maturity. You are old enough to enter into a contract, your own credit, you can buy a house, be sued, go to grown up prison, be put to death for crimes, and take any manner of job -- even the dangerous ones.

Are most 18 year olds mature enough for all of that? I doubt it (old man in me speaking). But the biggest thing that makes 18 the age for all of that is a culture where kids leave home after high school. If you weren't of legal maturity, what would you do till 21? Good luck renting or leasing a home, buying a car, etc -- if the legal maturity age was raised to 21, it would be difficult for kids 18-21 to have independent lives from their parents.


So beyond voting and fighting for your country (I've been told that 18 year olds in deployment can drink on military bases -- don't know if this is true or not), you're legal to live a independent life where you are responsible for your actions. So yeah, in every other sense you can do what you want. Drinking should be included.

If every study showed age vs mistakes and deaths was enough to take away rights -- even without alcohol -- they would raise the driving age to at least 18. The insurance companies know you're at a greater risk before 25. If their data became law, noone would drive till 25.

[StereoInstaller1]

The whole "fight for their country so they should be able to drink" is pure bullshit.

The legal age for consumption of alcohol on military bases (for military personnel) worldwide is 18. same as legal age for combat.

Luke

[Stankia]

I definatly agree that if you can fight a war and vote, you should be able to drink. However, lowering the age will make getting alcohol easier for high schoolers, and I speak from experience when I say that isn't a good thing.

Wisconsin has a law that allows people aged 18 and up to drink with adults (not sure if they have to be parents) at restaraunts and the like. That's a pretty good law imo.

Damn I was in Wisconsin last week and I didn't know that :(

[Jon325i]

If our society were more open like European culture with the consumption of alcohol with the younger generation (instead of demonizing it as we do in the States), we probably wouldn't have as many underage drinking and alcohol related death issues.

Just my $.02

Jon

[Jean]

If our society were more open like European culture with the consumption of alcohol with the younger generation (instead of demonizing it as we do in the States), we probably wouldn't have as many underage drinking and alcohol related death issues.

Just my $.02

Jon

Bingo. It wouldn't be a "big deal" to drink like it is here for underage kids.

[e304me]

I am going to be very mad if they change it before my 21st birthday (june)

[LivingLegend06]

200$? it was way, way lessthan that in Oregon. like 90 or something.

I cant remember what it is, I have not gotten one (yet) but I remember one of my friends bitching about having to pay the ticket and it was some measly amount less than $200, couldn't remember how much so i just said $200 for the sake of argument.

[AndrewBird]

you can be shipped off to iraq but you cant peel a cap to ease the stress of your impending demise?

I think they should just raise the age for enlistment. Young people are going to drink no matter what, but they sure as hell aren't going to go out and fight a war when they are too young.

[LivingLegend06]

I think they should just raise the age for enlistment. Young people are going to drink no matter what, but they sure as hell aren't going to go out and fight a war when they are too young.

Wait, why should the enlistment age be raised?

That would be useless, the age is 18 so that kids without money and/or smarts for college have something that they can do after high school. Raising it would mess everything up. And it also doesn't matter how old you are when you join the service, if you go to boot you will be a man(mature enough to fight and die) when your done or you wont make it though.

[ak96ss]

The whole "fight for their country so they should be able to drink" is pure bullshit.

The legal age for consumption of alcohol on military bases (for military personnel) worldwide is 18. same as legal age for combat.

Luke

No, not quite. Military installations comply with local law - so, in the states the drinking age is 21 on or off the installation; overseas, it is 18.

The military has come down hard on drinking in general - it is not as accepted as it used to be. We used to have a unit run that would end at the local monastery (in Germany), where you could stay and drink afterwards, not that you really feel like having a beer immediately after running 5 miles. That doesn't happen anymore, and it requires approval from 'on high' to have alcohol at a unit function at all, where it was once normal to have the unit purchase the beer.

[AndrewBird]

Wait, why should the enlistment age be raised?

That would be useless, the age is 18 so that kids without money and/or smarts for college have something that they can do after high school. Raising it would mess everything up. And it also doesn't matter how old you are when you join the service, if you go to boot you will be a man(mature enough to fight and die) when your done or you wont make it though.

I guess I meant make the draft age older, enlistment age can stay the same. If you want to join, then you should be able to.

Really I was just adding another side to the argument. I really don't have an opinion about any of it except that regardless of their age, kids are going to drink.

[jtb_29]

200$? it was way, way lessthan that in Oregon. like 90 or something.

Some areas in California, like where I used to go to school will fine you and take your license for a year for an MIP.

[Hadrian]

Legal age in Australia is 18, I think generally we have a healthy drinking culture