Drinking Age. News.

[mr.mag218]

Whats the point?

point being that i was not drinking to get drunk, and was caught walking home from a friends house in one of the instinces. and the arguement here is that im being treated as a minor just so the charges may stick. if i were caught with say pot in my pocket, and i was sober they'd charge me as an adult then wouldn't they? if i assaulted someone at the age of 17 id be charged as an adult. i think its rediculous that im charged as a minor in this offense.

[Lohman446]

Officer stopped you and gave you a breathalyzer for absolutely no reason I'm sure?

[JesseB]

point being that i was not drinking to get drunk, and was caught walking home from a friends house in one of the instinces. and the arguement here is that im being treated as a minor just so the charges may stick. if i were caught with say pot in my pocket, and i was sober they'd charge me as an adult then wouldn't they? if i assaulted someone at the age of 17 id be charged as an adult. i think its rediculous that im charged as a minor in this offense.

Since you were 17 and served probation you were likely tryed as an adult even though the offense is "Minor in possession/consumption"

Look at criminalsearch.com for your name and city and see if you show up.
It also depends on your state's definition of a minor for non-violent offenses.
Trust me you don't want black marks in your record it could cost you a good job one day.

[ThePixelGuru]

Yeah i know a few people with barbituate and xanax addictions who have never had a prescription in their lives. They throw away their whole consciousness for days at a time. It's a sad situation and if you are ever close to a person who is addicted to prescriptions please urge them to get help and if they do not then the best thing to do is to cut ties with them or if that's not an option then get them help against their will.

I agree that people addicted to any substance need help, but it should never be "against their will." That kind of statement makes you the same as everyone who wants to ban pot so people don't smoke "for their own good." People decide their own good, and when people close to you get it wrong you have an obligation to try your absolute best to help them - but if they refuse help, there's not much you can (or should) do.

Either you let people choose what they put in their own bodies, or you ban every bad substance from acid to trans fat. Anything else is hypocritical.

[maxama10]

cry more. we we're having a discussion you don't run this forum you don't get to say what we can talk about or where. We are on topic it's just a segway. Is it really that important that only alcohol is discussed? I am making a point that there are synthetic and natural drugs that are safer but more harshly regulated than Alcohol. Quit being a thread Nazi.


Alcohol regulation is fine the way it is. Some places should have shorter hours in which you can purchase it. Hell you should have to take an alcohol awareness class before you are able to drink in public. There are more irresponsible Alcohol users under age and legal age than there should be but that is the nature of the drug itself.

Alcohol is too addictive, and impairing for most people to consume responsibly 13.8 million americans cant be wrong! Plus if you get started ewarlier in the developmental stages of your life then you have higher risk for dependancy and kidney/liver disease. It's a bad idea and anyone who would lobby for this is commiting political suicide. There is no room for a bunch of irresponsible teens to be drinking there are already more irresponsible adults than there should be.

In conclusion drug policy reform > alcohol reform.

meh

cry less

drug reform won't happen

however Alcohol may, so thats what this is about

[PyRo]

Around here a .04 earns you a DWI.

When the drinking age was 18 their were just as many parties and just as much drinking going on as their is today. Raising the drinking age did not affect peoples drinking on a large scale nor will lowering if affect drinking on a large scale. If you want to argue for lowering the drinking age argue that raising it has been ineffective in its goals and the law should be repealed.

[robnix]

meh

cry less

drug reform won't happen

however Alcohol may, so thats what this is about

This isn't about alcohol reform. It's about Universities avoiding liability by making something legal.

[maxama10]

This isn't about alcohol reform. It's about Universities avoiding liability by making something legal.

Well works for me. :)

[JesseB]

I agree that people addicted to any substance need help, but it should never be "against their will." That kind of statement makes you the same as everyone who wants to ban pot so people don't smoke "for their own good." People decide their own good, and when people close to you get it wrong you have an obligation to try your absolute best to help them - but if they refuse help, there's not much you can (or should) do.

Either you let people choose what they put in their own bodies, or you ban every bad substance from acid to trans fat. Anything else is hypocritical.

I meant like an intervention situation. Like introduce them to a therapist and tell them they need their help or else they will be on their own with just their addiction.

Not like beat the tar out of them and tie them up... I guess I should have said that... it sounded right in my head.

[JesseB]

This isn't about alcohol reform. It's about Universities avoiding liability by making something legal.

You hit the nail on the head. There is nothing responsible about this proposed legislation.

It will still never happen though.

[Avianrave]

LSD? One of the very few drugs that show indications of actually causing structural changes in DNA?

That's worse then being in your spinal cord.

As for 18 year olds being in bars, that would be up for the bar owners to decide. Or they could give membership cards to "regulars," and jack up the prices for the non regulars. Then they could distribute membership to how they see fit.

[mr.mag218]

Officer stopped you and gave you a breathalyzer for absolutely no reason I'm sure?

he actually stopped me cuz i was smoking a blunt while stumbling home. of course i tried to beat the crap out of him and run, but was too wasted at .04 to get away. sorry for making a point judge lohman

[Lohman446]

he actually stopped me cuz i was smoking a blunt while stumbling home. of course i tried to beat the crap out of him and run, but was too wasted at .04 to get away. sorry for making a point judge lohman

I am going to assume by that you have nothing to actually add to the debate and your observation was intended to seek pity for the results of your own poor decisions and actions - not the actions portrayed in saracasm here but the obviously poor decisions and actions that led to your problems

Unfortunately it also speaks to an entire lack of personal responsibility for ones own actions that seems to be prevelant in US society and is the reason you will not see drug or alchohol reform.

I was reading a book by David Sedaris the other day. He observed that the rest of the world must think we are idiots when they visit us. Sign on a brass statue: "Brass gets hot when in sun all day". Sign on moving sidewalk: "Moving sidewalk ends" and so on

They speak to the same point. A problem prevelant in American culture. The inability to say "I did something stupid, my fault" and a need to place the blame somewhere else. Personally I think it points towards narcissistic tendencies or pure stupidity. I'm not sure which is worse.

Of course people with such tendencies are not likely to find themselves with more freedoms and personal decisions to make. Apparently they, and by that I speak of we, American society as a whole, cannot be trusted with such.

[Empyreal Rogue]

You can't really compare the drinking age of the united states to the drinking age of europe because of two big words: time and culture.

Europe has had their drinking age at 18 for a long, long time; here in the united states it has been 21 for just as long. Suddenly reducing it to 18 won't fix a thing.

The european culture also caters to the drinking age being 18, and the united states' culture caters to a lot of underage binge drinking and general underage alcohol abuse.

[JesseB]

I am going to assume by that you have nothing to actually add to the debate and your observation was intended to seek pity for the results of your own poor decisions and actions - not the actions portrayed in saracasm here but the obviously poor decisions and actions that led to your problems

Unfortunately it also speaks to an entire lack of personal responsibility for ones own actions that seems to be prevelant in US society and is the reason you will not see drug or alchohol reform.

I was reading a book by David Sedaris the other day. He observed that the rest of the world must think we are idiots when they visit us. Sign on a brass statue: "Brass gets hot when in sun all day". Sign on moving sidewalk: "Moving sidewalk ends" and so on

They speak to the same point. A problem prevelant in American culture. The inability to say "I did something stupid, my fault" and a need to place the blame somewhere else. Personally I think it points towards narcissistic tendencies or pure stupidity. I'm not sure which is worse.

Of course people with such tendencies are not likely to find themselves with more freedoms and personal decisions to make. Apparently they, and by that I speak of we, American society as a whole, cannot be trusted with such.

I think he pretty much admitted to being stupid when he told the story. It wasn't like he was looking for pity to me.... Hell he even expresssed that he thought he should have got in more trouble and that even at .04 BAC he was too impaired to function properly.

Give the kid a break he paid his dues and he admits he was wrong. I've done stupider stuff and I'm in way more trouble for it but I don't feel I was wrong.

I feel that the beuraucracy is wrong and I don't think the laws reflect the view of society as a whole due to other restraints and lack of public knowledge and participation. It's a shame that such a small percentage of legal residents are registered to vote, and of those registered not all of them vote, and there is only a small cross section of people that vote that actually know anything about the issues. Our system is flawed it is run by a vocal minority and some sheeple (sheep people get it? )

Plus sensible drug policy doesn't sound as good on paper as punishment does. Everyone wants to throw the book at "offenders" until they are on the receiving end of punishment. There needs to be major reform done to our governments whole infastructure but you will never hear a politican admit it because they might lose their comfy job.