Should the drinking age be raised to 19? Farmer Ed's people thinks so.

[Juventus3]

CALGARY/AM770CHQR - Whether to raise Alberta's drinking age from 18 to 19 years old was a topic of discussion at a provincial cabinet meeting in Calgary Monday.
The drinking age question came up in the wake of the province unveiling it's "Cage the Rage" public awareness campaign to combat bar violence.
Sustainable Resources Minister Ted Morton pushed the idea of raising the drinking age, saying it may be one way to reduce violence in nightclubs.

This is a horrible idea. They're saying 18 year olds fight at bars...what about 19-99 year olds? Not too many youngsters try to start anything...They know the people they'd be up against are stronger/older.

I hate guys that walk around picking fights. They clearly got dealt a small package.

[MelBridgeman]

it wont help at all.
________
Element

[SeeGeeWhy]

Maybe the gov't should issue copies of Neil Strauss' "The Game" to all 18 year old guys so they can get better at picking up. No energy left to fight after you've spent it on lovin'.

[Cube Inmate]

There's some logic, but not where you'd think. Quite simply, if you reduce the number of eligible drinkers below the age of 25, who are responsible for most barroom violence, then you'll have some impact on reducing violence. It's straight numbers.

Not that I'd support the move. I think we'd actually be better off if parents started teaching their kids how to drink responsibly at a younger age...might reduce some of the binging that happens as soon as people hit 18, when they really have no idea how to handle it. Giving a 15-yo a glass of wine with dinner is not a bad thing.

Edit--One good reason I can't agree with a higher drinking age: At 18, we'll tell a kid that he's old enough to die for his country and have an equal say in how we're governed, but not responsible enough to have a drink? There's something very, very wrong with that.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Juventus3

This is a horrible idea. They're saying 18 year olds fight at bars...what about 19-99 year olds? Not too many youngsters try to start anything...They know the people they'd be up against are stronger/older.

I hate guys that walk around picking fights. They clearly got dealt a small package.

That particular reason for raising the drinking is age is pretty stunned all right. However, I have mixed feelings as to whether the idea itself is good or not.

One argument in support of it are that 18 includes a fair number of high school kids, and from my own experiences in high school I don't think high school kids should be able to buy alcohol. Also, the majority of Canada and the US use 19 as the legal drinking age. There's probably a good reason for that.

On the other hand, if a person can vote, pay taxes and join the armed forces, they should be allowed to drink as well to ease the pain of those particular freedoms.

[llama64]

Raising the age by one year won't affect anything. If you really want to curb it, raise the age to 25, increase the cost of alchohol by 2000% and make sure that no two bars are within walking distance.

But really, the 15-18 year olds will still get in to the bars. Drunken frat boys will still try to start fights and there will be violent out breaks no matter what. Alchohol + stupid people = trouble.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

Also, the majority of Canada and the US use 19 as the legal drinking age. There's probably a good reason for that.

Didn't the US change to 21 across the board? Not that I'm disagreeing with your main point, just pointing out that it may be higher in the US.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

There's some logic, but not where you'd think. Quite simply, if you reduce the number of eligible drinkers below the age of 25, who are responsible for most barroom violence, then you'll have some impact on reducing violence. It's straight numbers.

So the 25 year olds will have less 18 year olds to beat up? Seems to make sense. I get what you are saying. But this solution isn't solving the problem, it's just making the numbers seem smaller.

Originally Posted by ken0042

Didn't the US change to 21 across the board? Not that I'm disagreeing with your main point, just pointing out that it may be higher in the US.

You correct. I believe the vast majority of states (if not all) in the US have the age restriction as 21.

[Cowboy89]

Keep in mind when referring to Ted Morton and social policy you're threading in religiously rooted territory. First of all he's the 'Sustainable Resources Minister' harping on raising the drinking age. A little out of his portfolio and expertise if I do say so myself. The appeal to 'stopping violence' seems to fit in nicely with left leaning rhetoric but in reality Ted Morton as well as his evangelical friends just wishes for us all to go back to prohabition. Raising the drinking age by one year seems the only feasible thing he can do on the subject considering that most province's legal ages are 19. Next step is 21, after that 25, after that full out prohabition. Thin edge of the wedge.

I say if you're old enough to vote and die for your country you should be given all the same rights as priviledges as anyone else.

[Locke]

I dont think a 1 year increase is going to magically solve all of these problems. If they think it will then they should probably look at all the fights the cops have come to break up and determine out of all of them how many people involved were 18.

I would wager its a remarkably small number compared to the number of people who are older than 18. 18 year olds are not evil violent drunks just because they're 18. They'll just start drunken fights when they're 19.

You have simply deferred the problem rather than solving it.

[Juventus3]

What about in a place like Germany, where there basically is no drinking age...They have the lowest alcohol related traffic fatalities of anywhere I believe.

Besides, kids are drinking much younger than 18 or 19 anyways...are they going to crack down on house party violence too?

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

Edit--One good reason I can't agree with a higher drinking age: At 18, we'll tell a kid that he's old enough to die for his country and have an equal say in how we're governed, but not responsible enough to have a drink? There's something very, very wrong with that.

perfectly said.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Didn't the US change to 21 across the board? Not that I'm disagreeing with your main point, just pointing out that it may be higher in the US.

You may be right. I have to confess that I don't follow the goings-on in the US all that closely, so thay may well be the case. Twenty-one seems a bit high to me if that's true. As mentioned, freedoms like taxes and military service should at least be accompanied by the freedom to use non-prescription stress reducers. You gotta turn the kids loose eventually.

Cube Inmate ... I agree. Responsible drinking lessons from parents are helpful ... drinking with the tranining wheels on so to speak. Illiegal of course, and sure to bring opposition from the politically correct, but it can do a lot of good. You can't expect to turn kids loose on their 18th birthday, or 19th or 21st, and expect them to drink responsibibly if they've never touched the stuff before. Alcohol is not a good trial-by-fire substance.

[Burninator]

I agree with the rest of this thread. It won't really change anything. In fact it will probably create more problems with underage drinking, but those 18 year olds are still gonna drink and fight.

When I saw this on Global news last night I laughed pretty good. They are so dumb it is hard to comprehend. They ask "should the drinking age be raised to 19 because of the recent bar fights?" Then they show these full grown guys, in the range of about 25 years old, throwing down in front of Cowboys.

[ken0042]

I think this idea may have some merit, but has been brought about for all the wrong reasons. One thing that is mentioned is the 19 age restriction helps keep alcohol out of high schools. True, but you also have other issues at play.

As many have mentioned, sometimes it's good to introduce people to alcohol slowly. For example, when I was 16 I would go out drinking, but kept it to a civilized level because I was under age. That behavoir carried on as I got older.

But back then if you were caught drinking under age, the consequences were usually the bartender saying "aw, get out of here you crazy kids." Now all of a sudden police are involved. Now those who want to drink aren't doing it socially, and when they are allowed to do it socially they haven't learned how to act. Be it 18, 19 or 21 when somebody suddenly is thrown into the drinking game, it will have the same results.

There is something that may need to be done. Arbitrarily slapping this band-aid on it won't do much IMO.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I agree with the rest of this thread. It won't really change anything. In fact it will probably create more problems with underage drinking, but those 18 year olds are still gonna drink and fight.

When I saw this on Global news last night I laughed pretty good. They are so dumb it is hard to comprehend. They ask "should the drinking age be raised to 19 because of the recent bar fights?" Then they show these full grown guys, in the range of about 25 years old, throwing down in front of Cowboys.

Yeah, I got a good chuckle out of that too. They dont get the fact that its likely riggers back in town on their days off. But I like how the scared old people immediately blamed the big bad teenagers.

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

Cube Inmate ... I agree. Responsible drinking lessons from parents are helpful ... drinking with the tranining wheels on so to speak. Illiegal of course, and sure to bring opposition from the politically correct, but it can do a lot of good. You can't expect to turn kids loose on their 18th birthday, or 19th or 21st, and expect them to drink responsibibly if they've never touched the stuff before. Alcohol is not a good trial-by-fire substance.

I'm under the impression that it's legal, as long as it's not allowing the child to be harmed. Feeding alcohol to an infant...certainly illegal. To a 15-yo? I'm not so sure...but I don't feel like looking that kind of thing up.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Juventus3

Besides, kids are drinking much younger than 18 or 19 anyways...are they going to crack down on house party violence too?

This is just what I was going to say. People who want to drink will drink. All they'd be doing is taking a more controlled setting away from them. This will cause more problems than it will solve. Perhaps making the bars safer would help (i.e. metal detectors).

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

You may be right. I have to confess that I don't follow the goings-on in the US all that closely, so thay may well be the case. Twenty-one seems a bit high to me if that's true. As mentioned, freedoms like taxes and military service should at least be accompanied by the freedom to use non-prescription stress reducers. You gotta turn the kids loose eventually.

According to this, the United States has the highest drinking age (21) in the world.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

Wikipedia says the whole country is 21.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_d...e#The_Americas

I have a friend in the US and if you are caught entering a bar underage the pentaly is way siffer than Canada, she tells me. Our punishment seems to be to take away their fake ID and kick them out of the bar. The US's punishment (well South Dakota anyways) is community service and the loss of your drivers license for 30 days and a fine. Little overboard I think. I like the rule that everyone else is saying, if you can go to war and get your arm blown off you can come home and have a beer.

Ideally I would like to see alcohol have an even lower age restriction. It will have to be coupled with responsible parenting of course. But if alcohol is treated so strictly and forbidden until the age of 18-21, it will just make it more desirable for teenagers.

Actually the more I read that Wiki article is says that might actually be the case already. Although it isn't treated as such. Most parents never teach their kids about responsible drinking. I bet most kids have their first alcohol behind their school with their friends. And I am sure it is binged as well.

Drinking by minors under adult supervision is permitted in licensed premises in the provinces of Manitoba and New Brunswick and at home in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. [2] Legal drinking age legislation falls under provincial jurisdiction.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

The legal drinking age in most of Canada is 19.

The biggest reason I can see for it being 19 over 18 is that you don't have some people in high school legally able to drink and some not. I think it sends a weird message.

That said it's not like it'll curb drinking. Very few people wait until they're of legal age before partying with alcohol.

As for the legality of the child not getting harmed, I believe a glass of wine is an exception if given by a parent or part of religious ceremony. Otherwise no.

In fact in Nova Scotia it's an over $400 fine if you drink under the age of 19.