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College in Salt Lake City joins initiative on alcohol
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I moved to Florida during my college years and i saw more drunken stupidity and car accidents in my first semester there than i had seen here in my whole life. Keg stands and beer funnels are an ingenious American invention in order for kids-people to get drunk faster and with a lesser quantity of alcohol. Fast drinking is never good, all people know that here in Europe and rarely do it.
After Florida i moved to China. Same story there as here in the EU. Very little problems with drunken raging teenagers.
As a conclusion, I'm NOT advocating drinking. I'm just saying that Europeans and others are not worse off because of the lower drinking age. Yet, we are more mature as teenagers.
Don't these college beaurocrats remember what it's like to be 18, 19 or 20? Why didn't they stop to think that every underage college kid is going to use their 5tup1d initiative as justification to drink?
It seems these collegians have joined the breweries in a money making scheme. The NCAA allows beer advertisements for money, and now the schools themselves want part of the action.
Another reason is if they expell a dumb kid for drinking, they loose that tuition and book revenue as well as any donations from mommy and daddy.
Many will say the Europeans don't have drinking problems. Do we want to be like Europeans? Remember, they think blue jeans are fasionable, Jerry Lewis is funny and goat cheese is yummy.
I feel it would be a big mistake.
What rational do these Presidents use to justify their postion?
Fact is all countries has more permissive rules about alcohol and all of those countries have fewer incidences.
How does that fit into your perception??
Criminalizing something promotes abuse. Decriminalizing encourages responsible use.
isn't that what we want??
Any college kid, or anyone under 21 who wants to drink, can get alcohol one way or another. They get creative, and are forced to disrepect law, which at the same time minimizes respect for other laws / law enforcement officers.
After high school, many if not most kids are on their own. Parents, teachers have done their jobs. It is time to allow them to live and learn at 18. This includes being allowed to drink alcohol. Just say NO to double-standards !!!!
Nice to know MADD's mission-creep continues apace, now they're telling parents what schools their kids should go to! Imagine how unpopular MADD would be in this state if they chose to fight DUIs by attacking and opposing absolutely anything involving DRIVING?
Just look at evidence not at religion and you should get a reasonable answer.
So if we decriminalize heroine, cocaine, meth, etc, that will promote "responsible" use?
If we decriminalize carrying concealed weapons, and allow ANYBODY to carry a concealed weapon, the will promote "responsible" use?
College party-goers will drink more responsibly if they can drink legally?
To lower the crime rate, all we have to do is abolish all of the laws.
Decriminalize everything?
Problems solved.
I think we should have removed alcohol a long time ago and made it as illegal as any other destructive drug - the only reason we haven't is because people like the Dean of Westminster likes to drink. Wake up people, change the age or keep it the same, it doesn't matter - we will not win either way.
We need to change our approach toward drinking. Alcohol should not be the focus of all of our social events. Commercials should not air glamorizing drinking. Drinking is a social ill and costs society millions of dollars yearly and more importantly tens of thousands of lives annually.
It is nice to talk about drinking responsibily but for so many this is not a reality. Women and children are beaten at the hands of ugly drunks, marriages are destroyed, poverty is inflicted, and all the while an add runs on TV showing everyone what a great time they can have if they are out drinking with their friends.
Reality is very sad.
I personally do not like the idea of more and more young kids potentially driving impaired. Driving fatalities are already the leading cause of death among teens and we drunk drivers kill about 15,000 people every year. So with the laws the way they are now, many high schoolers and even college age kids are concerned enough about getting caught that it likely keeps this to a minimum (the ones who just don't care about anything but themselves and drive drunk anyway, legal age or not).
Let's not add to the madness by encouraging immature drivers to drink to hopefully "learn" responsibility before they kill someone in the process.
Parents wouldn't you rather have your 18 year old drink infront of you at dinner and then stay home, or should they sneak out to that party and drink there.
Last I would like to address the last issue of MADD. In this state the problem is not with the amount of people that drink under age and drive it is the problem that of public transit stops before bars close. Ask yourself, no haling cabs in Utah (a law) or a two hour wait, and no public transit after 1 AM. How does state legislator expect intoxicated individuals to get home.
There is no evidenc anywhere that binge drinking is correlated with strict regulation. The permissive argument in hedonistic at best.
As for the drinking age in Europe, let's not draw hasty conclusions. "Correlation proves causation" is a logical fallacy.
But don't let them drive until 21.
Yes, there are laws not being enforced. Yes, high schoolers and underage college students are drinking. The arguments haven't changed, whether it is alcohol or drugs. The cost to the individual and their future is too high. The lost potential to an individual and their family, with the accompaning scars lasts for generations. A young persons "rights to drink" or whatever does not warrant the pain it causes to friends, family and the future.
Keep the age at 21.
But then, when society has a problem with an illegal product or rule (i.e. alcohol to minors, cocaine, marijuana, graffiti, illegal immigration) the solution many people come up with is to make the product or rule legal.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in all this?
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21 is a good age. As a 23 year old, I can attest that decision making skills aren't fully developed until at least the age of 21 in the average human being.