Why alcohol drinking age are so high in some countries?

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pawelk1986
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27 Sep 2014, 10:54 am

Why alcohol drinking age are so high in some countries (21) ? (Like USA Muslim countries while European is more liberal (18)


n my country, Poland you can buy alcohol at the age of 18, there is no age limit when it comes to alcohol consumption.

I am a teetotaler I do not drink alcohol because I have poor health, and not like the smell of alcohol even was rejected by the military due to health reasons, military service was compulsory in Poland until 2008, now we have a professional army. Though I wonder whether, if in Poland formula USA introduced a ban on the sale of alcohol to people under 21, which postulate some Polish right-wing politicians, With normal young man who wanted to fight for such a country?. "If they treat us like children why should we fight? Let the" adults "fight that is those who have completed 21 years':-) "

http://www.debate.org/debates/Im-Europe ... country/1/



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27 Sep 2014, 11:11 am

I don't know I don't really get the drinking age, also they make it all like 'taboo' till your 21, which probably just makes 'underage' people like 16-18 want to do it more and also increases risks since they'll try to avoid getting caught and thus sometimes end up in dangerous situations like trying to drive drunk to get their friend home or something before parents find out and what not. Also a lot of people end up going way overboard with drinking once they turn 21, getting wasted on ones 21st birthday is a common thing....whearas if alcohol was treated differently and drinking age was lower or we just didn't have one then it wouldn't be some glorified, taboo thing you have to wait till you're 21 to do it would take away the cool factor kind of. At least that is kind of my opinion...


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Spiderpig
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27 Sep 2014, 11:20 am

I wonder what would happen if alcohol were completely unrestricted. I?ve never found its taste appealing at all. It seems this is natural and you have to learn to tolerate it, and people apparently to do it because peer pressure is so powerful or something like that. I?ve always been too isolated for any form of peer pressure to be an issue, so I never learned to like alcohol. If it were readily available from the beginning, I wonder how many people would bother to :?


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pawelk1986
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27 Sep 2014, 12:19 pm

Spiderpig wrote:
I wonder what would happen if alcohol were completely unrestricted. I?ve never found its taste appealing at all. It seems this is natural and you have to learn to tolerate it, and people apparently to do it because peer pressure is so powerful or something like that. I?ve always been too isolated for any form of peer pressure to be an issue, so I never learned to like alcohol. If it were readily available from the beginning, I wonder how many people would bother to :?


I was wonder does young American will died for their Country if USA will be glad to fight if they not be treated as equal with 21 years old, because i'm not sure sure about Polish youth :D Heck i'm not sure about my own countryman in general i heard that on commander of you Royal (Poland was kingdom than) in 18 century not showed on the battlefield because he wasn't not selected as commander (the positiohn went to greenhorn king friend) , he's superior would be younger than him and has lesser title, so he's troops not show on the battlefield and we lost our independence.

And other commander turn over to Russians because was passed over for promotion, Tsarina Katarina offered him promotion and higher salary (So much for your famous Polish military honor and bravery :D )



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27 Sep 2014, 12:27 pm

After prohibition the age minimum age to buy alcohol in most states was 21, with the 26th amendment the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21 and thus states started lowing the drinking age as well during the next decade or so, there were studies showing in increase in auto accident fatalities during this time which as attributed to the lower drinking age which gave rise to the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD lobbied congress which passed a law that said they'd withhold 10% of federal highway funds from states that had drinking ages under 21 which all 50 states have since complied with.



Last edited by Jacoby on 27 Sep 2014, 1:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

andrethemoogle
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27 Sep 2014, 12:49 pm

I always found it strange that in the USA you have to buy 21 before you can buy booze, but you can join the army at 18. It never made much sense to me personally.



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27 Sep 2014, 12:55 pm

In Canada you're legally allowed to drink at 19. I'm total teetotal and it's hard living in a society where not just drinking in moderation, but getting completely wasted is glorified. For some unfathomable reason I fail to see the joy in getting so hammered you don't even remember how much of an idiot you acted and waking up with a brutal hangover, possibly next to some person or some thing you don't even know. It seems most people become parents only because of getting drunk, people rape, murder or commit other serious crimes while drunk, and too many people are alcoholics who are not only destroying their lives but those of family members and everyone else around them. And yet alcohol is perfectly legal and more acceptable than eating meat or fast food.

But of course, just because I have strong "opinions" about drinking doesn't mean I should force them on anyone else. Golly-gee heavens, no. :roll:



pawelk1986
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27 Sep 2014, 12:57 pm

Jacoby wrote:
After prohibition the age minimum age to buy alcohol in most states was 21, with the 26th amendment the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21 and thus states started lowing the drinking age as well during the next decade or so, there were studies showing in increase in auto accident fatalities during this time which as attributed to the lower drinking age which gave rise to the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD lobbied congress which passed a law that said they'd withhold 10% of federal highway funds from states that had drinking ages under 21 which all 50 states have since complied with.


I do not want to judge American politics, but the forbidden fruit tastes the best, besides, from what I know the age of majority in the USA is the same as most countries in the world that is 18 years, parents are in no way responsible for the acts that make their adult child.

Young adult are little bit like unchained animal they will drink only because it forbidden to be malicious toward authority, because they known that parents cannot force them to comply :D It's no win situation.



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27 Sep 2014, 1:11 pm

The problem with the drinking age is the problem with prohibition in general, you're criminalizing behavior but not eliminating it. Think about who you are making criminals here, people under 21 years of age which hardly seems fair or moral. I agree that there is an aspect of the taboo that draws young people to it as well and they don't do it responsible ways, I did a lot of drinking under 21 and we straight up pounded it and that's how I drink to this day even. Drinking for me got a lot more sad shortly after I turned 21 but maybe that's just me. No kid is drinking to get a buzz. My home state has a culture of binge drinking in general on top of underage drinking so it was double-fold and it creates a lot of alcoholics that drink heavily their whole lives. Despite the amount of binge drinking at bars I still think it would of been healthier if I had started drinking there socially rather than at my friend's house. You're encouraging other criminal behavior with kids, they're still going to drink so they're either going to steal it(from their parents or straight up from the store) or have someone straw buy it for them. Personally, we did find a nice Indian gentleman who owned/worked at some liquor store that liked to skirt US law with a small additional tax. The whole process of getting alcohol was honestly pretty fun and I imagine a lot of people who have also done this feel the same so you are associating a lot of bad behavior here with good times. For most kids, it is a lot easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol.



pawelk1986
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27 Sep 2014, 4:51 pm

Jacoby wrote:
The problem with the drinking age is the problem with prohibition in general, you're criminalizing behavior but not eliminating it. Think about who you are making criminals here, people under 21 years of age which hardly seems fair or moral. I agree that there is an aspect of the taboo that draws young people to it as well and they don't do it responsible ways, I did a lot of drinking under 21 and we straight up pounded it and that's how I drink to this day even. Drinking for me got a lot more sad shortly after I turned 21 but maybe that's just me. No kid is drinking to get a buzz. My home state has a culture of binge drinking in general on top of underage drinking so it was double-fold and it creates a lot of alcoholics that drink heavily their whole lives. Despite the amount of binge drinking at bars I still think it would of been healthier if I had started drinking there socially rather than at my friend's house. You're encouraging other criminal behavior with kids, they're still going to drink so they're either going to steal it(from their parents or straight up from the store) or have someone straw buy it for them. Personally, we did find a nice Indian gentleman who owned/worked at some liquor store that liked to skirt US law with a small additional tax. The whole process of getting alcohol was honestly pretty fun and I imagine a lot of people who have also done this feel the same so you are associating a lot of bad behavior here with good times. For most kids, it is a lot easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol.


Fortunately, this problem does not concern me anymore, just watching politicians on television debating on this topic
Some says that Poland should follow USA Example and raise drinking age to 21, Poland have lower alcohol consumption. than Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org......
but we problem with accidents caused by young driver. when they asked young 15-20 polish teens what they think, young people said that they not liked the idea, but if lawmakers lower driving age to 15-16 i would be acceptable. But we in Poland we cannot increase drinking age for reason that we to close to Russian borders.
Russian alcohol smugglers already large batches of untaxed alcohol, our Polish border control does what it can to stop this crime but so far with miserable result, if the age limit was increased It started to be a true paradise for smugglers of alcohol, and the Polish economy could to lose several billion Euro of excise duty.



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27 Sep 2014, 8:40 pm

The age to purchase is 21. In many places in the US, you can consume at a younger age if on private property.

I haven't checked laws in a while, mostly because I am old now. But you used to be able to brew your own beer under the age of 21. So you could go to the brew your own beer store, buy a Mr. Beer kit, make it, and then consume it. Between the ages of 18 to 21, you didn't even need parental consent to do this, because you were considered an adult.

I remember when it was raised from 18 to 21. The argument was to not let it be readily accessible in high school. All you needed was one kid with a early birthday or who stayed back and you had a supplier for high school kids. Though, my mom worked in the high school at the time and she said the age change made no real difference. So wishful thinking I guess.



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28 Sep 2014, 2:43 am

The problem with drinking behaviours is nothing to do with drinking age IMO. In the UK we have an appalling attitude to alcohol. Not only do we have too many young drinkers, but cross the board we had too many binge drinkers, too much alcohol related illness no so on. The problem is our culture. We seem to have invented the idea that getting drunk is cool and being ill from drinking is even better. Then of course we have alcohol related violence, which is another big problem in its own right.

Interestingly we have a large number of Polish immigrants in the UK ( which I think has largely been a good thing for the UK) and they seem to have fitted into the drinking culture quite well! I think perhaps the drinking culture is similar to ours.The drinking age in the UK is 18, actually it's huge buying/selling age as you can essentially drink at any age. It's also the same or similar rules in many parts of Europe, but their drinking culture is different. But they don't have the same degree of issues we have. Until that attitude and culture changes you can change the age all you want. People copy their parents and those around them - monkey see, monkey do!

Funny enough though drinking in the young in the UK has dropped slightly. The evidence suggests that the youth have found the behaviour of their parents and that generation so embarrassing and disgraceful that they've gone the other way and have begun shunning alcohol (and other drugs).

I'm tee total now but used to drink far too much. I was a binge drinker although maybe only weekly, plus I would drink up to a bottle of wine a night, which is a lot I know, but I thought nothing of it at the time. I never had a problem as far as controlling what or when I drank, so would maybe gave the odd week off. I was never violent or anything like that. In fact I was a happy and friendly drunk 99% of the time and that 1% would see me a bit melancholy. I actually stopped as I realised I was getting too old and that it would start affecting my health, and because I was setting a terrible example to my kids. I'm glad to say neither of them have any interest and my son is very, very anti alcohol as he has read up on its dangers.



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28 Sep 2014, 7:50 am

Statto wrote:
The problem with drinking behaviours is nothing to do with drinking age IMO. In the UK we have an appalling attitude to alcohol. Not only do we have too many young drinkers, but cross the board we had too many binge drinkers, too much alcohol related illness no so on. The problem is our culture. We seem to have invented the idea that getting drunk is cool and being ill from drinking is even better. Then of course we have alcohol related violence, which is another big problem in its own right.

Interestingly we have a large number of Polish immigrants in the UK ( which I think has largely been a good thing for the UK) and they seem to have fitted into the drinking culture quite well! I think perhaps the drinking culture is similar to ours.The drinking age in the UK is 18, actually it's huge buying/selling age as you can essentially drink at any age. It's also the same or similar rules in many parts of Europe, but their drinking culture is different. But they don't have the same degree of issues we have. Until that attitude and culture changes you can change the age all you want. People copy their parents and those around them - monkey see, monkey do!

Funny enough though drinking in the young in the UK has dropped slightly. The evidence suggests that the youth have found the behaviour of their parents and that generation so embarrassing and disgraceful that they've gone the other way and have begun shunning alcohol (and other drugs).

I'm tee total now but used to drink far too much. I was a binge drinker although maybe only weekly, plus I would drink up to a bottle of wine a night, which is a lot I know, but I thought nothing of it at the time. I never had a problem as far as controlling what or when I drank, so would maybe gave the odd week off. I was never violent or anything like that. In fact I was a happy and friendly drunk 99% of the time and that 1% would see me a bit melancholy. I actually stopped as I realised I was getting too old and that it would start affecting my health, and because I was setting a terrible example to my kids. I'm glad to say neither of them have any interest and my son is very, very anti alcohol as he has read up on its dangers.



Thanks so well you judge my fellow countrymen, from what I know of many Britons perceive Poles as "job thieves" at least they are not true thieves, because there are also those immigrants (who immigrate also to Poland) who immigrate just to work as pickpockets. :D


As for British i read that in Krakow alcohol establishment doesn't want to serve to British young tourists because they poorly behave (not all) and often demolish city property and pubs.



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28 Sep 2014, 8:34 am

andrethemoogle wrote:
I always found it strange that in the USA you have to buy 21 before you can buy booze, but you can join the army at 18. It never made much sense to me personally.


Because people are dumber and easier to brainwash at 18 which is the military's goal at boot-camp.(teenagers often subconsciously believe they're invincible) That's also why teenagers often aren't responsible enough to get drunk regularly cause they're more likely than an older-person to go out and do something really stupid while intoxicated.



pawelk1986
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28 Sep 2014, 8:54 am

Venger wrote:

Because people are dumber and easier to brainwash at 18 which is the military's goal at boot-camp.(teenagers often subconsciously believe they're invincible)

And bellow 18 years are even easier to brainwash that why Joseph Kony use gullible kids as his "soldiers"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc[/youtube]



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28 Sep 2014, 9:27 am

andrethemoogle wrote:
I always found it strange that in the USA you have to buy 21 before you can buy booze, but you can join the army at 18. It never made much sense to me personally.


Well- the Sixties generation of Americans who were draft age during the long Vietnam war thought it was strange too-that at 18 you're old enough to die for your country, but not old enough to drink. It created a lot pressure on legislators to lower the drinking age for that very reason.

So local drinking ages were lowered in the Seventies across the nation. The result: in every location they lowered the drinking age - there was a sudden upward spike in the number of deaths of teens from drunk driving. Commentators even said "if you wanna commit genocide on teenagers- just lower the drinking age to 18".

By the 80's there was a backlash against drunk driving in general, and teens drinking was not ignored. So the laws were all restored to 21 as the drinking age.

I guess that's the rub: the very traits that make young men of 18 good soldiers makes them unable to handle booze-impulsiveness, and lack of fear, lack of ability to weigh consequences, thrill seeking, etc.



Last edited by naturalplastic on 28 Sep 2014, 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.