Drinking Age

[+ Avalon]

https://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004294

 

In most countries of the world it's 18. I think it should be 18 here in the USA.

[Bearofdistinction]

https://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004294

 

In most countries of the world it's 18. I think it should be 18 here in the USA.

 

Nah - 18yo in this country are way to selfish immature stupid and irresponsible

[+ bashful]

When I turned 18, legal drinking age was 18. It didn't change to 21 until after I turned 21.

 

(side note regarding age restricted products: My mother would occasionally send me to the store, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, to get her a pack of cigarettes. I put 35 cents into the machine, pull her brand, and there were 2 pennies taped to the pack, that I got to keep. Not once did anyone in the store stop me from doing this.)

[Good Grief]

When I turned 18, legal drinking age was 18. It didn't change to 21 until after I turned 21.

 

(side note: My mother would occasionally send me to the store, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, to get her a pack of cigarettes. I put 35 cents into the machine, pull her brand, and there were 2 pennies taped to the pack, that I got to keep. Not once did anyone in the store stop me from doing this.)

 

I could buy beer at 18. Liquor at 21.

 

Was sorta funny in college - signs all over the grocery store said "No Beer for Miners." Poor guys.

[+ Avalon]

If one can vote at 18, marry at 18, join the military at 18 then one should be able to buy and consume alcohol at age 18!

[+ bashful]

I think it should be 18 here in the USA.

 

Agree. I you can join the military, vote, you should be able partake of all adult activities.

[BabyBoomer]

https://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004294

 

I think it should be 18 here in the USA.

 

IIRC the drinking age was lowered to 18 back in 1972. I think by 1987 all 50 states changed it back to 21.

 

~Boomer~

[+ Avalon]

Agree. I you can join the military, vote, you should be able partake of all adult activities.

 

And do porn!

[+ bashful]

And do porn!

 

Thought they already could.

[+ Avalon]

Thought they already could.

 

Right, they can do porn at age 18. The point being if they can have sex in front of a camera at age 18 then they should be able to drink alcohol at age 18.

[mike carey]

I think by 1987 all 50 states changed it back to 21.

In Hawaii it was 1 Oct 1986, the day I arrived there on my exchange job with the USAF. As I recall the federal government made having the drinking age at 21 a condition for highway funding. Or perhaps that was lowering speed limits to 55mph.

[BabyBoomer]

As I recall the federal government made having the drinking age at 21 a condition for highway funding.

 

Correct.

 

~Boomer~

[BabyBoomer]

Or perhaps that was lowering speed limits to 55mph.

 

That happened in January 1974 as a result of the OPEC oil embargo.

 

~Boomer~

[mike carey]

That happened in January 1974 as a result of the OPEC oil embargo

Yes I realise that the speed limit happened at a different time, and I was sure about the timing of the drinking age change, I was just unsure whether I had misattributed the reason for the latter.

[+ poolboy48220]

Michigan changed their drinking age from 18 to 19, then to 21, within a space of a few years when I was in that age range. I went from able to being able to buy legally, not, and back again a few times.

[Rudynate]

When I turned 18, legal drinking age was 18. It didn't change to 21 until after I turned 21.

 

(side note regarding age restricted products: My mother would occasionally send me to the store, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, to get her a pack of cigarettes. I put 35 cents into the machine, pull her brand, and there were 2 pennies taped to the pack, that I got to keep. Not once did anyone in the store stop me from doing this.)

 

 

Same-My mother sent me to the store for cigarettes all the time. It was against the law to sell cigarettes to minors, but nobody cared.

[+ Charlie]

When I was young--and maybe it is still true--there was no federal drinking age: each state set its own age. In New York State, you could drink at 18, but you couldn't vote until you were 21. Now the qualifications have been reversed.

[+ Avalon]

When I was young--and maybe it is still true--there was no federal drinking age: each state set its own age. In New York State, you could drink at 18, but you couldn't vote until you were 21. Now the qualifications have been reversed.

 

I think each state has the right to set the drinking age but the feds got involved saying they would withhold federal highway money if a state did not set the drinking age at 21. Blackmail!

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Years ago my mother and I went out to dinner. At another table was a couple (m/f) with their son (10yo?). The couple wanted to order a bottle of wine but the waiter refused because there was a minor at the table.

[Rudynate]

Years ago my mother and I went out to dinner. At another table was a couple (m/f) with their son (10yo?). The couple wanted to order a bottle of wine but the waiter refused because there was a minor at the table.

 

The laws regarding sales and service of alcohol could be really weird. I grew up in New York State. When I was a kid, restaurants couldn't serve alcohol until 1PM on Sunday. If you had been drinking at the bar at a restaurant and you moved to a table, it was against the law for you to carry your own drink, a restaurant employee had to carry it for you. When I lived in Colorado, bars had to close at 12pm on Sunday. The only alcoholic beverage stores could sell on Sunday was 3.2 beer. 18 year olds could drink 3.2 beer, but nothing else. There were actually bars that sold only soft drinks and 3.2 to cater to the 18-21 crowd. The laws were truly wacky.

[+ WmClarke]

The laws regarding sales and service of alcohol could be really weird. I grew up in New York State. When I was a kid, restaurants couldn't serve alcohol until 1PM on Sunday. If you had been drinking at the bar at a restaurant and you moved to a table, it was against the law for you to carry your own drink, a restaurant employee had to carry it for you. When I lived in Colorado, bars had to close at 12pm on Sunday. The only alcoholic beverage stores could sell on Sunday was 3.2 beer. 18 year olds could drink 3.2 beer, but nothing else. There were actually bars that sold only soft drinks and 3.2 to cater to the 18-21 crowd. The laws were truly wacky.

Come to Wisconsin. Minors can drink if (1) their parent is present and says it’s ok, and (2) the establishment allows it.

[Rudynate]

Come to Wisconsin. Minors can drink if (1) their parent is present and says it’s ok, and (2) the establishment allows it.

 

 

Very sensible.

[+ bashful]

Come to Wisconsin. Minors can drink if (1) their parent is present and says it’s ok, and (2) the establishment allows it.

 

Yes, the cheese state is realistic regarding drinking. Loved to visit the supper clubs up in the northwoods. They're actually very family friendly, not just places to just get drunk. A woman I used to work with once told me her son (who at the time she told me this was then in his 20s) took his first steps on the bar at a supper club.

[Islesguy]

 

 

Years ago my mother and I went out to dinner. At another table was a couple (m/f) with their son (10yo?). The couple wanted to order a bottle of wine but the waiter refused because there was a minor at the table.

 

That's weird and it never happened at any table when I was at as a kid. I was in LA celebrating a freind's 21st birthday and was 20 at the time. A bunch of us went to dinner and I was the only one under age. When they ordered a couple of bottles for the table, the only person who was carded was the person ordering the wine. I happily broke the law in public that night.

[+ poolboy48220]

Michigan had (probably still has) similar laws about the hours you could sell alcohol, shutting down from 2:00AM until 11:00AM or something? I remember seeing some 7-Elevens that had security gates they'd lock over the beer coolers during those hours.

[+ poolboy48220]

I used to be in an industry that issued "drink tickets". If the person I issued a drink ticket were to get a DUI leaving the property, I was ultimately responsible legally, therefore I got out of that industry.

I remember that being a thing when I worked in restaurants in college. I just bussed tables, I didn't serve, but I remember talking with the bartenders about cases at the time where the bartender had been held responsible if a customer overdrank. In retrospect, it seems similar to those lawsuits where people sued McDonalds for their weight problems.