Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18?

Re:Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18? by einarvollset on Tuesday August 19, 2008 @06:55PM (#280956)

I always found it strange this link between drink driving and the drinking age. To me it reads as follows: "We can't let people drink until they're 21, cause they'll drive drunk". Okay, but what happens at 21? You're so much more mature at 21 that you'll not drink drive? Once you're 21 it's okay to drink drive?

What's really odd is that attitudes to drink driving in the US are so much more lax than other western countries, _despite_ the 21 age limit. Maybe the work MADD should be focusing on is how to change the general attitude to drink driving, as opposed to pursuing their prohibitionist agenda?

Just my 2¢

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Re:Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18? by yummyfajitas on Tuesday August 19, 2008 @08:47PM (#281049)

Side note: I was always amused by the fact that they won't let you rent a car until you are old enough to drink.

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Re:Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18? by sethg on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @09:55AM (#281449)

I've heard some people suggest that at 18 you should be allowed to get either a license to buy/drink alcohol or a license to drive, but until age 21, you can't have both.

I'm lukewarm on this idea because it seems so easy to evade: get a driver's license and then ask a peer with a drinking license to get you your booze. But the current system certainly seems broken to me, and maybe a split-license system would be more politically feasible than simply lowering the drinking age to 18.

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