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Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)
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Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 5:25 PM

As the father of a 20 year old and a 15 year old, I am somewhat familiar with teenage habits though most parents know the teenager their kids want them to know ... it is always those other teenagers who drink heavily, take drugs and sleep around.

As young Mr. Lakip has recently demonstrated some behavior which will likely surprise his parents, it is not presumptive to believe other kids are making chucklehead decisions. Just like some of our friends and acquaintances made when we were young.

On the plus side, most of the under-21 set seems to have gotten the message that drinking-and-driving is a lose-lose proposition. And I give MADD much deserved props for starting the message and continuing to beat the drum.

On the negative side, MADD and other lobby groups have succeeded in raising the drinking age for even low-alcohol beer and wine to 21. (Just say no!) And most college age kids and most high school kids are drinking beer, wine and/or liquor (and yes, I know it's the other parent's kids). The drinking age of 21 is a bull-hockey law which has resulted in obscene amounts of revenue for local and state govts (paid primarily by parents) with absolutely zero impact on teen drinking. Of course beer, wine and liquor remain readily available from older siblings, older friends, some parents, men needing a bottle at the liquor store, clerks and stores who don't care, and multiple other ways. Most teens have multiple fake ID's and most bars could care less if the photo on the ID matches the teen - especially with the young ladies. They can be 5'3" 120 lbs and white with an ID showing 5'8" 190lbs and Asian (Bouncer: "lost weight huh").

Getting to the point, these young men and women who are old enough to serve and die for our country, they do not need to be hassled by the local police. Neither do the police need to make the decision whether to be cool and make them pour our their beer rather than arrest them for a night in jail. Beer can be bulky and maintenance-intensive to keep cool; I expect it's easier to pocket weed, moly, coke and other drugs which appear to be only marginally penalized over cold beer, depending on the price and ability of the parent-hired attorney. IMHO the drinking age for low alcohol beer and wine needs to be lowered back to 18 or 19. And you know what ... the city councilman's kids are drinking, so is the county commissioner's, and the state congresswoman's, and the judge's, and the senator's, and the admiral's, and the colonel's, and the ambassador's, and the police chief's, and the magistrate's, etc. But you know what, these kids have Government connections and phone calls will be made to their parents and exceptions will be made. Have no fear, you parents who do not work for the Government can pay the balance of fines as the number of under-21 year old drinkers is limitless.

So what do you Clemson undergrads say? Have you given up drinking? Are you waiting to start drinking at 21? How soon do teens today really start drinking? Do you even bother to hide drinking from your parents? Don't they expect you to drink? How much do local Clemson police hassle you? (They were student friendly in the early 80's.) How bad are the fines? And how bull-hockey is the 21-and-over drinking age?

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 5:32 PM

A voice of reason crying out in the wilderness. :)

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 5:34 PM

Undergrad here (under 21). For obvious reasons I agree. And it's very present at Clemson as you would expect. Campus police is relatively cool about it. Clemson town police are the harda$$es from what I have heard (never experienced it first hand).

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 5:37 PM

Ooh also the penalty. I know many friends who got MIPs. For a first offense you get pre trial intervention and have to attend a class (Tiger steps at Clemson). Also there is roughly an $800 fine and 30-50 hours of community service and usually a paper on what you learned. It's a hassle according to my friends who have been caught.

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 6:00 PM

I have said this for years. I am 59 years old. It's a matter of consistency under the law. If one is an adult at age 18, then one is an adult at age 18. The notion that you can vote, legally enter into a binding contract, marry without parental consent, or join in the military at age 18, but that you can't have a beer, is nonsense.
If the legal age for being an adult were 21, I would be on board with saying you cannot drink until you are 21. But if the legal age for being an adult is 18, then you should be able to drink at 18---it's as simple as that.
In this country, there are, by and large, only two things that persons age 18-20 can't do: (1) drink; and (2) gamble. (Some states do allow one to gamble at ages 18-20; others do not). The fact that the two things people ages 18-20 can't do tells one a lot about who is behind it. It's the morality police, the same folks who brought us Prohibition.

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can't rent a car until you are 25***


Jun 24, 2015, 7:42 PM



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Re: can't rent a car until you are 25***


Jun 24, 2015, 8:46 PM

The 25 year age requirement for car rentals is a decision made by private companies. There is no statute prohibiting rental of cars under age 25. There are, however, statutes prohibiting people under the age of 21 from drinking or gambling. Huge difference.

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 6:05 PM

What about a 17 year old soldier who puts his life on the line
for his country?

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Conpletely agree


Jun 24, 2015, 6:08 PM

It's stupid that all Clemson students can't drink legally if they want to. My parents used to sneak a case of beer in a book bag into my freshman dorm at Byrnes for me. It's time things change. I myself was a victim of the stupid minor in possession laws as I'm sure a large crowd on this site was. I'm now much older and having kids of my own but still support the change, it is old like the blue laws. The only country in the world that allows alcohol with a drinking age that high. You can die on the front lines in Iraq at 18 but son if we see you with a beer at home your going to the slammer.

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Re: Conpletely agree


Jun 24, 2015, 7:29 PM

I've seen 17,18 and 19 year old young men who handled their beer and
liquor better that a 25 year old.

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For better or worse the law is 21, so it is best to comply.


Jun 24, 2015, 7:39 PM

Again for better or worse, getting the law changed will be harder than dealing with the flag.

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drinking age will be raised again before it is lowered


Jun 24, 2015, 7:45 PM

we're coddling younguns more and more these days with the insurance laws and such. Many of these coddling parents don't even make their kids move out of the house until they are pushing 30. Basically thirty year old teenagers.

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Re: Conpletely agree


Jun 24, 2015, 8:02 PM [ in reply to Conpletely agree ]

Yep, you can carry military weapons that can blow up the most advance Army tanks at 18, but you can't have a beer in your hand until you are 21. There is something seriously wrong with that!!!

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You go through intense training to learn when and


Jun 25, 2015, 2:47 PM

How to use that weapon. You don't for drinking that beer.

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Geville Tiger on Clemson football , "Dabo's only problem is he has to deal with turd fans questioning every move he makes.”


Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 8:19 PM

I do agree with you but the only thing that concerns me with changing the drinking age to 18 is that there will be more people drinking and driving. We need to think of a way where people who are drunk can get a free ride home. I know there is a taxi service here in myrtle beach that does that but obviously they can't accommodate to everyone.

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 24, 2015, 8:26 PM

Wrong. I didn't even read. The drinking age needs to be 25. Think long and hard about it. An 18 year old 60 years ago was getting a job and getting married. A 25 year old now is still contemplating if he even wants to be an adult. Things have changed. College kids are going to get what they want regardless, but the age to be an adult needs to change. Most kids at 22, 23, 24, aren't adults. I support this for voting as well. 18 year olds aren't what they used to be.

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Unpopular response but factually supported opinion ..


Jun 24, 2015, 8:29 PM

The frontal lobe is not fully developed in men until 24-26yo. Women are 22-24yo.
The frontal lobe is responsible for tempering impulsivity, risk taking, and providing rational thought.
With these facts in mind, does it make sense to argue that men and women can serve so they should be able to drink? Or should the coversation really be should the age for military service be raised? Never will happen, but what if 18 and 19 year olds were allowed noncombat roles until they were more cognitively developed?
That makes more sense to me than allowing an already prone to risk taking crowd legal access to a drug that decreases inhibitions even more.
When you shoot me down, at least have the coureousy to provide a coherent rational response.

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null


There is always room for educated debate and opinions ...


Jun 25, 2015, 3:05 PM

My read is these young men and women today are no different physiologically than the students who attended Clemson and other schools in the mid-80's. What is different is the relative increase in comfort of living standards has allowed some Moms to lobby so Junior and Princess do less and less - whether taking waitress/waiter/construction jobs or just cutting the grass and baby sitting. This misguided inertia with a resulting loss of true do-it-yourself confidence, along with a decrease in quality manufacturing jobs, are factors in the number of young men and women still living at home.

But this post is about the drinking age. No rational person supports drinking and driving, destruction of property, or violence, and those behaviors must be negatively reinforced with fines and legal loss of privileges. But turning law-abiding 18, 19 and 20 year old young men and women who are following the rules into criminals for drinking a beer is misguided, unprincipled and ineffective. And when was the last time you heard of a gang-banger on the wrong side of town arrested for drinking a beer underage? You have not because drinking a beer underage is a white collar crime reserved for college and privileged kids with parents who can afford to pay the fines. The "Minor in Possession" law is a law that is enforced only to collect revenue for local governments who frankly need the money along with traffic fines to help pay for the police, public defenders and service providers that are needed to pay the overwhelming costs created by the true felons. It is a bureaucratic tax perpetrated by so-called do-gooders, local government and legislators who feel compelled to take the path of least resistance ... often per the recommendation of attorneys and lobbies in a never-ending quest for matching federal funds. But as I said in the first post, if you are a member of the Govenment class, your kids can drink and you can call in a favor and avoid fines and jail time. This fact is inescapable.

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Re: Drinking Age Needs to be 18 or 19 Years Old (Long Rant)


Jun 25, 2015, 2:33 PM

I think the drinking age is fine and I also think you state something's as fact that are not fact. You also use the term most a lot.
You see how they abuse alcohol even with the risk of fines or jail time or loss of scholarships and other penalties. What makes you think they would make wiser choices about alcohol if it were legal to them?

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since people still shoot each other, we should get rid of the law against murder?


Jun 25, 2015, 4:20 PM

just because people don't obey a law, doesn't mean it's not a good law...

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Biggest Takeaway from T-Net Responses


Jun 25, 2015, 4:53 PM

Biggest takeaway from T-Net discussion has been the older and less affected one is by the law, the more likely one is to believe drinking under 21 should be illegal. IMHO most of these grandparent age T-netters, and at 53 I am old enough to be a grandparent, all drank when they were under 21. And they have forgotten what it is like to be young and have fun including drinking and being silly without harm to anyone. Many of these kids today are being arrested and fined several thousand dollars simply for drinking a beer. And if you believe that's good, God love you. Your kids and grandkids are all drinking no matter what they tell you. All that said, Go Tigers!

Hieroglyphics found under ancient Egyptian pharaoh's tomb read loosely as follows: Youths of today do not respect their elders. They do not respect the laws of their elders. They do not work hard. They will certainly ruin the world as we know it.

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I won't go along with that...


Jun 25, 2015, 6:36 PM

can we make pot legal for 18+ y/o?

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Brain development isn't complete until mid 20's. It's


Jun 25, 2015, 8:47 PM

evident that many (parents and teens) have disrespect for the law by breaking it.

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Since the minimum age was raised to 21, deaths


Jun 25, 2015, 8:49 PM

for 18-25 year olds in car crashes have plummeted.

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I'm against it


Jun 25, 2015, 9:14 PM

I can't afford to buy my own bottle every day

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