i think it should be 20

i think that it should be 19 or 20 at least.

I don't see this as an age issue. I see it more as a social education issue. For example, the US and Europe are polar opposites on this issue. We teach it is illegal to drink until you are 21, England teaches that you can drink when your younger, you should do it in moderation though. So,even though people drink younger in England, they have a lower rate of alcoholism than the US. Your age isn't what makes you mature or informed on a subject, it's how the issue was brought to your attention and taught. So, I would say you can buy alcohol at 19, but can drink it at any age as long as you have a parent with you, and the same for smoking.

I don't think people should smoke or drink like they do, but I don't think there should be any legal age restriction on it. I also support the legalisation of illegal drugs, even though I have never taken them and have seen the impact they have. My method is to tackle this via education programs so that people choose not to take drugs for fun, coupled with licensing and taxes on these products so that their use can be monitored.

Around age 30. Age is not relative to maturity. In the days of the American pioneers, a 13 year old could get married, buy some land and start a family. In the time of the civil war, If you were old enough to fight you were old enough to drink or smoke. Today, I've know people in their 50's that I would consider to be emotionally immature. Personally, I think if your mature enough to fly a 35 million dollar airplane off a 60 million dollar aircraft carrier, then your mature enough to decide if you want to smoke or drink.

18 because if you are old enough to go and fight for you country then you should be old enough to drink acohol.

I think the drinking age is good where it is right now. Smoking should be allowed after you're dead.

After reaching fifty, I think one should be able to determine their own fate. Think what wild parties the AARP would sponsor! On the other hand, being a good Libertarian, the government should make sure that people act responsibly NOT dictate when they may act irresponsibly. So, remove ALL limits!

It should be relative to maturity. But we can't have a system like that. But I do think we need to be more consistant. They call you an adult at 18 but you can't drink or smoke til you are 21. Its like your some kind of semi-adult or something between 18 and 21. Kind of like you are an adult but not really an adult. We need better consistency.

Age 21.

Drinking should stay at 21 and smoking should be raised to 21.

When your mature enough to handle them responsibly

21.

I really think that a person should be able to smoke around the age of 25, only after they have taken an educational course on the dangers and showing the effects of lung cancer on dying patients. You really don't know the extent of the pain until someone close to you has suffered and died because of smoking. And, I feel the same way about drinking. The main problem with drinking is , it tends to hurt others more than yourself. Not many people know when to say when. Alcohol related auto accidents are out of control and something needs to be done. Having said all that, I would have to agree with Doggone, If you are old enough to die for your country, you should also be able to drink and smoke, if you so choose. Just, PLEASE, be responsible.

i agree with doggone. if you are old enough to go fight in a war, you should be old enough to drink, for goodness sake. BUT i think there should be MUCH harsher punishments for people who are irresponsible with drinking. getting a little drunk with a few of your friends at home watching movies and getting shitfaced to the point where you have no idea what you're doing and end up killing someone are two totally different things.

I think it should be legal to purchase cigarettes and smoke when you are 50. You have lived most of your life and if it get's cut short after 50, well it was an informed decision to start smoking. The legal age to purchase and consume alcohol should be 25.

If you are legal age to smoke, you should be legal to drink alcohol, whether it's 19, or 21. However, unfortunatelly not all 19 or 21 year olds are responsible enough smoke or drink alcohol. But the law has to set an age and I think it should be 21.

18

I think that general attitude towards alcohol has more to do with the related problems than the age when people start drinking. In much of Europe teenagers start drinking at around 13 or 14, but if you go out on their city streets at night there's nothing like the horrifically embarrassing drunken sights you see in Britain. I think we have an attitude here whereby we drink nothing at all during the week then on a Friday night we go out of our way to give ourselves alcohol poisoning. When I was a student people would purposely not eat all day becaus ethey would "get drunk quicker". It was common to go and give blood at a blood drive and then go out to get drunk because the effects would be greater. We drink to get drunk here- whereas on the continent people drink as part of sociable (often family orientated occasions) and perhaps get a bit tupsy (as oppose dto utterly insensible) as a result. What I would like to see is the age at which people are allowed to drink wine or beer with a meal, under parental supervision lowered slightly to around 14 or 15, and the age at which you are allowed to drink "hard" drinks in bars (without food) raised to 21. This would help to get younger people used to having a drink within a safer and more socially acceptable environment, discouraging them from thinking of alcohol as a thing that you do in a crap nightclub before having unprotected sex with someone dodgy, getting into a fight and being sick in a doorway. Alongside this I'd like to see more in the way of education encouraging people to use alcohol responsibly and a ban on money-saving deals that encourage people to get drunk at a faster pace (such as 4 bottles for £3, g&t for 99p or paid entry with free drinks all night). Useful as I find these deals I do think they encourage people to drink more than they should. As for cigarettes. I think 16-18 is probably about right - but if they're going to bother having a law about it they actually need to make sure they enforce it- which in Britain at least they definetly don't.

I think probably how the law is not 16 for smoking, 18 for alcohol, but you can drink one glass of wine or one pint (half pint?) of beer from 14 in a pub with a meal, if your parents buy it for you. Slow intergration of alcohol makes it less likely that people are going to make themselves very very ill on there 'legal' birthday, as they already know what alcohol can do, their limits. And don't feel the need to get blattered just becasue they're allowed. I also think only bein allowed to drink at 21 is stupid, as you are an adult from 16/18 and should be allowed to make your own choices. Your liver also regerates itself up until the age 21, so that would be a good age to STOP drinking!

1) Smoking tobacco: illegal at any age. (It doesn't even get you high! What's the point?) 2)Smoking POT: 21. I know this seems inconsistent with number 1, above; but it is an intoxicant, and unless booze is banned, people should have their choice of legal intoxicants, not just the ones that old, white guys sponser. Also, if legalized = healthier, since the dope cig companies would work a filter in there. 3)Drinking: we should commission a study as to when the new heart-healthy benefits outweigh the brain-killing detriments of alcohol on infants/ minors. I don't know the actual year/ number, but I assume that it is much lower than 21 since religious traditions of many nations and daily European practice is lower than in U.S. I would guess at 18, but am open to lower with medical evidence.

18

I beleive that it should be 18 because my fiance is in the Marine Corps and quite honestly i believe that if he's is old enough to pick up a gun and risk his life for his country then he should at least be allowed to have a beer at a bar or at home...

As I'm from Ireland, the legal age is 18 for both. I believe it's fine as it is at the moment. I was shocked to see that people under 21 aren't even allowed enter bars in America, yet they can join the army when 17 or 18.

13 becoz teens need to be cool

i think that the age for smoking should be raised to 18 or even 21,cancer is more common now and most younger people who smoke are smoking too much and are also smoking to look cool. i dont think the legal age for drink should be 21 because at 18 you are entitled to vote and are adult enough to decide for yourself what you think is right. another thing id like to point out is that i firmly beleive that the legal age for driving should be 18 and not 17. i know there is only a year between but too many youths are being killed because on inexperience of driving. if any one thinks im wrong of has other opinions on these matters id love to hear them.

smoking should be illegal. Drinking 21.

smoking should be illegal (in public at least). Drinking 21.

Never