Why not...if 18 is old enough to get sent to Iraq seems like it's old enough to have a beer or two.

I think it should be lower; you can go to war, vote on your next leader; drive car and have a baby at 18 so why shouldent you be able to drink, having a baby takes much more "growing up" than having a beer.

Although i'm not from the US, i think it should be lowered..because if you can have a baby, and drive at 18, you should be able to drink. 18 is the legal drinking age in australia..so why cant it be in the US?

The younger the drinker, the less likely they are to make sound judgments. Age, maturity are all relative to each person, but I don't know how to determine when you are mature enough to drink. So, a given age is irrelevant. It is made even more irrelevant because I do not know of a single teen that cannot get alcohol or drugs (that are strictly illegal) if they so desire.

The legal age here is 21 and rightfully so. There are TOO many kids drinking and driving and wayyyyyyyyyyy too many DUI's and fatal accidents. I dont care if they can vote or go to war, I would not want to die or my family die due to an irresponsible young drunk driver. Lastly the majority of crimes here and other states is due do alcohol, by teens.

Absolutely not. Yes, teens can sometimes get their hands on alchohol, but if the age were lowered to 18 it would be all the easier for even younger kids to drink. There are a lot of 18 year olds in high school that would be supplying their much younger high school friends (i.e. 14 year old Freshmen at parties). Going strictly by averages, I don't think your average 18 year old is mature enough for drinking responsibly, going to war or experiencing parenthood. Yes, there are exceptions to everything, but the argument about allowing drinking at 18 because someone is old enough to have a baby is not even a valid comparison. Some girls are menstruating at 9 or 10 years old these days, and no, I do not think that just because they could get pregnant they should be allowed to vote, go to war or drink legally.

yeha i think it should be 18 ..we all vote drive and everyting else at 18 .there no reaason why we shouldnt .all adults so if you get a dui ..learn from your mistakes and move on.

No, the reason why is that people who are now 21 and up still don't know how to drink responsibly. The law went into effect one year before I turned eighteen, ruined my birthday a year in advance, but I do understand the reasoning. I remember the death statistics of irresponsible youth, and it was much, much higher than it is today. The law is in effect to protect the people from those who are considered irresponsible, most people in their 20's still drink and drive, the problem would become much worse if teenagers were allowed alchohol. Sorry to spoil your party, believe me I symapathize, but be patient, your not missing out on anything great. Trust me hugging and hurling into a toilet bowl is not fun.

Yes I think it should. It should also be lowered everywhere because its unfair for the people under 18 that drink responsibly to be kept away from alcoholic drinks.

its 18 were i am and i think there drinking wether its legal or not. anywere its just a 'cool' thing in a teenagers mind to be cheating the system. so there gonna drink anyway and feel peer pressure if they don't. so i think it really doesn't make a difference but should be lowered.

in australia it's 18 years. i reckon since it is compulsory to vote here at 18 onwards, and that is considered being an adult, then everything considered an adult thing should start at the same age.

I don't think the drinking age should be lowered, but I do believe that the voting age should be increased. Also, what about rental car agencies that charge extra for 25 year olds and younger? Gosh. what a pain.

The age should be lowered. If the government will sanction you to kill other human beings for reasons beyond most of us then there is no need to not let them drink. The problem is that the laws that punish drunk driving are not strict enough. If you lower the age more people will drink yes but if your start jailing people for say a year for drinking and driving I would wager that deaths related would go way down.

Jeepers yes. Let's face it, teenagers start drinking just as soon as they're able, so America is making criminals of its youth! Crazy. Here in the UK I was at University with a bunch of guys who came over from Wisconsin. They had a year here of being able to go to the bar legally, of buying wine of frequenting restaurants and learning to use alcohol responsibly. They were really depressed at the end of the year to be going back to drinking out of brown paper bags hiding from the Patrol cars. Just plain silly. Sillier than the word 'Whilst', that's for sure.

I don't think there should be a change in drinking age. If however, parents chose to let their kids go to parties and drink I think they should be allowed to with permission. We don't need more alcoholics, but social drinkers need some people to join the ranks.

I don't think so, what benefits can anybody get out of letting kids drink earlier?

where I live drinking age is 21 but sometimes I think it should be older too many people can't handle the responsibility at 30 or 40 let alone 21 or younger but I guess it all depends on the person I drank was an alchoholic and recoverd before the age of 21 so I did my time

I think is should be 18.At 18 you receive all your other rights.You can vote , your on your own ( legally) You can drive. You can be in the army. Why not drink too? It should be lowered to 18.

I think cigarettes should be illegal along with alcohol because all it leads to is drunk driving, killing, mood changes, and it just makes ppl upset.

Hello I am not from the USA, I am from Europe in Switzerland and the drinking age is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for liquors. My point of view is that we focus on the wrong problem. The problem is not drinking but DRIVING. In the US you are missing what we call PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONS. All European countries have very good public transportations where I live in Switzerland I can take the bus at 3:00 am to go back home after a night in a bar. You do NOT know that in the US. The other problem is that alcohol is something extremely TABOO. In Europe it isn't, we talk about that with parents and family and the first time you get drunk is an important moment in your life. We also have more prevention than repression. Because to put 21 for alcohol won't resolve anything on MATURITY. We cannot drink responsibily if we DONT LEARN so you need prevention by professional who say that alcohol exist and what are the issues. WE NEED TO RESPONSABILISE PEOPLE MORE THAN NOW. After that when people will have an education about alcohol and a prevention we can low the drinking age to 18 or even 16 for low alcohol like beer and vine cause you can learn drinking the same time than you begin driving and it is by steps low alcohol to liquors at 18. OF COURSE PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE BAD CHOICES AND OTHER TO DIE ON THE ROAD BUT THIS SI THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEMOCRACY WHERE EVERYBODY CAN MAKE HIS OR HER CHOICE IF WE DO NOT WANT THAT LET'S LIVE IN A DICTATORSHIP

Yea sure, why not? The drinking age here in Australia is 18. So why not in the U.S too?

Sure i think it should be lowered. I feel sorry for you guys in the US, Australias drinking age is 18 and that was long enough to wait lol. Cum over here and ill buy ya's a drink

no. if it is lowered, then all the 18 year olds would end up buying for their younger friends or family members. there has been to many accidents. in canada the legal age is 18 years old. but i would like to see it raised to 20. (since i live in canada)

well, seeing as im not of legal drinking age, i dont have a lot of info on the subject, but from what i know, not everyone should be able to drink. the age should stay in place, because lowering it wouldn't really make a difference in the stupidity factor. if someone was going to be responsible about drinking, i think they would be willing to wait til there 21.

TALK TO DR. HANSON AND DR. ENGS!!!!!!!!!!