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the amethyst initiative

 
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kuwaizair

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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:13 pm    Post subject: the amethyst initiative Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

is there a topic on this already? I'm not sure.

away, this amethyst initiative is about a possible lowering of the legal US drinking age.
they hope this will lower the amount of incidents involving reckless drinking.

http://www.amethystinitiative.org/about/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst_Initiative

heres some info. I cannot retype it and make it sound logical.

so does anyone here think its a good idea? They covered it in a newspaper we get, one person says that the US's current culture on drinking might make it an unwise decision.
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Jowy Atreides




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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The prohibitively high drinking age is counter intuitive, like the War on Drugs. They make it cool to drink underage because it's rebellious, and that winds up with a lot more kids drinking than usual, because it's illegal (and therefore fun). I just got out of high school, in a very standard suburb, and that's what everyone at my school thought. The school drunk, a person I'd met a few times, was the big man on campus. In fact, all the heavy drinkers were pretty popular fellows, especially the female ones.

Now, if the drinking age were to be lowered, you'd wind up with a higher rate of what was once underage drinking, for at least a little while. That's natural, and this climax will eventually dip down, to where the level of (what was once) underage drinking is much lower than what it used to be.

Of course, because suburbanites are easily scared, and the drinking age is tied to federal highway funds, the drinking age will always be 21, and there's not much that can be done about it.

The argument used to bring the voting age down from 21 to 18 was, "If your son can be drafted and killed, shouldn't he be able to vote too?" and it worked wonders. The same argument could be used again: "If your son can be drafted and killed, shouldn't he be able to have a drink too?"
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Calvin

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Quote:

The argument used to bring the voting age down from 21 to 18 was, "If your son can be drafted and killed, shouldn't he be able to vote too?" and it worked wonders. The same argument could be used again: "If your son can be drafted and killed, shouldn't he be able to have a drink too?"


I've heard that argument used several times but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Of course, the social importance of voting is obviously much more important than drinking so it may be that nobody really cares enough to make a serious run at changing the law. My own personal opinion on the matter is that an 18 year old is just as likely to make good or bad decisions as a 21 year old and that 21 is an arbitrary number. I think the drinking age should be lowered, and as an aside, I also think the age where you can start driving should be raised. I only bring it up because I think my country has gotten it backwards with these two laws.
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shikator

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I dont live in america but i think lowering the drinking age would cost more minors to drink. Mature fifteen yearolds would look like 18 yearolds and and that could lead to more minors drinking.
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Alucard

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

In Belgium it is possible to obtain alcoholic bevrages at the common age of 13-14, it all depends on how sly and sneaky you are...

Ofcourse you don't go buy it at a supermarket or a nightshop run by some hindoe.. simply pick out an open-school day, most schools have beer at the tap and then one comes to order 'a soda and a beer for my dad please' and voila, little people loaded on alcohol....

Nor is there heavy law inforcing here either I must say...

Another note regarding this drinking problem which seems to occur in America (and globaly though but let's keep a focus)
American beer is known to be rather... light of effect. Give a younger person a Belgian or German pint and they are already flat on their back most of the time, so it's not a matter that these minors drink, it's the quantity....

Hehe this country where I currently am located isn't the place for small children at all ^^ The distribution centre of drugs and alcohol...

Did any of the above make sense?

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Mr. Alucard
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I actually find this rather humorous in that currently Melbournes CBD with booze filled violence over the weekened has heightened cries for the Aus government to increase the drinking age from 18 to 21 an a possible limitation of service of alcohol in the am, yet when compared to this it seems like the US wants to go in the opposite direction. My how times have changed eh?
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Masaya

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Ironic part about lowering the drinking age, is once you turn 21...the issue becomes so much less important.. Or at least for those who it once actually affected.
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Acheron

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well, I'm in college at a university that's widely known for it's partying. It's been that way for years and the police have realized this and have been trying for a few years to shake that image. It's worked, to a degree, I suppose, but I think it's causing more damage than good.

I'm underage and will be for another 2 years. I've been to an unofficial fraternity party that got raided by a combined force of Greenville Police Officers, Alcohol Law Enforcement (A.L.E.) Officers and Pitt County Police Officers where they handed out 78 underage drinking tickets in addition to aiding and abiding the delinquency of minors for all of the house owners. I left about 10 minutes before it got busted. The police came in with rifles drawn and wearing bullet proof vests, with an intent to scare the bejeezus out of kids. They did that by throwing kids to the ground and holding them at gun point. The fraternity fought them and got all the tickets dropped but that's the climate I drink in.

Like I said, I'm underage, but I haven't been a whole week without drinking in more than 70 weeks now, I think is my last number. In fact, today was the first day in the last 3 weeks I haven't had at least 3 drinks/beers. It's the town I live in, partially, and also because we're raised in a culture that lauds drinking as a pass time. We're raised being shown these great scenes in bars of drunken songs, scenes of people meeting friends and friends making memories. It's no wonder people like drinking. Add to that the natural rebellious nature of it since it's illegal and you see why so many underage kids drink.

The problem with the drinking age is that it assumes that people are able to cope with alcohol once they turn 21. While this method in theory works wonders, it never teaches kids how to drink responsibly until they get to college. It's a lot of sneaking around which complicates your plans as a kid and leaves kids who don't know their tolerance with the decision to get chewed out by their parents for breaking the law and being responsible by not driving or the other hand, driving drunk.

Once I got out on my own at school I began drinking very regularly and started discovering where my tolerance was and what times to drink slowly and when I could go get shitfaced. In my case it took my about 6-8 months to find my happy medium and a general understanding of my tolerance including some bad drunk driving experiences, some low level alcohol poisoning and some regrettable decisions made.

I'm now 19, I had my first drink 6 years ago and began drinking for recreational purposes about 2 years ago. I know when to stop drinking and so on and feel that I've gotten a grasp on my drinking limitations. However due to harsh law enforcement I'm still forced into less than favorable situations surrounding my drunkenness. That can also be attributed to the fact that 70% of A.L.E. calls my university town home in addition to the numerous local law enforcers, campus police and campus staff.

If I were allowed to purchase alcohol in graduated steps, I feel like underage drinking would be a smaller problem. 18 for beer, 21 for liquor and spirits or perhaps a graduated program based on alcohol content since a 15 APV India Pale Ale can be dangerous. It would remove some of the risk that I'm forced into taking based on my lifestyle and provide a sense of compromise that someone who is underage can find agreeable. An ideal world, I suppose, but I don't think the laws will change. My parents don't know what it is like for me because when they grew up the drinking age was 18. Maybe that's why they don't care or don't see the stupidity in the current set up. Parents are protective and often don't want to think about their kids drinking so the law will stay unchanged by adults who lack the ability to see things from a universal perspective.
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