Drinking age in US

So here it goes the magical second post:

The legal drinking age in the US has been 21 since 1984, and some 14 States even ban drinking within the confines of one’s house. Have any of you seen a college movie?? Where do they all take place? In America, people getting so plastered they are throwing up all over the place, girls becoming little slutmuffins, it’s ridiculous, and then the American government proudly announces they have one of the highest drinking ages in the world, and its working gloriously even though 44%! Yes, 44% of college students have admitted to heavy drinking (in USA terms that is 5 drinks per person). I wonder if they are blind, seriously, I mean I know you have an idiot as president but a whole nation of 305M people cannot be that blind that the drinking age is working, because it’s not. I say this because Deans of prestigious colleges in the US have come together to circle a petition that will lower the drinking age to 18 (click on the title it will link you to a NYtimes article about the petition). This surprised me, because now parties with alcoholic beverages are illegal, why would you want alcohol to be legal on your campus? Would it not increase the drinking and partying? The simple answer is: NO. Ok why is that you ask, well I will tell you about a small continent called Europe (for you American’s “France”), here in Europe a majority of the countries have a drinking age of 18, many of the western countries even have 16 for liquids containing up to 15% alcohol, anything above that you have to be 18. Though in the country where I live (Luxembourg, Americans: FYI this is not in Germany it’s a separate country) the legal drinking age is 16 regardless of the strength of the beverage. The alcohol abuse is less here in Europe, this is judging by my own experience. I believe it to be ok, to sometimes abuse alcohol a little bit, because if you don’t then you might as well be drinking water. Over time I have come to appreciate the taste of wine and beer, even though I found these revolting back in my early youth. I now drink wine and beer for pleasure instead out of a necessity or as a means to get drunk. I must admit that alcohol abuse to the point where one doesn’t know his/her own name, doesn’t know where they live, can’t sit, can’t even open their eyes and the kebab is coming out, that that is irresponsible and useless. What is the point? But I also believe that it is part of a learning process that lots of teenagers go through. I have been there, and never went back because it is not a good experience. I now know my limits, know when I am starting to drink too much and must slow down, many of my friends have done the same, and most now know how to control their alcohol consumption.

This means we now go off to college and don’t meet an entirely new and glorified experience that many American teenagers encounter: alcohol. We don’t need to experience the drunkenness anymore, we already have, but we have whilst we were still protected by our parents. We always had someone that would take care of us.

Imagine this:

You decided to “do some jaegerbombs” and then a bottle of vodka as the finishing touch a keg stand, and all this in the space of about 60-80 minutes. You don’t feel anything afterwards and you are proud of your resilience you continue dancing, and then you notice you’re swaying, the floor seems to be moving, and you’re dizzy as shite, your drunk, no, wasted. You think wohooo I’m drunk, then you don’t have fun anymore, you’re tired, and the minute you go outside to get some fresh air you sit down and close your eyes, oh oh not a good plan, once they close the world is spinning ever so fast and it’s sickening, also opening your eyes doesn’t help and you can feel the nausea. You walk around a corner and yes, you guessed it: projectile vomit baby!! You feel like absolute royal ass so you decide to go home, though your dorm room is locked and putting the key in the keyhole is like a lunar landing, and seems impossible for you, the key won’t turn for some reason. You are so tired you pass out in the hallway. The next morning a man wakes you up, the alcohol is still raging through your blood, and your head is thumping, then you realize you don’t know this man, you ask him where you are and he tells you the address and you realize your 2 blocks away from the college, you of course don’t remember shit. Wow you thought I must have been wasted out of my mind last night, awesome! But now on a serious note who knows what could have happened to you?

This is what I mean, in Europe we have more controlled use of alcohol, we legally party at the age of 16, 17, 18 this means there’s always a bouncer who will put you in a taxi home, or one of your friends will call a parent/ambulance. In college none of your friends give two shits, because they are hammered as well and are too busy enjoying their new explored phenomenon alcohol. Face it MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) alcohol will be tried by young people, and if it was true that they would only start at 21 they will abuse it the same way they will when they are 16 because they need to know what it does to them. It’s much like sexual exploration, everyone does it but it’s not legal until your 16, many youths admitted to performing sexual acts at the age of 13.

Here comes Roger's opinion!!

I truly believe the stated above, one needs to be prudent with the alcohol consumption, but I believe abuse isn’t always bad; MADD supporters are attempting to prevent a valuable learning experience. By this they are saying the same thing as: once you get married you can’t get a divorce! Come on, for some a marriage is a venture not cut out for them and hence they learn something they never knew before. MADD, if something is not working then abolish it, and get rid of your fears, don’t look at newspaper statistics of Europe, because they are so called “pussy” statistics and don’t convey anything of the benefits, alcohol dependence is lower in Europe than it is in America and we have lower drinking age. I think that alone defies your claim of your majestic 21. If it aint broke don’t fix it, in this case we need to fix it.

Look out for my next entry: Russia vs. America history has a way of repeating itself.

-Roger’s opinion