chrispm84

Hmmm... I think that in a lot of places, 18 wouldn't be such a bad age to start letting people drink. With that said... I don't think that's a good idea for the U.S.A. You see, we are a country of (for the most part when compared to more strict and less developed countries) overly protected children. Too many children hit the age of 18 and really don't know anything about life. I remember when I was 13 living with my mom. She worked hard and would go to the bar everyday after work. Sometimes, (once or twice a month) a stranger would pull up outside and honk the horn. I'd open the front door to see my mother laid out on the door-step. I'd have to put her in bed and (fairly often) driver her to work, at the age of 13... Not because she was worried about anyone's safety, but because the judge had a breathilizer put in her truck, so she couldn't crank it if she'd been drinking.

Now, because of the child-hood I had, I rarely even touch alcohol... I was at a birthday party last night and only had two drinks. I believe that the best bet would be a test given at the same time as your driver's license test, that could give you a "mental age" so to speak. And that it would be required everytime you had to renew your driver's license, so if you had a mental lapse, then your age could be lowered. I'm not saying an actual age, here, but maybe a number scale of say, 1-5. And the government to require a specifc number for different things. Like 1 to smoke, 2 to vote, 3 to drink, so forth and so on. I think that our lives are so easy (again, compared to other countries) that most of us don't mature as fast as other people in other countries. And we mature vastly different then our peers in most cases. Just my two-cents worth! Hope I inspired someone to put their two-cents in, too!