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‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation’: the states pushing for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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The drinking age is fine. If anything, it should be raised to 25 so that older college kids can't buy booze for younger ones. Alcohol is a poison; let your brain finish developing first before you start abusing it. And before you call me a prude, I drink several times a week. (And smoke weed, of course.)
Like the other person said, you should be more concerned over the child labor issue. Bars already have issues with drunk assholes hitting on and groping servers; now imagine the server that is getting groped is your daughter who just barely entered high school.
State governments should instead provide incentives to business owners to pay their workers a livable wage, like tax credits and a higher minimum wage.
Furthermore, if a business cannot afford to pay it's lowest level employees a $40K salary ($19/hr; the bare minimum needed for the average American to afford a home and all the basic necessities), then their business model is unsustainable and they should shut down.
Would you also raise the age to join the military to 25? After all, someone whose brain isn’t developed fully shouldn’t be able to make the decision to go kill people at risk to their own life.
Fuck yeah I would. Too many young people putting their lives at risk without realizing the consequences.
Nice, then that we agree on. But it gets a bit more difficult.
Would you set the smoking age to 25 as well? Probably, since it’s so unhealthy. But then do we set fast food at age 25 as well? More people die of heart issues than anything else, and that’s mainly driven by the awful diet most people live on.
Should people under 25 be able to go into any sort of debt? If not, then that means fixing the education and healthcare systems (which seems like a good thing). But what if someone goes into debt to buy an apartment or house? Or even just a car? Having debt can be really bad for mental health, and depending on where you have it physical health as well.
If we keep thinking along those lines, do we allow people under 25 to watch TV and play video games? Both activities cause people to become very sedentary, which is bad for health as well.
Do we allow people under 25 to have desk jobs? But then along the same lines, do we allow people under 25 to have physical jobs? Both can negatively impact your body in different ways, and a undeveloped brain might not consider all the risks involved.
I’m not hating on you, I just think it’s interesting to consider just how far you would take that logic.
I back NZ in their decision to ban cigarettes entirely. What a joyless drug to kill yourself with.
All of your other examples at least have some upside up em.
Land of the free with the minimum 25 year old drinking age.
Literally the only thing an American is free to do is buy an AR15.
You're forgetting voting, driving, getting married (unless you live in the red states where you can get forcibly married as a minor), and best of all, DEBT! ;)
That's the same for literally all of the EU and several other countries.
Id wish my country would make the legal drinking age 16 so that... oh wait it already is XD
You don't learn to be responsible around alcohol by not having any access to it and then being able to buy hard liqour right away. The stories i heard both about college drinking and highschool drinking from people who spent a year in the US were both hilarious and frightening. In Germany teenagers can buy beer and wine with 16. Hard booze and sweet drinks, where you don't taste the alcohol are 18+. Most people are getting in touch with alcohol when they are 14-16 with their parents present. Having a glass of sparkling wine for new years, having a beer with their parents at birthdays etc.
This way people learn what they can and cannot take, how easy it is to get drunk on booze and how to look out for signs of having drunk too much. Without the criminal punishment, that the US loves to shove down peoples throat, they also feel safe to get help if someone is suspected of having alcohol poisoning.
that’s why you have different drinking age and buying alcohol in a store age. for example where i live you can drink when you’re 18 (which is considered adult for all other purposes) and buy alcohol from a store when you’re 20.
what’s the usual age when people start drinking in the US? i’m assuming it’s way younger than the actual legal drinking age
Misread your question. Many people start drinking in the US well before it's legal. The horrible situations my friends got in to with seedy people to procure a case of shitty beer and some cigarettes were legion.
21 to purchase in a bar or store. Kids under 21 can drink with their parents in attendance in some places. I think I remember a 16 year old could have a beer with their folks at a bar in Wisconsin, but that may have changed.