www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Drinking Age in the U.S. Poll

Dear Alexis (our future lawyer),

Would you know what states those would be-- out of curiousity?

Thanks,
Alice

Dear Eli,

Yes, unfortunately, it looks as if 18 may be too young for many to be driving as well...

Lack of skills, experience and maturity definitely contribute.

It seems that too many young people are killed in automobile accidents in every country of the world. Lord have mercy!

In Christ,
Alice

If the act of drinking is accompanied by the legal guardian, it is legal in Texas for a minor to drink as long as no offenses are committed. These said parents can't provide the same drinks to minors who are not in their guardianship.

Terry

Alice,

I don't know for sure, but here is a map of the United States with each state's consumption laws listed either as "Consumption Prohibited," "Consumption Prohibited With Exceptions," and "Consumption Not Prohibited."

Now, don't ask me what "Consumption Not Prohibited" means; I don't know how that differs from the "Consumption Prohibited With Exceptions."

Georgia, on the map, is listed as "Consumption Not Prohibited," but like I said earlier, it's of course illegal to consume alcohol here under the age of 21, except for drinking on your property with a parent's or guardian's permission (and they have to be on the property at the time, I think).

Alexis

I did look ths up while in the USA. What I discovered was the purchasing and possession of alcohol, consumption in public places was what was banned. Parental supervision was assumed when alcoholic drinks were consumed at in private.

It is interesting that adults are treated as minors when the legal age of majority was 18 yrs.

I saw (not for very long) a new Australian TV program on TV the other night based on the UK TV program "Ladettes". Those particiapting had a huge problem with alcohol and their behaviour was awful. A culture of drunkeness = a good time has grown up and it is killing young people when linked to cars and drugs.

Preach it! Sister Alice!
Opps I am begining to sound like a Baptist.

Stephanos I

Wow I never knew this! God bless Georgia!

Joe

half ton? Where do you find them that light???



The Journal of Higher Education (I think) ran a great piece seven or eight years by a professor lamenting the current state of affairs. He pointed out that in the past, students *learned* to drink responsibly in college with the faculty--that overdoing it at those events would have been horribly embarrassing, and so forth. Today, all drinking by college students is illicit and most of it is abusive.

My own solution would probably be to allow service on campus (maybe adjacent) combined with a draconian penalty for *any* level of alcohol behind the wheel for these students.

hawk

My mistake. It seems that even a Mini Cooper weighs in just over a metric tonne.

I think my Miata is 3,000 lbs . . . I'm not sure what the '72 Eldorado convertible in the garage is, although a full-size GM of the time was about three tons (The Eldorado was smaller than big GM's, and the convertible may shed a few pounds).

Off the top of my head, my father's 64 bug was 1200 lbs, and my 74 was 1800.

As more useless numbers fall out of the dusty corners of my memory, when GM first downsized, the Impala and such dropped to 5000 lbs, which would be trimmed to 4000 by the late 80's.

hawk, wondering why he remembers such things (and whose 2002 van weighs 2.5 tons)

See, there's a half a metric tonne.

I am categorically opposed to the handing out of "adulthood" piecemeal as is practiced here in the U.S.

If you are old enough, at 18, to get married without parental consent, to join the military (and die for your country), to authorize your own medical treatment and enter into contractual agreements (mortgages, loans, etc.) and to be tried as an adult in every jurisdiction in the country then you are certainly old enough to choose to drink an alcoholic beverage.

If you are not old enough to drink at 18 then you really aren't old enough to do all of those other things either.

Pick an age of majority and make it uniform.