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Originally Posted by KillerGremlin
I assume that to be the case....I doubt any age restriction will stop binge drinking or abusive drinking. It just goes hand-in-hand with college, and with the freedom of being away from home. Oddly though, I still think we could help a percentage of people by exposing them to alcohol at a younger age or in a safer environment. It has been my experience/observation that college is not the best place to learn your drinking limitations.
I do think that many people try to stay a few drinks below their limit...I know I do. When I want to drink to get drunk I try to drink as few drinks as possible and get in that comfortable zone. I'd rather not wake up with a splitting hangover. But I also enjoy drinking a beer with dinner...I enjoy wine...and I'm trying to start to enjoy hard liquor. You don't have to drink in excess to enjoy alcohol. Beer and wine are sophisticated drinks that can be enjoyed with a meal.
Like Bond said, I think this is a complex social problem. Hence why I think we should keep the drinking age at 18 or 21.
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I think that's why lawmakers just need to look at detailed statistics and analysis of those statistics, and craft a law that makes the drinking age (whatever), that will do the most good and the least harm. I don't see how one can go about this issue other than a purely utilitarian way.
That being said, the government is probably the least effective institution to help substance abuse problems in America. Like Typhoid said, it's families, it's private organizations, communities, etc. They have been, and always will be, far more effective than any law or government. And those private people and organizations can change the culture, but the government can't.