You should introduce your youth to alcohol sooner

[Anonymous]

We had quiet a thread due to this article in USAtoday:

Drinking games deadly to college students

Based on how our alcohol-culture is I also wonder how it scared you are of alcohol. Isn't there an old saying that you have to keep your enemies close?

Our youth starts drinking aged 14 to 16 - most are introduced to alcohol in relationship with their confirmation. It is done with the family and while they cannot buy alcohol on their own before they are 16 and use alcohol in the nightlife at public parties before they are 18, most are supplied by their family because it is a practical way to control the amount they drink.

All high school parties involve access to buy alcohol. In fact the trip my class made to Austria was partly financed by selling alcohol at a party with the knowledge and accept by the both parents and the school administration. At colleges and universities they have friday bars - some financed by firms looking for persons among the students they can work with in their human ressource programs. For the human ressource people hanging around the universities, it is about seeing who people realy are once people let their guard down partying. In some way it is the same they do in the wilderness or at lockdown facilities when they drug people, but here people have the choice to isolate themselves or be a part of the group.

This approach have results if you compare the number of murders, teenage pregnancies, people in jail - even people in rehab where our IRS tells that 4000 people per year out of 5,000,000 ends up there.

Most important we saw an all time low when it came to people killed or injured in relationship with car-accidents involving alcohol.

It is about saving lives and we have no need for a 21 shot - 21 year tradition because at age 21 people are past the binge drinking period in their lives if they ever had one. (Who wants to engage in binge drinking with your parents in the living room?)

Where did all that scare come from?

[TheWho]

Interesting discussion.  I am all for it, but I don’t think the US is ready for it.  Most of my friends families allow their children to drink wine at dinner time and the alcohol was/is readily accessible to everyone (kids and adults alike).  Of the friends I had in college the ones who were exposed to alcohol at an early age were the more responsible drinkers.  The kids who came from the more restrictive families were the ones who were partying all the time and binge drinking.  Of course this is a small sample from one persons vantage point.

I do believe that genetics plays a role in all of this and some families are more prone to alcoholism and therefore there is a risk involved in introducing kids to alcohol too early if they are prone to addiction.  I think the US should look more closely at the results of other countries who expose their children to alcohol at a young age and bring this information carefully to the public before choosing a proposal.  But personally I don’t think the death rate would increase if we lowered the drinking age to 16.  If the kids want to drink they will. And restricting them just forces the kids to drink outside the home where they are more likely to get into trouble without any (or less) supervision.



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