<p>You don’t need a drink to relax. But it certainly helps. Some people drink for health benefits.</p>
<p>“I propose that we raise the drinking age to 40 so that we can decrease adult drunk driving. If you disagree with me, then you favor more adult drunk driving.”</p>
<p>Great logic! =)</p>
<p>Reading through a few pages of this thread, all I think is how anxious I am for the generation of my parents to be out of power. Stop holding our country in the past…</p>
<p>A drink in the evening is a nice reward for another day getting up and doing what you have to do. And very relaxing.</p>
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<p><em>facepalm</em></p>
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<p>I beg to differ. After another hard day of conditioning drills, plyometrics, and a lower body workout the only ‘nice rewards’ in the evening are a contrast shower and a glass of whey protein.</p>
<p>I had the interesting opportunity to talk about this subject with a group of young adults ranging in age from 18-32. Some in recovery some not. What I found interesting is that of those in recovery most did not support lowering the drinking age. All felt the amount of drinking and binging would remain the same. That they would be in their same circumstance even with a younger drinking age. (adding that a number of these young people in recovery did not drink before college and are graduates or were students at top ranked colleges including an ivy or two.)
I question the ability of most 18 year olds to make the decision to enter the military. I doubt my own S would have the maturity to understand the long range consequences of such an action. I have also seen a few of my son’s get caught up my recruiters who seem to push them to make decisions that they are not ready to make.</p>
<p>I agree that 18 y.o may not have the judgement to enter the armed forces, but it is exactly that lack that allows them to do things like storm the beaches at Normandy. I believe the drinking age should be 18 as it was went I went to college.</p>
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<p>It’s interesting but totally irrelevant to the question. Most of these recovering alcoholics would have probably ended up abusing alcohol regardless of the drinking age. They are not the group that is really in a position to judge what the drinking age should be… they for the most part have a biologic predisposition to abuse that in most cases means they cannot drink at all. I have dealt with many alchohol abusers in my medical practice. Drinking responsibly is not something they will ever be able to do at any age. For them it is not an option. They are not the group to ask, nor are they the ones whose behavior might be changed or helped by reducing the drinking age to 18.</p>
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<p>Are you suggesting that the only group that should be asked or that has the right to make this choice is 18-20 yr olds? Should we limit it to only those “whose behavior might be changed” ie the binge drinkers (since 18-20 yr olds who already drink responsibly do not need to change their behavior)? Perhaps we should let the 15 yr old binge drinkers also have a say in this since they too exhibit behavior that could use some changing?</p>
<p>I don’t get this whole sense of entitlement and privilege that we constantly see surrounding this issue…of course, I also don’t understand why the opinions of 100 college presidents is of much importance either since they are in the minority on this issue and since they are not exactly experts in this area.</p>
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<p>A drink sounds far better than whey protein. lmao</p>
<p>And some people do drink for health benefits. Notice the word “some.” I would.</p>
<p>Moderate alcohol consumption may provide some health benefits. It may:</p>
<pre><code>* Reduce your risk of developing heart disease, peripheral vascular disease and intermittent claudication
- Reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack
- Possibly reduce your risk of strokes, particularly ischemic strokes
- Lower your risk of gallstones
- Possibly reduce your risk of diabetes
</code></pre>
<p>Sounds wonderful. ;)</p>
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<p>No, I said nothing of the sort. I said it shouldn’t be decided by recovering alcoholics in rehab. You disagree with that?</p>
<p>I do not think that the perceptions of recovering alcoholics should be so easily dismissed; issues relating to binge drinking and alcoholism are not mutually exclusive. On the other hand, perhaps alcoholism should not be our biggest concern with respect to drinking-related issues in our society (a bit of one-stop shopping here):</p>
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<p>[Excessive</a> Drinking, Not Alcoholism, May Lead To Most Alcohol-related Problems](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070125185936.htm]Excessive”>Excessive Drinking, Not Alcoholism, May Lead To Most Alcohol-related Problems | ScienceDaily)</p>
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<p>[Teen</a> Binge Drinkers Risk Alcoholism And Social Exclusion As Adults](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070907234406.htm]Teen”>Teen Binge Drinkers Risk Alcoholism And Social Exclusion As Adults | ScienceDaily)</p>
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<p>[Drinking</a> In Excess Associated With Increased Risk For Metabolic Syndrome](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730140724.htm]Drinking”>Drinking In Excess Associated With Increased Risk For Metabolic Syndrome | ScienceDaily)</p>
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<p>[Binge</a> Drinkers Have A Disconnect Between Assessing Their Driving Abilities And Reality](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511190840.htm]Binge”>Binge Drinkers Have A Disconnect Between Assessing Their Driving Abilities And Reality | ScienceDaily)</p>
<p>And finally a recent study that specifically ties the incidence of binge drinking to the college environment (perhaps it is not too surprising that the recent initiative of some college presidents appears on the tailcoats of this study?):</p>
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<p>[Binge</a> Drinking Tied To Conditions In The College Environment](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080711141755.htm]Binge”>Binge Drinking Tied To Conditions In The College Environment | ScienceDaily)</p>
<p>What I have not seen is any evidence that lowering the drinking age will lead to less binge drinking or to less drinking at younger ages; this continues to be largely speculation.</p>
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<p>Again, this just demonstrates the point that the legal age has nothing to do with whether some teenagers abuse alcohol. All of these binge drinkers at age 16 don’t seem to care much if the drinking age is 21. It has obviously not had any impact on them. And they will still be breaking the law if the drinking age is 18. The law has nothing to do with whether they will binge or not. </p>
<p>On the other hand there are many teenagers who can drink responsibly at age 18, and should be allowed to have a beer without being arrested.
All this other stuff about the evils and health risks of alcohol is besides the point as well… this is temperance society and prohibition stuff, and we know how well that worked out. Our society has decided that citizens can drink alcohol. Along with that comes the realization that this may have a negative impact on the health of some. There are also many well documented health benefits to moderate drinking. If there is any doubt about that, I can quote at least 10 peer reviewed scientific studies (and there are many more) that show benefits. I don’t think this is relevant to the issue of teen drinking, however. </p>
<p>The government cannot outlaw every behavior that might cause harm to an individual, although sometimes I think there are some in this country that would like that. Otherwise they would have to make it a crime to eat a Big Mac, drive a car, sky dive, scuba dive, ski, swim in the ocean, etc. etc. Our society is already too preoccupied with “protecting” us against every possible harm we can do to ourselves. It fosters the sense of having no personal responsibility for our own health or well being. It’s always someone else’s fault.</p>
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<p>To someone who gets *****ed by physical activity it probably does.</p>
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<p>Lot’s of "possibly"s, but alcohol isn’t the reason for those benefits anyway, not that I’d expect you to know that. :)</p>
<p>A number of years ago, as I was training for my first marathon, Runners World Magazine did an article on the “perfect” post run liquid replenishment. This was well before the development of all the “scientifically formulated” drinks available today. The winner was beer - lots of water and carbohydrates. That same week, the American Heart Association released a study finding that drinking a glass of red wine had the equivalent blood chemistry benefits to running a mile. So I told my wife I had developed a new training regimen: 4 days a week I would sit on the sofa watching TV and drink a large glass of chianti. Once done, I would drink a 6 pack to recover. For some reason, she didn’t buy it 
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<p>The prez of my D’s college had an opinion piece in their local paper; I thought he articulated his thoughts well. This is one part that stood out to me:</p>
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<p>By the way, I’m of the age when the drinking age in college was 18, but I began much younger thanks to some friends who were willing to supply it for me.</p>
<p>I got a letter from Drew’s president today saying he was not represented correctly and he didn’t want to lower the drinking age. He is part of a debate but has not come to any conclusions. He wanted to reassure the parents, that although their child might drink, their policies are still in effect and they will of course abide by New Jersey’s 21 yr old law and follow through with consequences.
I suspect he got LOTS of emails/calls when the news first came out.</p>
<p>Sorry, I haven’t read all of this thread because it was simply too long. </p>
<p>As someone who will be 18 shortly (and has only been drunk once in my life, and it was with my parents), I believe it should whole-heartedly that the age limit should be lowered to 18. People drink underage all the time. Many people do it simply because they’re not supposed to. But honestly, what do you expect at colleges? They’re 18-22 year olds who want to party and to tell one year that they can and one year that they can’t is ridiculous. Especially when they can literally do everything else together.</p>
<p>I think the objective of the Amethyst Initiative is not so much to lower the drinking age, but rather to stimulate <em>discussion</em> on the issue of alcohol abuse/binge drinking and so on on college campuses and the best way to combat this dangerous and often destructive behavior. </p>
<p>And while I agree that there are kids out there who drink underage simply because it’s a way to thumb their noses at the rules/the law/authority, I would posit that the issue is really much deeper than that. Kids in our society are bombarded by commercials, ads, people who tell them that drinking is the way to relax, including parents who come home from work and say “Gosh, I need a drink.” No wonder they think that they “need” a drink (or 10) to relax and blow off steam. I think we parents have to look to our own behaviors and see if we are part of the problem.</p>
<p>NMR, one of the elements that has been conspicuously absent from the dialogue on “underage” drinking and what the “legal” age should be is the responsibility of parents to instruct and mentor their kids in safe and responsible drinking behavior. It seems as though many “adults” are more comfortable in effectively abdicating meaningful parental responsibility and involvement in favor of shifting the responsibility to our government and schools. It’s much easier to simply say “it’s the law” than to invest the time and energy necessary to mentor our kids - and then to shift the blame to colleges that are not doing “enough” to control the problem of drinking on campus.</p>
<p>Michael, I agree. I posit that one of advantage of lowering the legal age to 18 would be that kids drinking on campus legally could then be more closely monitored. From what I can ascertain now, under 21s like to “load up” on alcohol in their rooms/dorms before heading out for the evening, so it’s done in “secret,” so to speak.</p>