[QUOTE=HolyCrusade;35001567]Children and teenagers are stupid. They drink far too much, and often can't control themselves. I personally don't drink, I don't see the appeal, but I think it's fine if people drink in moderation. However most underage drinkers don't do so. They drink to get drunk, then wind up in the hospital getting their stomach pumped or passed out in their own vomit after getting absolutely shitfaced.[/QUOTE]
Riddle me this:
so i go to a party last night and get pretty drunk, have a good time. everyone stayed safe, slept at the party and left when they were sober. nobody was out of control or anything. almost all of us are underage but what's wrong with that?
I started drinking when I was about 12-13, not heavily and not every weekend but I did start young. That was ten years ago and during this time I have never suffered anything worse than the occasional bad hangover (no trips to the hospital or anything), it all depends on your attitude towards drinking. I can see why they have a legal age limit for drinking but I would be lying if I said I stuck to it.
When you say "underage drinking" people think 16-18yo in places where the drinking age is 18, and 18-21yo where it is 21.
OP is jsut trying to be cool by being 13 and getting wasted. That will fuck you up. I drank when I was 16 occasionaly, and about one every 3-4 weeks when I was 17. At 18 now, I still drink the same as when I was 17
I think the drinking age should be 16, and make it you can only buy spirits and shit at 18. Here it is 18 for all alcohol and people started getting less drunk after they turned 18 because it is legal, and you can do it any time, so there's not as much reason to get really drunk. Whereas when you're 15 it's a much bigger deal so you try to make the most of it by drinking more.
Eh, I'm a little so-so on the subject.
It's not terrible to drink when you're underage, going to parties and getting drunk is pretty common as a teenager. I'm by no means a good example of someone that didn't drink, I don't do it that often, but when I do I drink I'm like a sponge and I enjoy vodka straight from the bottle. What's bad about underage drinking is simply all the idiots who do dumb shit when they're drunk, people who continuously surpass their limit and lose control of their actions.
When you're younger you're more likely to give in to peer pressure and do dumb shit, many are not very responsible with how they drink and can end up either being taken advantage of or vandalizing shit. Now being an adult does not automatically make you mature enough to never do these things, but it makes you mature enough to be more aware of these risks and more cautious to avoid them. Furthermore... the less people who drink alcohol, the less the government usually have to spend large amounts of money on repairing vandalization.
Really depends. All my friends who drink alcohol started when they were like 16, but most of them are responsible enough. They're now 18+, but way out of control compared to earlier. They'll do stupid shit, regret it, say they won't drink that much again but do it anyways. Pretty normal. A girl I was in class with in the 11th grade drank so much she had to be pumped at the hospital. This was mainly because everyone else around her was drinking so she felt she had to as well.
Really depends on the person. I guess I'm indifferent.
Nothing wrong with it, don't kids in Italy grow up drinking wine? I think starting earlier on is better because you don't drink to excess when you're older and try it for the first time and think "holy shit imma get smashed".
[QUOTE=Badballer;35002878]Nothing wrong with it, don't kids in Italy grow up drinking wine? I think starting earlier on is better because you don't drink to excess when you're older and try it for the first time and think "holy shit imma get smashed".[/QUOTE]
Italian kids are taught to enjoy it for the taste though, how many underage people usually start drinking because they enjoy the taste rather than because everyone else is drinking and they want to get drunk and have fun.
It's a fact of having a legal drinking age that people below it will circumvent it. That's why i'd rather have options open for younger people to drink in a controlled environment such as a pub under the supervision of their parents or something. If you teach them good drinking habits problems associated with binge drinking will probably be reduced
Personally I don't drink at all because I find the taste/aftertaste of alcohol to be frankly disgusting, but really the only negative effects of alcohol is being possibly addictive and ruining your liver. The younger you are when you start drinking the more of a hit your liver will take because you're, well, younger. And you need less alcohol to actually become drunk which could turn you into an addict.
Quite frankly I have no idea what I'm talking about but it makes sense to me what with the body being more easily affected at a young age.
Putting aside the effects of alcohol, I don't see why underage drinking is a terrible thing, nor do I think it's stoppable. Kids will be kids, and they will eventually taste alcohol. Some will like it some won't. Personally I tasted my first beer when I was 8 years old, hated it. I take it up to try alcohol at least once a year since then but I never get a taste for it. Some say you "drink to get drunk", which would explain why kids nowadays drink even if they don't like it. They just want to get drunk.
Which, in that case, yes. It's bad. If you drink it with a few friends because it tastes good, then I have no problem with it.
[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;35003124]Which, in that case, yes. It's bad. If you drink it with a few friends because it tastes good, then I have no problem with it.[/QUOTE]
Problem is, this is rarely the reason anyone underage drinks.
[QUOTE=Simski;35003165]Problem is, this is rarely the reason anyone underage drinks.[/QUOTE]
Which is why I rarely can agree with underage drinking not being a bad thing.
I'm a teenager, and just looking at some of the people in my surroundings give me a headache.
[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;35003180]Which is why I rarely can agree with underage drinking not being a bad thing.
I'm a teenager, and just looking at some of the people in my surroundings give me a headache.[/QUOTE]
Retards will be retards whether they drink or not. I started drinking when I was 14/15 (getting drunk, fyi, felt fucking amazing the first few times) and never been a douchebag or anything of the sort. It's just the norm here.
The problem is that a younger people are more immature and are less prone to set any limits. That and their bodies aren't fully developed.
Getting smashed increases the problems that come with alcohol. And the younger you are, the more critical the damage will be. You will increase your alcohol tolerance much more rapidly and thus require more the next time - increasing the damage your body have to sustain each time.
Drinking till you puke is always bad - regardless of age. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the smaller and less developed body you have, the more damage you will take.
And not only that, but young drunk people are fucking pesky. And it really hard to tell how much one has been drinking. Half the time you don't know whether to call an ambulance or not (has he only drunken some beers or has he chugged half a bottle of vodka?).
That being said, I drink a beer or two pretty much everyday.
[QUOTE=Crimptor;34998611]Here's a topic a lot of people seem to have an opinion on.
Is underage drinking bad? Are the people who do it trying to be cool?[/QUOTE]
Drinking is bad at any age. Undoubtedly, some underage people who drink do it "to be cool" or because they are pressured into it, while others do it like you do.
It's bad when you do it wrong, and sadly, there will be people who do it wrong, both young and old. And that's a problem, but I don't think it is one we can solve by placing some line that tells you at what age you can start drinking.
I personally see no use in drinking at all, but if other people want to do it then they should have the freedom to do it, responsibly, at any reasonable age. What the fuck is the difference between, in the US, a 20-year-old drinking and a 21-year-old drinking other than some rule that draws a completely arbitrary line between the two?
[QUOTE=kidwithsword;35003483]What the fuck is the difference between, in the US, a 20-year-old drinking and a 21-year-old drinking other than some rule that draws a completely arbitrary line between the two?[/QUOTE]
So basically, you think that all laws that involve age limits are bullshit?
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35003571]So basically, you think that all laws that involve age limits are bullshit?[/QUOTE]
For the most part, yes.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35003571]So basically, you think that all laws that involve age limits are bullshit?[/QUOTE]
um actually that's a strawman if ive ever seen one
Do you want me to explain the reasoning behind age restrictions?
Its all about if its really a gateway drug or not.
I dont belive it is.
In my case anyways.
[QUOTE=EurofanBMW;34998635]Fuck no its not bad! How come as a US Army Infantryman I can easily get shot or blown up during deployment but I can't drink? How much sense does that make?[/QUOTE]
That's out of context. You still have to be 18 to enlist.
[QUOTE=download;35002448]When you say "underage drinking" people think 16-18yo in places where the drinking age is 18, and 18-21yo where it is 21.
OP is jsut trying to be cool by being 13 and getting wasted. That will fuck you up. I drank when I was 16 occasionaly, and about one every 3-4 weeks when I was 17. At 18 now, I still drink the same as when I was 17[/QUOTE]
I'm not trying to be cool, there's always an adult over 21 there and I don't drink at parties. Read the OP, anyway, I never said I wanted to get "wasted." All I said is that I got a bit tipsy, that's all. Other than that, I don't do it to be cool, I do it because I enjoy the feeling.
Ok, this is what I think: it could work, but it's definitely not a good idea.
I'm pretty confident to say the relatively low drinking age of 16 in my country added a lot flavour to my late teens and helped me maintaining friends altough being socially kind of akward.
I live in an area where 18 is the legal drinking age. I think that's an okay age. I mean, if young people really want to get drunk they will find ways, but legally buying it at 18 seems like a perfectly reasonable age. 21 is a bit whacky though, I'm 21 and it seems weird that I would be considered mature enough for University for three years but not mature enough to drink.
Im in the age bracket between 14 - 16 and I regularly drink on a weekend (1 - 2 times a weekend).
However, I dont drink during the week.
If you know the difference between drinking, and getting absolutley shitfaced, then yeah, nothing wrong with it.
Just know your limits and don't exceed them.
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;35001511]what's stupid about it. who are you to determine what is underage[/QUOTE]
It is an addiction and it's called the law.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35003637]Do you want me to explain the reasoning behind age restrictions?[/QUOTE]
how about instead of ignoring that you pulled a strawman on him and not even bringing up any points you contribute to the discussion. so yes explain some well thought out reasoning behind an age restriction past the point where a body is developed enough to consume?
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