I have dealt with alcohol abuse issues all my life. My father is an abusive alcoholic as was his father before him and most of the males on his side of the family. I have abused alcohol and so have my adult children. Alcolism and DUI issues run rampant in this country. In the last twenty years we have raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 and we have added laws and penalties for driving impaired. I don't think anything has changed. I don't think the law changes have had an impact.
I know that some of the European countries have no drinking age and they also don't have as big an alcohol issue as we do here.
I think that we need to amend the drinking laws again. This is what I propose.

I think that their should be no age to consume alcohol. Consuming alcohol in this country is a right of passage. Because of that we have too many that abuse alcohol both over and under the drinking age. If one is able to have a drink at age ten then Having a drink at age twenty is no big deal. I don't think we will have a bunch of drunk kids and if we do we need to prosecute the parent for child abuse. I don't see an issue with my young son sipping on my beer, or my daughter tasting champain at a wedding or having a piņa colada at a family event. I think the age to purchase alcohol should remain the same so that parents can still have control of the consumption of alcohol. I think gradually the alcohol problem in this country will go away.
I think the penalties for driving under the influence need to be strengthened. I think a first offence should be light provided that the offender is just barely over the legal limits and there are no injuries or property damage. A second offence should include jail time, forfeiture of the vehicle, loss of privelidge to drive, and fines, and counseling.

 

I disagree with you completely. As a teacher we studied brain development in college and the earlier you drink the more damage it does to disabling nuron connections. Also if you follow brain development we should raise the drinking age to around 25. On the alcoholism side, I have some very personal experience. My father is a sober alcoholic, 20 years, and my step dad is severe alcoholic who is in the process of drinking himself to death. The brain research shows that an addicts, alcoholic and drugs, brain is wired differently and that you can not just have one drink because of the malfunctioning reward system in the brain. It makes addicts drink compulsively. I would prefer some law changes that raise the severity of DUII. I would like to see the loss of a drivers license for life after one, driving is a privilege not a right.

 

I'm not sure how long this thread will honestly stay on here. Maybe if everyone can have a full conversation without getting defensive we can keep it. But I am going to keep an eye on this thread.

Also, I disagree heavily on the topic of alcohol. I'm very much against it to the point that I have never even touched the stuff because of the crap I went through in my family.

 

The one thing I see wrong in my area is that everything we do revolves around alcohol. Every festival, concert or special event has a beer tent. I am an occasional drinker but I don't drink around my kids and neither does my wife.

 

Hmmm I kinda get your point but still not a valid one! People have abused drinking period and why does drinking has to be associated with everything?!?! So many people can have great time without a drink being the root cause of it,and most people don't have good time after drinking anyway.after effects,dui,fighting etc.definitely not worth it.

 

 

I don't agree either. I drink myself but I cannot imagine kids doing so. It just gives them an earlier start to being a bad kid. Imagine how some kids act out now and then put them on alcohol. Probably be a few murdered parents out there.

 

Gregg, the things you mention are already happening. The law is only as good as how well it is enforced. I don't see any reason to change the laws as they stand on the books. The problem with the DUI's is how we are not enforcing the laws in an effective manner. In some states, you do get jail time, forfeiture of vehicle, etc. for a DUI charge! Problem is, lawyers usually are able to convince a judge that this is extreme and they can plea bargain their way out somehow.


This is kind of like the way the Rhinoceros party of Canada resolved to solve these problems.... end crime by abolishing all laws!!!

I think one of our issues is how we are told not to drink and drive TOO much. I really think it is so much a part of our society that we just don't even see and understand the stuff anymore. Meaning, we see, but we do not apply. We just ignore the stuff. I don't know the solution.



And if you're going to make that run for the Oval Office, you can't make your arguments based on an appeal to authority. By describing your family history, you're establishing yourself as an authority on alcohol. You need to have some case studies such as another countries laws,

 

i would rather have my son smoke pot than drink. thats just my 2 cents. but he will decide what to do if anything at all. alcohol is a killer pot is not.

 

I think part of the reason it's not so much of a problem in Europe is that it's perfectly normal (and very common) to have a beer or a glass of wine with a meal. Not saying that it isn't common here, but it seems most of the people who have problems with alcohol had parents and other family either drink too much or not drink at all. So they never saw a good example of what responsible drinking can look like. My parents often had a glass of wine or (in the case of my dad) a beer or two with a meal. So I had an example most of my life growing up of what responsible drinking looks like. Having a drink with supper or while I'm undwinding before bed is nothing for me, and that type of responsible drinking has health benefits, especially for people (like me) who have heart problems running in the family.

Todd, I understand your point with brain development. But to be honest, is this much different from a brain development standpoint to those of us between 18 and 25 who are serving in combat zones? While I'm not a psych major, I'd venture to say that war has a far more drastic effect on the brain, albeit not physically, than alcohol does. And, to be honest, to say that we can go fight, bleed and die in a war, yet can't sit down and have a drink with our family, is asinine the way I see it.