Posted by safedriver at 02/11/10 07:07AM        Post ID#: #26070

Leave it to someone in Moxee (grew up in East Valley) to come up with something ridiculous, then again he is only 22 and the male brain isn

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Posted by lucylover at 02/11/10 07:49AM        Post ID#: #26073

That's for sure!

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Posted by sarasmart at 02/11/10 08:47AM        Post ID#: #26076

What does that even mean? Most of the people I know from East Valley are just as reasonable as someone from any other part of the Valley. And there are plenty of young men who have "developed brains." Way to make blanket statements about people.

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Posted by Difranco at 02/11/10 10:21AM        Post ID#: #26088

This initiative is long over due. If you can legally marry, consent to any and all legal and financial contracts, carry a rifle to fight and die for your country then you should be able to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages.

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Posted by safedriver at 02/11/10 10:41AM        Post ID#: #26090

Glad you like my opinion sarasmart, or were you just being a smart alec. Anywho, it'll never happen, but when I was younger I'm sure I wanted it to be legal too.

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Posted by harley at 02/11/10 11:01AM        Post ID#: #26096

This guy lives in a dream world if he thinks that lowering the drinking age will lessen the binge drinking, etc. All it will do is allow them the freedom to do it more readily. I agree with Difranco, though, in that if you're old enough to go to war for your country, you should have the right to purchase alcohol. My husband is an ex-marine and he said that back in the early 80's, alcohol consumption was a mandatory class in the service. Taught them how to drink the smart way, i.e., what foods to eat to absorbe the booze, etc. I'm just saying that lowering the age isn't going to solve the problem that Mr. Reischman sees at college. Maybe colleges should have those classes as well.

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Posted by owentuckerschmidt at 02/11/10 11:15AM        Post ID#: #26100

Hard not to notice that the naysayers have nothing on which to base their argument that Mr. Reischman's idea is wrong except assumptions and conventional wisdom.

I don't pretend to know what the ideal drinking age is, but I also don't automatically assume that 21 is best or that older is better, that would be just ignorant and intellectually lazy.

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Posted by NWSocial.com at 02/11/10 11:40AM        Post ID#: #26103

19 is acceptable, just as much as 18 is acceptable. Here is the list of legal drinking ages in countries around the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age

As far as it solving the binge drinking problem, it may actually solve some cases. In my experiences with people that were binge drinkers, they were all under 21. They tended to do it because they rarely were able to obtain alcohol, and when they did, they over-consumed. In my opinion, if it were legal and socially acceptable for some of these people to drink in bars, or to just buy alcohol, it would probably eliminate some of the binge drinking.

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Posted by Gracious at 02/11/10 05:51PM        Post ID#: #26139

I think the idea that changing it will lower binge drinking is a lofty idea. A lot of people seem to think that there's a lot of concern for teens to "drink a whole bunch" really quickly before they have to go back to their dorm rooms or their parents house or something, and then there's the idea that since it's so inaccessible, that they will drink a lot or something of that nature.

The truth of the matter is that a person drinking at 18 is no more experienced or able to handle it than the person drinking at 21. The differences is that the person drinking at 18 is typically in an environment with inexperienced drinkers who do not know their limit. This is in stark contrast to someone who is 21, who will probably find themselves drinking amongst an older, more moderate crowd.

I don't understand who decided that 21 was the proper age though. What was that based off of, what science was done to suggest that someone should wait until they were 21 instead of 18 like almost every other thing?

You know what else I find frightfully ironic? In the state of Washington, when you turn 21, you're not only now able to drink, but you're able to carry a concealed pistol. Now that's a nice message to send.

Personally I think that the groups that are pushing the age of 21 are the groups that would probably like to see drinking abolished all together. Logically thinking, there doesn't seem to be anything to suggest that the drinking age should be 21 instead of 18 except the anecdotal position of, "Well, it could only hurt to make it lower." In that link of thinking why not make it 25 then? That way people can get drunk as soon as they can rent a car.

To me the position for keeping it at 21 is not even strong enough to even begin questioning why we should change it. Why is it so in the first place?

Do we just like to adopt laws in this country with no regard to their reasoning, completely forget why we adopted them, and then blindly assert, "Oh, you shouldn't reform the law, that's stupid," anytime someone questions them?

As a 21 year old man, I find it ironic that someone would insult the intelligence of a 22 year old when it is not our generation that adopted such an arbitrary and wanton age limit in the first place; the former generation cannot even conjure up an adequate justification for the age of 21 except, "They gave us highway funds!"

I can also offer the insight that people who are not effected by such age limits, often are not concerned with the rights of those dealing with those limits, because it is not their problem. For example I do not particular wish to vocalize that 18 year olds should be able to drink, however being a 21 year old I often find myself thinking, "I thought I was over this," when I run across some age limit to rent a vehicle or something of that nature. It reminds me quite a bit of when I turned 18 and thought, "Oh, well, I'm an adult now... Too bad I can't go to any clubs, drink whatever I want or exercise my 2nd amendment."

Ask yourself this: If tomorrow some fundamentalist, conservative organization decided, "That's it, only mature adults should drink," and raised the drinking age to 50, how would that feel to everyone else? Would it really be any less arbitrary and illogical as the age of 21?

I don't know what the perfect age limit would be, and in my opinion since we basically have to just pick a number that seems good we won't find one. However, it's my opinion that we would seriously benefit from at least having one universal age limit. 16 year olds are waiting to turn 18, 18 year olds are waiting to turn 21. How about instead we just change everything to 21 if we're so fond of that limit? At least then there will be some sense as to why a person can get married, by a home, go to prison, join the military at 18, but can't get drunk and have a concealed pistol until their 21.

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Posted by wsucougz97 at 02/11/10 08:43PM        Post ID#: #26143

Regardless of when the "right age" is for someone to be deemed responsible to legally consume alcohol, the key topic in this whole thing is the fact that if Washington strays from the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, then it risks losing all access to federal transportation dollars.

Good luck trying to get the state to give up federal cash...even if the coffers are bare now. The state relies very heavily on federal dollars for transportation, especially now that the gas taxes are mostly already spoken for in projects that are well underway in some form (i.e. design or construction).

The state may not have the final say if this measure makes it to the November ballot, but there are many more negatives to having the drinking age at 19 than the positive of "when I'm 19, I'm legal to do all these other things". By lowering the drinking age to 19, society risks drinking and driving at a much younger age (not that it doesn't happen now anyway, but it's illegal at this time). I've already mentioned the risk of losing federal dollars to improve/maintain our state transportation system. Just like 21 year olds buy alcohol, or have it available at parties, for younger people...will that slide to situations where 19 year olds will buy alcohol for 15 and 16 year olds??

I can only assume that the gentleman that has proposed this does not have any children. Though 18 year olds are legal to do many things, their parents still worry about them and being able to legally drink at 19 certainly would be a concern.

There are way too many reasons to not pass this measure, or even get enough signatures to put it on a ballot. I hope we have sensible people voting if this ever comes up on a ballot.

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Posted by sid515 at 02/11/10 09:49PM        Post ID#: #26146

(This comment has been removed by a Yakima Herald-Republic moderator)

Posted by harley at 02/11/10 10:27PM        Post ID#: #26152

sid515, regardless of what their original posts were that you disliked so much, what positive and worthwhile things would you have them do? Along this topic, I mean? Just wondering since you were so adamant about their remarks? Don't get me wrong...I do agree with your sentiment about if you tell them not to do it, of course they're going to do it. And over the top usually to boot! But I'm just wondering what you would like to see them do? Just out of curiosity's sake.

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Posted by unbaised at 02/12/10 02:23PM        Post ID#: #26226

Change it to 19, then the 16 year olds will be binge drinking...it truly doesn't matter. Like "Gracious" said, there is always an age waiting in the wings to turn a landmark age. I don't know why it is 21, but I do make this assumption: 19 year olds (some of them) will still be in high school and therefore will provide all the alcohol needed for high schoolers...wait till they are 21 and most 21 year olds aren't hanging around high schoolers. There are typically in college or have moved on from high school in some fashion. Making the age lower is the dumbest thing ever...next it will be 16, then no age limit at all. What is this world coming to? I agree with Gracious, make the age 21 across the board for everything. Or 22 or whatever, just make it all the same. I understand that high schoolers will get alcohol regardless, but why make it any easier for them?!

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