Does the U.S. Government secretly support underage drinking?

Why, if underage drinking is illegal, is it so widespread? Does the government secretly support underage drinking?

Here are some facts to consider:

the purchase or public possession of alcohol is illegal for minors under 21

approximately 70% of college students have been drunk sometime in their lives

approximately 75% of high school students have had alcohol

in 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act which requires Federal highway funds to be withheld from any States that do not prohibit the purchase and public possession of alcohol among persons under 21.

The only federal prevention of underage drinking that is going on is through federal agencies, decide for yourself how effective these agencies are.

I just sat through and eight hour alchohol class and I can asnwer that question right now. No they do not. America is the nation of "you tell me I can't so I will".

Mom says, that skirt is too short, the child puts on a longer skirt and stashes the short one in her bag and changes at school.

Dad says, you can't go out with that boy, the girl, dates him behind her parents back.

Mom and dad say drugs are bad, even though they got "stoned" a time or two, the kid says, well, mom and dad say it's bad so it MUST be good.

We were founded on puritanical beliefs and we as a whole, rebel.

For the record, the legal drinking age was not always 21, it used to be 18 here in Kansas, but MADD did a whole lot of lobbying and got it changed, but if you do the research, you will see that this change has not DECREASED alchohol related fatalities. But it has in fact gone UP since the legal drinking age was raised.

I still say it has a lot to do with "if you tell me I can't, therefor I will".

No government conspiracy here, just our natural urge to rebel.

reply to post by Wang Tang


Well, drinking alcohol in El paso was different about 2 years ago. You could be 18 and still drink as long as you didnt go outside of the post. The reason they let people drink early was because they didnt want them to go to Juarez to get totally wasted for they have no age limit. Unfortunatly they banned drinking to 21 now since DUI's were increasing. Now soldiers go to Juarez just to get their drink on.

Edit: $&F for good topic.

[edit on 8-1-2010 by Stop-loss!]

The U.S. government tends to secretly support most things considered to be illegal, especially violence (war) and drugs.

An expensive satanic ritual to your Owl overlord just isn't complete without a drunk teen age girl to sacrifice in one manner or another...

Of course they secretly support underage drinking... They are salivating over the ones that get lost in the system so they can get their hands on them one day...

Dick Cheney's probably been to stores called "BAIT" on the outside that have drunk teenage girls hanging on hooks when you go inside...





These guys, they are crazy... Support underage drinking? Yah... Your local Senator has a jar of baby oil and a copy of girls gone wild right now...if he's one of the nicer ones...



[edit on 8-1-2010 by mopusvindictus]

I absolutely have to re-iterate the statement I made in another thread. It's about the absurdity of the alcohol law in the U.S.

In the rest of the world, the limits vary from none, 16 years old, to 18 years old. That's not the absurdity of the matter. The real kicker is the fact that before you are supposed to be aloud to drink, you can purchase a gun, ammunition, and other weapons of a deadly nature. Basically, you aren't mature enough to drink, but you are certainly mature enough to possess weapons. This brings me to the next point.

I am 1/2 Italian. My family always had wine at the table, and since I was a young kid (younger than 10 years old) there was a few ml of wine in my glass topped off with 7up. Just enough to make the 7up in the glass a little pink. When I was a teenager, while all my friends were thinking that they were cool getting wasted, I was looking at them and wondering what was so "cool" about that. I was taught that alcohol is normal, alcohol is nothing special. This is exactly what Cowgirlstraitup7 was saying in her post.

I just sat through and eight hour alchohol class and I can asnwer that question right now. No they do not. America is the nation of "you tell me I can't so I will".

Mom says, that skirt is too short, the child puts on a longer skirt and stashes the short one in her bag and changes at school.

Dad says, you can't go out with that boy, the girl, dates him behind her parents back. Mom and dad say drugs are bad, even though they got "stoned" a time or two, the kid says, well, mom and dad say it's bad so it MUST be good.

We were founded on puritanical beliefs and we as a whole, rebel.

I enjoy a few drinks here and there, and my children will enjoy the 1 ml of wine in their 7up on the Sunday lunch at Nonna and Nonno's house as well. It's been done for years in many traditional European families who's children grew up in North America, and it will not stop.

This is the problem :

1. The lack of initiating alcohol to people as a normal drink (not necessarily to kids, but to teens near 18).

2. The stigma of alcohol being only for partying/club/high society lifestyles.

3. The fact that priorities are completely out of whack where people are expected to be mature enough to own and handle dangerous weapons yet not to consume alcohol.

I am not advocating gun restriction, not am I advocating giving alcohol in normal quantities to children, I am simply stating that making something look bad or wrong makes it more appealing.

Waiting for the haters to flame me...

Peace,


Magnum

[edit on 10/1/8 by Magnum007]

[edit on 10/1/8 by Magnum007]

there should be a rule.

if you are old enough to join the military and die for your country, you can have a drink.

I do think that the govt does support it, but not publicly. with all the taxes they make on cigarettes, and alcohol, it would be hard not to.

EDIT: to add one more thing...

I am a duel citizen. the USA, and San Marino. the drinking age in san marino is 16. to my knowledge, not to mention wine is always served at the table there. wine, and seltzer.

[edit on 1/8/2010 by ugie1028]

reply to post by Stop-loss!


Hey Stop-Loss, did the base commander revoke the ban on going to Juarez? When I was at Holloman AFB, it was still a standing order as of Dec 08 that all Juarez was off-limits to military personnel. Done with off-topic

It is human nature to 'try' things that are prohibited. Most people want to experience for themselves what others are prohibiting them to do.

Technically, it is still up to the States to decide their legal drinking age, but with the strong-arm of the federal government and holding money over their heads, they acquiesce to the federal demand of 21.

I do not believe though it is some government conspiracy, but then again...who knows

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Yes indeed it is still banned, however due to the popularity of cheap beer in some Jaurez clubs, soldiers still go there since the drinking age is now 21 on post. Its sad because all we wanna do is drink to forgot some problems from the past and have to resort to underhanded tactics to achieve our goals. Also I drink in the barrack all the time as well as other people. The way they see it, better drinking at your crib then driving aroun drunk and hitting someone.

It used to be 18 when I grew up to. Heh - I remember I got "grandfathered in". They raised the age to 21 about 2 months after I turned 18. But, because I was legal to buy before they raised the age - I could still buy booze even through I wasn't 21.

I was very popular for a few years.

reply to post by Stop-loss!


It always pissed me off. I was a horrible NCO I guess cause I might have not paid attention while I invited troops over for a BBQ and I might have placed a chest in an area that was accessible and I might have requested all keys from someone........purely all hypothetical

You deserve a cold one...hell you deserve lots of cold ones. One of the most asinine things is military personnel not being able to drink at 18.

Why not restrict it to you can only by at the mini-px or the club and if you get busted driving nail'em to the wall and make an example.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


The MP's like to around the streets near the barracks to catch some drunk that are driving by. Infact I think there are more police on post then there are in El paso itself. No wonder the crime rate was still high. :shk:

[edit on 8-1-2010 by Stop-loss!]

reply to post by Stop-loss!


I am sure we could spend pages and pages on the mere silliness of MPs or SFs in my case. I respect what their job is, but sorry buster, you are a glorified door shaker given authority.

I got one all frazzled once cause I got called in to fix some equipment at night. Punk pulled me over for 'failure to use a turn-signal'. I told him that if he wishes, he can call the Ops Commander and explain to him why his equipment is not back up Guy let me off with a 'stern' warning. HAHA

Now that I have completely been off-topic...I have nothing on-topic

reply to post by ownbestenemy


The worst part was when my friends pulled up to the gate and had underage drinkers in the back pasted out. They had to run from the MP station drunk all the way back to the barracks with first sergeant driving from behind Screaming!

I'm from the UK so I can't really comment on the situation in the US but I will give my experience of the situation here in the UK and my opinion on it.

When I was growing up the legal age for smoking was 16, Sex was 16, Drinking was 18 and drugs are illegal.

I had serious issues at home with my mum from a very early age and my rebellion started very early on. I started smoking at the age of 11, drinking at 13, having sex at 14, smoking Marijuana at 14 and moved in with my, then, boyfriend at 14.

Now, Social services knew of all of this as did my school and yet nothing was said nor done to stop me or help me nor did I suffer any consequences. I was able to walk into any pub/bar or nightclub and was served alcohol no questions asked from the age of 13.

Looking back on all of that now makes me seriously think that this is something that OUR government wants. The reason I believe this is because all the while children are rebelling against their parents and the law they are too busy and/or high that they are in no way capable of critical thinking, they have no interest in learning and could care less about what is happening in the world around them. I believe the age restrictions were put in place purely to make these things more appealing to children as it is far more exciting to be "naughty" plus kids that I went to school with wanted to get caught as it gave them a "bad" meaning good reputation making them popular.

I am still friends with the crowd I went to school with and I find it incredibly frustrating talking to them about the things that are happening today because they kind of listen with a blank stare and when I have finished they giggle and proceed to talk about what was on X factor the night before or what Lady Gaga's up to.

This is the generation I grew up with so what will the next generation be like.

My point is the underage rebellion is helping the government to cover up a lot of what they are doing because, as I have seen myself from my friends, by the time these kids become adults they are so dumbed down that they are incredibly easy to manipulate and deceive that they believe everything the government and MSM tells them.

[edit on 8-1-2010 by Lacey5842]

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by Stop-loss!

 

Technically, it is still up to the States to decide their legal drinking age, but with the strong-arm of the federal government and holding money over their heads, they acquiesce to the federal demand of 21.

Exactly, states only set their drinking ages at 21 because their highway funds are on the line. They have motivation to set the drinking age at 21, but they have no motivation to actually enforce the law.

I remember my first beer at 15 years of age.

Me and a group of buddies bought 4 case of Old Milwakee (ick)

We wanted to know what this "drinking thing" is all about.

The rest is history.

No governement agencies or secret government sponsored advertising or elected officals were whispering in our ears.

Sorry, but this seems like a pretty dull question.

reply to post by wdkirk


Go back to that day when you had your first beer. How did you feel about yourself after you drank the beer?

Originally posted by Lacey5842

I am still friends with the crowd I went to school with and I find it incredibly frustrating talking to them about the things that are happening today because they kind of listen with a blank stare and when I have finished they giggle and proceed to talk about what was on X factor the night before or what Lady Gaga's up to.

This is the generation I grew up with so what will the next generation be like.

My point is the underage rebellion is helping the government to cover up a lot of what they are doing because, as I have seen myself from my friends, by the time these kids become adults they are so dumbed down that they are incredibly easy to manipulate and deceive that they believe everything the government and MSM tells them.

[edit on 8-1-2010 by Lacey5842]

Thank you very much for your post Lacey it was one of the best posts I've ever read. I've got the same problem that you've described, I love my friends and all but I can't talk to them about issues like this because they don't care enough to understand what I'm saying and just label me as crazy.

If the government were to aggressively prosecute every under age drinker, they would be going after at least half of the teenagers in America. Some of these teenagers are affluent and have parents with clout.

I for one do not think "underage" drinking is a problem. 21 is an unnecessarily high legal drinking age. Most of the world has a lower drinking age. The problem is not teenagers drinking, but teen alcohol abuse and teenagers doing stupid things while drinking like drunk driving and getting pregnant.