US Drinking Age

[Theairoh]

That mostly comes down to who you see as innocent, but I see your point anyway.

Alcy's not much different from any other drug. It causes impairment, addiction, and health problems. And obviously accidents, and there are plenty of other drugs out there that do the same thing, or might do something completely different, sometimes even worse. I'm not really willing to believe that all the other illegal drugs out there are going to do less damage than alcohol is, they'll do about the same damage just differently.

Chances are pretty high that people won't be any more responsible with other drugs than they are with other legal drugs. If you really want less dead innocents, making it legal isn't the solution. If you just want less dead people period, making it legal kind of sort of affects that but not terribly so.

The whole legal versus illegal substance argument is kind of pointless. What it comes down to is enforcement and getting people not to make the stupid choice. The ideal thing would be for all those things to be legal at any age but for whatever rhyme or reason no one would ever be irresponsible and hurt themselves or others in the process of handling them. We don't live in a world of ideals though and generally we need to decide between making a substance legal and trying to build a healthy market around it, but hopefully don't fail and just make the issue worse (see alcohol) or make it illegal and enforce it effectively. Honestly, both solutions have their downsides, but one thing about making things legal, especially in America, is you make it almost impossible to revoke it later.

[Dalaena]

Originally posted by Theairoh

Chances are pretty high that people won't be any more responsible with other drugs than they are with other legal drugs. If you really want less dead innocents, making it legal isn't the solution. If you just want less dead people period, making it legal kind of sort of affects that but not terribly so.

I don't think that legalizing drugs is really about trying to make people responsible. It's more about trying to cut the crime around it because of the black market business and to reap some tax revenues from it to offset the costs that the already existing drugs has on the society.

It's very possible that an innocent person might get killed by a crackpot on a bad trip. I have no idea since this is all theoretical. But if you make it legal, then you don't have the huge drug shootouts that occur because someone stole drugs from someone else and their only recourse is to just have a full out battle to defend their "turf". Instead, you simply go to the police and report that Bubba stole your coke.

Originally posted by Theairoh

The whole legal versus illegal substance argument is kind of pointless.

I respectfully disagree with this statement. Legality is a huge issue because it takes the crime out of the business, and it allows for regulation. Regulation is a huge issue because, right now, there's absolutely no regulation. There's nothing to stop the druglords from recruiting kids specifically. There's nothing to stop them from marketing to young kids specifically.

Originally posted by Theairoh

What it comes down to is enforcement and getting people not to make the stupid choice.

I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, people do stupid things even knowing that they're stupid, but keep in mind that without regulation, the dealers and drug lords are able to target people who are most prone to do stupid things - kids and teenagers.

Ultimately, I guess for me legalization would mean being able to tax and get revenue from the crime lords. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm really anti-drugs all the way down to the over consumption of alcohol because I really don't see any point to spending hours and tons of money poisoning your body repeatedly. It's a waste, and it seems totally stupid to me. It's just that not everyone sees it the way I do.

[Dalaena]

Originally posted by Jyn

Seriously. You are considered to be legally accountable, you can vote, and and you can *join the friggin military* at 18, but you can't drink a beer. That should be the end of the entire argument right there. To be honest, even if the number of alcohol-related deaths per year tripled (and it won't) as a result of this, it is irrelevant. The principle of the issue is more important here. (Slightly exaggerating here. Don't get offended.)

Oops. I went back and read the original topic.

Yes, I agree that 18 makes much more sense. The average child stays in his/her parents' house until 18, and enforcing drinking laws/rules can be done relatively easily. Most kids leave the house at 18 and go on to college or a career, and the parents have very limited say on how they live their lives at this point. They get access to alcohol, and then they can get in serious trouble for it. It makes no sense to me.