Debate: Minor 'till 18

[Darker Alucard]

i agree. there should be somekind of test to see how mature people were to handle drinkin' smokin' and drivin' altogether. idon't consider it a privilege though to be able to smoke. it's just plain stupidity. in portugal where i live my homeland they allow you to buy alcohol at 16, and if a 16 guy buys it you could drink it from 14 up. driving license is at 18 an smokin' too. STUPID COUNTRY!!!

[Attimus331]

SunfallE, that was sarcasm. Drunk driving is horrible.

Darker, i have a question. How would the test work? Would it be multiple choice? Maybe a pshychic will read their palms to determine their maturity! Or maybe they got some kinda crazy thing that hooks up to the person's brain to determine if they're mature enough to drink, smoke, etc. A test wouldn't work. Immature people aren't so stupid that they'd answer "A. I'd drive him in my car after i got drunk at a party."

The people of America can't be as responsible with drinking like people in other countries can. That's partly why the law is at 21 for drinking.

Stating that a person's age doesn't determine maturity is somewhat irrelovent. It's the average person that matters. The average 21 year old is more mature than the average 18 year old, that's what matters.

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial][quote name='Attimus331']The people of America can't be as responsible with drinking like people in other countries can. That's partly why the law is at 21 for drinking.[/quote]
That's really lame. America is one of the most well-developed countries in the world, and you don't even think they're mature enough for their alcohol? [b]News flash: Laws won't stop people getting it.[/b] If people want beer, [i]they will get beer[/i].

Responsible or not, an 18 year old can easily get alcohol, and a 19 year old can, and even a 20 year old can. They may not be allowed into bars and clubs, but you don't need supervision of bouncers and bartenders to get maggotted. By keeping the drinking age higher than the age of majority, you're just setting up a lot of people to get fined unjustly [i]as adults[/i] for doing something that, in moderation, isn't nearly as bad as some of the other things your country allows ("Here Junior, you're 18, here's your first shotgun!").

Good work. No, really.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]