Posted by blood roses at 1:00pm Nov 13 '07the age to drink alcohol without the permission of your parents should be the age of majority. If you're old enough to be responsible for yourself and make your own decisions, that should include the decision to drink alcohol. With the permission of parents... I was going to say there shouldn't be a legal age, but I can imagine abusive or neglectful parents feeding a 5 year old alcohol or some such, so maybe 14 or so with permission of parents.
And no, it's not practical at all. Of course, neither is 18... it's 18 here but plenty of people I know were drinking at 15 or 16.
As for the drinking and driving thing...in some countries in Europe the legal drinking age is lower than the driving age. (14-16 for drinking, 18 for driving). I think the idea is, well first of all driving a car is a bigger responsibility than drinking alcohol, and secondly, it allows them to get the irresponsible drinking out of their system before they start driving. Unfortunately, that's less feasible in Canada and the US, because a car is more of a necessity to get around.
And no, it's not practical at all. Of course, neither is 18... it's 18 here but plenty of people I know were drinking at 15 or 16.
As for the drinking and driving thing...in some countries in Europe the legal drinking age is lower than the driving age. (14-16 for drinking, 18 for driving). I think the idea is, well first of all driving a car is a bigger responsibility than drinking alcohol, and secondly, it allows them to get the irresponsible drinking out of their system before they start driving. Unfortunately, that's less feasible in Canada and the US, because a car is more of a necessity to get around.
Yeah, I agree with you - blood roses