What should the drinking age be ?

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The legal age is 5 in Britain.
Seriously.

Or a La Fin Du Monde

i love the belgian ales...especially the trappists.

It should be 30.

Additionally pregnant women should be absolutely forbidden to drink alcohol. I hope you've heard of fetal alcohol syndrome. (Enough said.)

Ideally I'd like to outlaw alcohol for human consumption completely (except for medicinal purposes with a doctor's prescription), but I think that's completely unenforceable at this point.

As for the age, multiple studies show that anatomically significant areas of the human brain still haven't finished maturing well into the 20's, mostly associated with judgment and emotional control. It is also a well established fact that alcohol causes brain damage. It follows, therefore, that people under thirty (as a group) can't be reliably trusted to drink responsibly, and further that this mental immaturity may become a permanent condition (through damage to the rapidly developing areas) for people in that group who regularly drink.

As for government nit-picking about minimum age, don't be ridiculous! We have laws mostly to keep people from hurting each other. (And, by extension, themselves, for that matter.) The effects of alcohol abuse are so serious that there is ample cause to ban alcohol altogether, but as I've said, due to cultural/historical/addictive reasons, I don't think an outright ban is enforceable at this point, but it may be worth considering in the future.

I know this sounds odd for a Belgian who lived in Ireland and now lives in Germany (three "beer oientated countries") but I dislike beer. Since on medication I do not touch any drip of alcohol anymore, beforehand I would drink a Pisang Ambon maybe twice a month and that was it. I find it a pity people need things like drugs or alcohol to have fun, but well, to each his own.

18 is the good age for me. Then you are legally adult and do what you want. I would disencourage alcohol usage and drug use, but since you cannot just ban alcoholic drinks I would set the minimum age at 18 which is also the age legal adulthood commences.

No age limit at all. It's age discrimination. Same as I think that there should be none for voting.

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I'd go with 16 honestly as most 16 year olds, and even some younger people who want to drink seem to do it anyway around here with the drinking age at 21.

I think 12 is a good age for legally being able to buy and drink alcohol independently. I think it should be legal for parents to give their kids drink at any age.

I'm a bit fickle about keeping control of my own mind (to the point that i've had bouts of insomnia because sleep would mean losing control), and I never understood why people want to drink and willingly give up their mental controls all the damn time. It doesn't matter what ethnicity a person came from, what religion a person follows (even in those that forbid alcohol consumption), or what country a person is a part of, everyone wants to just keep consuming booze all the time. I don't mind the glass of wine with dinner (which has health benefits), but the evidence of so many alcoholics that try to consume whatever booze they can get their hands on is staggering at this point in time.

In another age (even into the early 20th century), alcohol was the only thing some people had to drink if clean fresh water wasn't available, but today, in the days of running water almost everywhere in developed countries, one would think alcohol usage would decline... if anything, it's risen since 1900.

Then again, since I don't like imposing my views on others forcibly, I'm actually for abolishing the drinking age...

Yeah, I'm not sure that the government should set an age limit. That wouldn't stop individual stores or restaurants from having their own policies - if Tony's Italian restaurant wants to sell one glass of wine or beer to a 14 year old when they are dining with their parents, but not if they come in alone and belly up to the bar, that doesn't bother me. Likewise, if a grocery store wants to establish an age limit for them to sell beer, that is ok with me.

Its 18 here in Alberta, 19 in some other provinces, personally I think 21 should be the law, most NT kids are to immature at 18 wouldn't you say.