What is the positive influence of drinking alcohol?

Idea proposition: Drinking License?

• I will turn 20 at the end of this month. I live alone, work full time, pay bills, pay taxes, pay insurance, and am otherwise an "adult". So why is my (hypothetical) friend who is a year older than me but still lives with her parents, and doesn't even have a job, more an adult than I am? I feel that laws concerning drinking need to be seriously reconsidered, and not just in the "lower it to 18" sense. I've thought about it for a while and the best solution that I can come up with is a license of sorts. When you turn 18 (or 19, haven't decided which is better) you can apply for your license by taking a written test on the dangers of drinking and how to drink responsibly, then perhaps going through a short interview process to find out about your drinking habits (the statistics of which can be used for studies, et c.). You must provide evidence of "adulthood" by showing bills or college transcripts. If you break any laws while under the influence (DUI, or otherwise) then your license is revoked until you turn 21 and you are placed under temporary probation with fines and possibly classes. I also feel that punishment should be stricter for people who drive drunk, no matter their age. The fact of the matter is that having the drinking age set to 21 doesn't magically cause people under a certain age not to have access to alcohol. Legal regulation would be much easier and more worthwhile than a complete ban. In environments like college people are in the same place mentally. A 21 year old is not that different from an 18 or 19 year old, so they will be exposed to drinking *without a doubt*. Stricter punishment on DUI laws will reduce the number of people driving drunk more than the age ban on drinking does. Anyway, what do you think of my idea (It's only in the first stages as I'm sure you can tell.)? I'm just curious as to how everyone feels. Also could you post your age along with your answer? I'd like to know a rough percentage of how people within these age brackets feel. Under 18 (doesn't affect you yet) 18-20 (affects you directly) 21+ (doesn't affect you but may your children or siblings) And I just want to say that I'm not condoning drunk driving at all. I just think that most arguments against lowering the drinking age involve it and it's a different issue. So, answer away! Thanks in advance for your input.

• Answer:

  I **REALLY** like this idea. While I don't think that people under 21 should be allowed to drink without a parent present, I would like to see a "drinker's learning permit" to start with, where you'd be able to have a limited amount of alcohol to learn how to drink properly, as opposed to what happens today where most kids learn how to binge drink in college. It also concerns me that most youngsters are learning about drinking and learning about driving at about the same time of their lives... Also, if someone was irresponsible in using alcohol (DUI, crimes/violence while drunk) you could take away their drinking license! This makes a lot of sense. Sure, people would find ways around it, but they'd be unlikely to go out drunk if they weren't licensed to drink...