The_Big_K
Do you believe, that there should be a legal age limit to drinking?
Of course , there has to be a legal age limit to drinking . Else we will have 8-year old and 10-year old kids starting to drink .
Why don't we allow children to vote and do other things ? For the same reason children shouldn't be allowed to drink by law.
But I would raise another issue. And that has to do with definition of "adult" . On what basis is it decided that 18 years has to be the point after which a person has to be marked as an adult ? It has to do with attaining of physical maturity on an average . But does physical maturity mean intellectual maturity ? I highly doubt this.
I feel this whole concept of 18 years to be able to do everything is just too big a burden on the poor number.
For some things such as driving vehicles it seems valid as a person attains "physical" maturity by that age. But for things such as marriage , voting , drinking I believe a more mature age has to be 21.
I say this because these decision making processes need intellectual maturity and which can properly occur only after a person completes graduation on an average.
At the age of 18 most students enter college life and majority of them get into the habit of drinking purely on peer pressure. Given an uncluttered mind not many would go for drinking. If they are of an age where they have finished college they are in better position to decide whether drinking is good for them or not.
Hence I would root for 21 as a valid age for drinking. 25 seems a bit too older.
Of course everyone is concerned about rights these days and not so much about duties. Hence no one will agree for different age limits for different things. And so we are stuck with the number 18 as being the sign of adulthood.
P.S :- Our country has one added problem. That of corruption and low ethics. Whatever age is fixed people will break the laws and bribe the authorities. Hence 25 years is too high an age. As it will induce more people to break the law. It seems open invitation for corruption.
P.P.S :- I personally don't think drinking is a good idea so I am not with the youth who think drinking is a good idea. My stance is do what you want, just don't include me in this. Of course , forcing things on people is not the way to educate them . But I would like to see a society in which drinking is nearly absent. And I would like the people to do so by their own free will. As that effect would be more permanent.
I agree with what the Bawa guy in the video says with regards to ill effects of drinking.