Alcohol and Fighting for Your Country do Not Mix
Proponents of a lower drinking age often argue that "If I'm old enough to go to war, I should be old enough to drink," but many rights have different ages of initiation. In most States, a person can obtain a hunting license at age 12 and drive at age 16. US citizens can vote and serve in the military at 18, serve in the U.S. House of Representatives at 25, and serve as the U.S. President at 35. Other rights we regulate include the sale and use of tobacco, and legal consent for sexual intercourse and marriage. Vendors, such as car rental facilities and hotels, also have set the minimum age for a person to use their services—25-years-old to rent a car and 21-years-old to rent a hotel room. The minimum age for initiation is based on the specific behaviors involved and must take into account the dangers and benefits of that behavior at a given age. The minimum age for initiation is also based on physical development, including brain function. The military recruits 18-year-olds fresh out of high school because they are young, impressionable, and highly trainable. This does not mean these 18-year-olds are ready for alcohol use.
Alcohol actually affects teens differently than adults. A teenager may look like an adult physically and may even appear more physically fit, but the teenager’s body is still developing. According to the American Medical Association (AMA) it actually takes less alcohol for a teenager to get drunk than it does for an adult in his/her twenties. A normal adult’s liver can safely process an estimated 50 alcohol calories an hour (one ounce of 40 percent alcohol). However, studies show that a teenager’s liver can only process half that amount before they experience harmful effects. To ingest only 25 alcohol calories per hour, a teenager could drink no more than one-fourth of a “light” beer over the course of one hour.
Early onset of drinking by youth has also been shown to significantly increase the risk of future alcohol-related problems (e.g., addiction, getting into fights, drinking driver crashes, other unintentional injury).
When the age 21 law was challenged in Louisiana’s State Supreme Court, the Court upheld the law, ruling that “…statutes establishing the minimum drinking age at a higher level than the age of majority are not arbitrary because they substantially further the appropriate government purpose of improving highway safety, and thus are constitutional.”
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If a person's brain does not stop developing until his or her early to mid-20s. And drinking alcohol can seriously damage long- and short- term growth processes. And if damage from alcohol during this time can be long-term and irreversible, then what about people who are 18 being able to join the military?
If I can choose to join the military where I could be:
- injured physically (lose a leg, arm, etc.)
- mentally (post traumatic stress disorder, etc.)
- tortured by the enemy
- missing in combat, potentially never seeing family and friends again
- killed in combat, definitely never seeing family and friends again
Then I don't see why I can't choose to drink responsibly once I turn 18. In my eyes, I would think being tortured, physically losing body parts, or dying in combat is a lot worse then drinking responsibly.
If the government decides that we can responsibly choose to join the military or not at the age of 18, then I would say that the government should also let us responsibly choose whether or not to drink alcohol.
I joined the military when I was 19, I've deployed 3 times, and I've endured intense training designed to induce an unprecedented amount of stress (stress indoctrination , they call it)
Many experiences that I've had had the potential to cause bodily harm. In fact, I can honestly say that I've faced my own mortality several times.
I've also had friends, acquaintances, and mere coworkers I didn't know, die while they were in the military. None of them died from gunshot wounds or military training. All incidences were due to drug / alcohol abuse.
My experience is not unique. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, dying in combat, capture/ torture by the enemy, gunshot wounds, and other military-related problems don't happen anywhere near as often as alcohol-related deaths and injuries. Underage drinking was a huge problem in my squadron. Ironically enough, so were DUIs. Huh.
And there was a visible difference between the age groups and their drinking habits. 25 year olds and up had a tendency to drink socially. A glass of wine here and there. Like....grown ups.
20 year olds and under, almost 100% of the time, had a propensity to binge drink.
I'm irked by this posting. The claim is made in bold type that according to the AMA far less alcohol is needed to get a "teenager" (someone 13 years old?) drunk than someone in his or her 20's. But no citation to any AMA publication is provided nor way I able to find any backup for the claim.
I suspect that the full story is not being told here. Of course there is a metabolic difference between a 90 lb 14-year-old and the same person at 25, after a growth spurt and years at a desk job. But it isn't clear to me why that fact would show that moderate drinking is unreasonably dangerous for that person at, say, 19.
As for the graded rights, the ones to look at are those relating to bodily integrity and personal health decisions. Those all come in at 18 or younger, this one should as well if the effect on health is the primary concern. (Anyway the observations about car/hotel rentals are individual business decisions, not the law.)
Just wanted to point out that it's no longer true that you can't rent a car until the age of 25. Drivers under 25 have to pay more, but you can rent a car as young as 18.
There was never a federal law which stated a minimum age of 25 to rent a car. It was always at the discretion of the rental dealership.
After serving in the US Army,I DO think that if you're brave enough to enlist and possibly die, you should be able to drink. One problem is that sometimes, younger soldiers can't handle their liquor. That said, the military is equipped to deal with the problem. I've seen underage soldiers get hammered in the barracks, get stupid, and spend a night with the MP's mopping floors, puking the whole time. When they see the sun come up and have to go straight to PT and then a full day's work, most quickly learn it's not worth it. Furthermore, soldiers look after one another, and often stop these things from happening. I have bought beer for underage soldiers who I deemed mature enough to drink, but I drank with them, and kept an eye on them.The military deals with alcohol abuse in ways that I feel are at once strict and constructive. If they will take on the intense responsibilty that entails fighting for America, they should be able to drink. The military will take care of its own.