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I drank and smoked at 14.. I think its a fine age to start.

Thing is if you make it soo difficult then weed just takes over as its always easy to get.

I can't drink in company, still not legal. However, everyone seems to be placing bets that I'll be a "happy" drunk as opposed to any other kind of drunk.

Do people "start" drinking Cokes (or Sodas, whichever your regional dialect prefers)? Do you "start" drinking Kool-aid? What about Gatorade? Then where the hell is this "starting" business coming from? I think it's stupid that at 18 I can die for my country but it's not til the exact moment I hit 21 that I'm suddenly responsible enough to drink. I don't know exactly how to feel about this, I would hope that parents would guide kids in the best way possible, but we all know that isn't foolproof :p

I drink RC Cola.

halonachos wrote:I drink RC Cola.

That's not real cola. Coke Classic is the only TRUE cola.

I'm currently 19. I started drinking in backalley pubs and parks in Feltham at the age of 16. My mum never used tio mind, as she trusted me not to binge to excess. And you know something? I almost never did.

The kind of people who get in trouble through drinking tend to be chavs or gangstas, in other words, the kind of people who get into trouble anyway.

My personal taste is for good scotch and port. However, I have a sweet tooth, so I do like alco-pops like Smirnoff Ice and WKD Blue. I hate the mass produced ciders and ales, but I'm partial to a Kopparberg pear cider, and Whyren Brewery ale from up north, which I order down by the keg for special occassions.

I remember when a Romanian friend brought some of her Aunties home-brewed vodka to a party. I swear, that hooch must have been about 80%. One small glass and you were away. Nothing quite like home-brewed moonshine.

I think that I am meeting adults who have no friggin clue on how to handle their alcohol. Which means that we either need to introduce it younger so people learn how to deal with it, or ban it completely to save the idiots from themselves because that will work, right?

I live in South Africa, and there isnt as strong a police force here

Especially since the ocuntry more or less fell apart in '94, right? In the years since, your crime rate has exploded and what police you still have serving have more important things to deal with.
Sad but true.

As to the larger on topic issue, I'm an unashamed law and order type. The law is the law, and you cannot simply pick and choose which ones to obey. It's really that simple.
At first I was suprised at the number here who support under-age drinking. But this is Dakka were the average demographic is pretty young and many are are still kiddies with the "hurr, hurr drugs and alcohol are kewl do0D!!11!!" mentality. Happily most eventually outgrow that.
TR

Trench-Raider wrote:

I live in South Africa, and there isnt as strong a police force here

Especially since the ocuntry more or less fell apart in '94, right? In the years since, your crime rate has exploded and what police you still have serving have more important things to deal with.
Sad but true.

As to the larger on topic issue, I'm an unashamed law and order type. The law is the law, and you cannot simply pick and choose which ones to obey. It's really that simple.
At first I was suprised at the number here who support under-age drinking. But this is Dakka were the average demographic is pretty young and many are are still kiddies with the "hurr, hurr drugs and alcohol are kewl do0D!!11!!" mentality. Happily most eventually outgrow that.
TR

The thing with that is though, different counties have different drinking laws. Most states in the USA ban drinking until the age of 21 yes?

In Oz, you are not allowed to drink in a pulic place or on licenced premises and you are not allowed to sell or provide alcohol to persons under the age of 18 in a public place or on licenced premises (Italics taken from signs that we legally have to have on licensed premises). This means I, at seventeen, cannot drink or buy alcohol in public. On private premises, I can drink to my liver's discontent.

Some places in Europe it's 16 to buy certain kinds fo alcohol.

Also, many people here are talking about getting them (us) to drink responsibly, and...

I have no idea where I was going with that...

In England, as long as it's someone old enough buying it, you can drink. You're just not allowed to purchase it.

As for alcohol being cool(drugs are never cool, regardless of age.), what on earth? I enjoy a drink here and there. Not because it's cool, but because I enjoy it. I like the taste. You may be of the opinion that anyone with a different viewpoint to you must be immature, but I'm of the opinion you're wrong.

As for alcohol being cool(drugs are never cool, regardless of age.), what on earth? I enjoy a drink here and there. Not because it's cool, but because I enjoy it. I like the taste. You may be of the opinion that anyone with a different viewpoint to you must be immature, but I'm of the opinion you're wrong.

Un no. You may be an exception, but the primary reason kids begin drinking and smoking before they legally able to do so is to look "cool" in front of other children. That's a bad reason to do anything...especially something illegal. But as I said, most grow out of that mindset with time.

TR

I would disagree and say that that is an exceptional minority. Most kids do it because it's either a)forbidden
or b)Because they enjoy drinking and the effect that alcohol has on them and their behaviour.

As a 19 year old, I'd like to think that I'm pretty clued up on what people of the age groups around me are like.

Of course, the situation may be different in the US.

Most kids do it because it's either a)forbidden

Exactly. Doing things that are taboo or against the rules makes them look "cool" in front of other children. You may not look at it that way, but it's the underlying motive.
But happily most people grow out of the being a rebel just for the sake of rebeling stage. Others (myself being one) never went through it to begin with.

TR

I think the peer pressure and fitting in aspect also varies with when a person starts drinking. At 15, that might be a greater component than at 18.

I mean, do adults drink just to look cool and fit in, or do some simply enjoy drinking?

Polonius wrote:I think the peer pressure and fitting in aspect also varies with when a person starts drinking. At 15, that might be a greater component than at 18.

I mean, do adults drink just to look cool and fit in, or do some simply enjoy drinking?

How about C: to make the hurting go away?
Binge drinking is wasted on the young.

Frazzled wrote:

Polonius wrote:I think the peer pressure and fitting in aspect also varies with when a person starts drinking. At 15, that might be a greater component than at 18.

I mean, do adults drink just to look cool and fit in, or do some simply enjoy drinking?

How about C: to make the hurting go away?
Binge drinking is wasted on the young.

the physical ability to binge drink and recover is wasted, to be sure. I'm only 29 and I'm wiped out the day after a bender. Back in college, from what I can remember, it was different.

Trench-Raider wrote:

Most kids do it because it's either a)forbidden

Exactly. Doing things that are taboo or against the rules makes them look "cool" in front of other children. You may not look at it that way, but it's the underlying motive.
But happily most people grow out of the being a rebel just for the sake of rebeling stage. Others (myself being one) never went through it to begin with.

TR

Achualy I hate other people seeing me drink, so I have no idea where your getting this 'Teens think drinking is cool' theory from.

I find it amusing how some people seem to think that teens dont have there own brain. Smoking is digusting and anyone who smokes cause its 'cool' are idiots anyway.

Teens have a brain? Have you taken a recent poll of parents to confirm that myth?

Frazzled wrote:Teens have a brain? Have you taken a recent poll of parents to confirm that myth?

Just cause we have brains, it doesnt mean we always want use them.

Lord-Loss wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Teens have a brain? Have you taken a recent poll of parents to confirm that myth?

Just cause we have brains, it doesnt mean we always to use them.

That can be said about us all, myself especially.

Trench-Raider wrote:
Exactly. Doing things that are taboo or against the rules makes them look "cool" in front of other children. You may not look at it that way, but it's the underlying motive.
But happily most people grow out of the being a rebel just for the sake of rebeling stage. Others (myself being one) never went through it to begin with.

TR

I love how you feel as though you can dismiss something which is inevitably far more complicated than you want to think based on the underlying premise that kids are stupid. Most people don't enjoy being rejected, and the desire to 'fit in' certainly plays a roll in the desire to drink (at any age), buts its certainly not the only motivating factor. As Polonius said, peer pressure is another contributing factor, as is the desire to be seen on equal terms with the rest of society, curiosity is also an important elements to consider (which itself can be overtaken by simple pleasure).

Trench Raider, how old are you? I know kids used to smoke 40 years ago, because they thought it was 'cool', but that's not the case today. The same applies for drinking.

People don't underage drink to look 'cool' for breaking the 'taboo'. Why? Because it's too common. Everyone does it. You say it's a 'taboo', but that's far too strong a word. As indicated by just about everyone in this thread, it's really not. A taboo is doing something like marrying your sister. Underage drinking is common. It's the norm.
Hardly a taboo.

Kids wonder why drinking is forbidden. So they do it to see what the fuss is about. Then they realise they enjoy it, like people who are two days past the legal age, and do it again and again. There's no 'taboo' about it. If they don't enjoy it, they don't do it again.

Would you force yourself to eat something your friends were eating, even if you hated the taste, and it made you gag? If so, then to be honest that would brainless. But don't group everyone under the age of 18(or 21) into that pathetic brain dead category. We do have brains.

Young people (like older people) drink to get pissed. Simple as that. Alcohol is a drug and many people enjoy it's effects. That's why I started drinking at 14 - I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I'm now 27 and still wondering...

I drink because I like the taste. The effect is just a bonus.

I drink scotch. Why? I like it.

I don't drinnk Goon (Cask Wine about $10 for four litres) like the little emo gaks in Civic because it tastes like crap, and they drink it JUST to get hammered.

Same with all my friends. We let people lay drinking games with non alcoholic drinks and don't force them to drink the boozes (except in Kings )

I got this to say, though this is my feeling.

It's not about quality, but quantity.

My dad will notice alot sooner if I drink his Johnny Walker Blue, but he won't notice if I sneak two or three bottles
of Mikes Hard from a 24 case. Besides, I still need to build myself a tolerance to even think of trying some Johnny.

@GES:

As befits the difference in price, there is a *huge* difference between a couple fingers of Blue and a couple fingers of the cheap stuff. Blue is exceptionally smooth, and a great rocks drink, whereas their basic 12-year old Black is a bit on the harsh side. I think Johnny doesn't get good until the 15-year mark, and the 18-year is *very* drinkable.

When my kid gets older, if I find him sneaking any of my premium Scotch, there will be hell to pay!

That stuff is very, very expensive ($150+ /bl @Costco), 3x the price of Black. For a kid to be sneaking it, or cutting it, is wasting it.


[3 bottles of Mikes is about $3. A 2-oz shot of Blue is about $12]

JohnHwangDD wrote:@GES:

When my kid gets older, if I find him sneaking any of my premium Scotch, there will be hell to pay!

That stuff is very, very expensive ($150+ /bl @Costco), 3x the price of Black. For a kid to be sneaking it, or cutting it, is wasting it.


[3 bottles of Mikes is about $3. A 2-oz shot of Blue is about $12]

My dad could never justify spending that much money on whiskey, he ended up getting it as a retirement gift. Hmmm, he also has some other expensive alcohol from retiremnts as well. yet he has yet to retire.

I've taken to single malt scotish whiskey, drinking is boring for the drunkness to me, love whiskey tastes and flavours (Neat, no water or ice for me sir no no)

Yeah, single malt is nice - I used to drink a lot of Glenfiddich, but more recently have shifted to Glen Devron and Dalwhinnie.

Tho I've also been enjoying liquers lately - Amaretto, in particular.

Wussies. Real men drink sterno out of a used dog food can, and like it!