NEWS: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Drink No Evil

But would this taste good?!?

My main issue with the idea of increased taxes as a form of deterring under-aged drinking is this. The idea that increasing the price of a product that an 18 year old consumer isn't even legally allowed to purchase seems flawed. If an individual is determined to drink, even in the face of possible legal ramifications, i don't know that bumping up the price another buck will be that strong a deterrent.

As for alcohol related deaths due to drunk driving, i'd be curious to know how many are result of under-age drinking, as opposed to those caused by some 30-something driving home from a bar after having one too many.

Our government has a long standing tradition of trying to fix our social problems with regulations meant to "stop the bleeding" rather than trying to determine the cause of these problems and work to fix them. At one time in this nation, alcohol was illegal and all it did was create big business for "less than honest" entrepreneurs. Before Roe v. Wade, abortions occurred in "medical facilities" that were more akin to back alleys. Smokers are social pariahs in this day and age, and yet tobacco is still a billion dollar industry. and i know more people that still drive without their seat belts on than i can count on both hands.

All this looks like is another attempt by the government to legislate morality.

And bank some coin.

I believe that the tobacco issue kinda boiled down to, well, we're all paying into Medicare and those dollars are being sucked away by lung disease, which as far as smoking is concerned, is a preventable disease. Suing the tobacco industry, generating millions for the States with these expenses, in tandem with limits on advertising and taxes on tobacco, have made a real difference in this regard.

Simply substituting alcohol into this scenario would likely have a similar result:

Drinking alcohol excessively causes cirrhosis of the liver which, as far as drinking is concerned, is a preventable disease. The deaths and suffering cause by drinking and driving, abusive alcoholics and the like, only amplify the issue. The States could sue the alcohol manufacturers and generate revenue for prevention. The federal government could limit advertising of alcohol and tax its purchase. This likely would be an effective deterrent. The rate of this disease would drop and drinking and driving other related alcohol abuse would decrease.

Of course, getting the federal government to favor such government action is unlikely, simply because there probably is a supermajority of the voting public who wouldn't support it--because they enjoy drinking.

Thus, I don't think I would worry about not being able to drink anytime soon.

Is no one else concerned about the threat to alcohol advertising? Alcohol commercials are some of the best commercials we have. The liquor commercials are arty and the beer commercials are funny. Does no one else remember the Budwiser lizards? If we were to lose this, we would be losing one of the greatest advertising niches this country has!

As far as new laws, i say drop the drinking age to 16, and raise the driving age to 18. That way kids have a good two years of boozing it up before they can get behind the wheel. Hopefully by that time enough of the novelty will have worn off and they won't be nearly as much of a risk.

making it illegal won't work.
It's illegal where I'm from (kuwait) and we still drink like fish ....


(Might be one of the reasons why I fit in so well in Ireland)

plus the law has now become just as useless as the cannabis laws are in the states.....

Yes, because the sober people tend to "tense up" and get more injured while the drunks are a bit more relaxed during the collision and therefore take less damage.

The safest thing to do is to REQUIRE people to be drunk while driving. Have cars be more like bumper cars. Seriously, it's the only way to make our streets safe.

Don't we already have a war on drugs?? How well has that worked?

The taxing on cigarettes hasn't detered me from smoking. I just stopped paying rent and other uselss shit like that.

One word, prohibition. You know because that always works.

it's the same bloody thing this side of the atlantic, 24 hour drinking is now legal, but can you find a pub open past 2am, i think not, taxes on both alcohol and ciggarettes are foolishly high but both are still cheaper than pot, doesn't stop me doing any of the 3

Yes, and let's all remember, we have 1 person, and 1 group to blame for the drinking age . . .
a round of applause for Reagan and MADD.

Seriously the whole "won't somebody think of the children!" argument really needs to go away. FUCK children. Kids grew up fine for thousands of years without pointless laws and taxes to protect them from the world.
If you don't want your kid exposed to the evils of alcohol advertising, move to a country with Sharia law. Leave me out of it.