Age to Buy Smoking and Tobacco Products Raised to 21

I can tell you, the only time my friends and I drank back in the day was when we were with older kids that could get it.  It was never hard to get.  Did we abuse alcohol?  I never thought so.  Did we do stupid shit...yea but nobody ever did anything to risk a life.

posted by justincredible

I think dropping the drinking age to 18 would potentially decrease the amount of binge drinking that goes on in high school and college. When you're underaged, you never know when the next chance you'll have to drink will be, so you're more likely to over do it while you have the opportunity. If you could just go buy a 6-pack when you wanted, you'd be less likely to go overboard when the opportunity to drink came your way. It certainly wouldn't stop overconsumption, I'm not that naive, but I do think it would decrease it.

Do we know how it works in countries where the drinking age is lower that the US?

As a recovering alcoholic, I laff at this post.

posted by justincredible

Probably. I go back to my high school days and recall many, many parents that gave zero shits about their kids drinking. In the end, the drinking age is what it is and I don't care much because I'm well past it.

Yes, but the difference is most of those parents don't stock their fridge with beer for the kids....and only because they'd otherwise go to jail if they did.

posted by ernest_t_bass

As a recovering alcoholic, I laff at this post.

That's fine. 

I think it's dumb that there are age limits to any of this.  I know/knew 16-year-olds that could handle drinking more responsibly than some dipshits in their 50s.  What sense is there in using age as a means of setting the laws anyway?

I don't have any issues with the ages. Personally, smoking and tobacco is disgusting to me. I hate smelling it. Cigarette butts are absolutely terrible for the environment and one of the worst issues with littering.

It's baffling to me that there are still restaurants out there that allow smoking indoors.

Just read this from an article about it:

"Research shows most tobacco users start before age 18 and getting people to wait may stop them from ever using [...]"

Wait ... so if most users start BEFORE age 18 (ie. before the legal age), why do they think this is what's going to get people to wait?

I mean, based on what little research I've heard on the subject, tobacco use among teens is in decline anyway, but why do they think that a problem which normally starts before the legal age is going to be fixed by increasing the legal age?

Probably on a decline because everyone is doing that vape/juul/etc. junk. That stuff is even more annoying.

posted by OSH

Probably on a decline because everyone is doing that vape/juul/etc. junk. That stuff is even more annoying.

I'd assume it's more due to public sentiment that cigarettes are disgusting.

posted by OSH

Probably on a decline because everyone is doing that vape/juul/etc. junk. That stuff is even more annoying.

Annoying because people are so douchey about it?  It certainly doesn't smell as bad or add smoke to the air.
 

posted by justincredible

I'd assume it's more due to public sentiment that cigarettes are disgusting.

This is my guess.
 

It's just my opinion, but if a person is of an age where they're allowed to serve their country in the military or be gainfully employed at a business, living on their own and such (ie: the "productive citizen" life), they probably should be considered of an age where they're allowed to engage in any vices that are legal under our system.

posted by Heretic

It's just my opinion, but if a person is of an age where they're allowed to serve their country in the military or be gainfully employed at a business, living on their own and such (ie: the "productive citizen" life), they probably should be considered of an age where they're allowed to engage in any vices that are legal under our system.

Agreed.  The fact that you can be charged 'as an adult' for 'underage [anything]' seems ridiculous to me.  If a guy wants to hop in the car he owns as an adult and drive to the store, use money he earns from the full-time job he works or even credit he's been approved for, to purchase alcohol or tobacco that he takes back to the home he owns/pays for, I fail to see a rational justification for why that's a problem.

posted by O-Trap

Annoying because people are so douchey about it?  It certainly doesn't smell as bad or add smoke to the air.
 

I'd rather not have anyone breath stuff on me, kinda like sneezing or coughing. Not really my kind of thing.

posted by OSH

I'd rather not have anyone breath stuff on me, kinda like sneezing or coughing. Not really my kind of thing.

Or just breathing.  I'd prefer people not breathe their own exhaled air on me.

Beyond that, though, if it doesn't smell bad or cause any physical symptoms by just being in the room, IDGAF.