Home › Forums › Rants › If you can go to war at 18, you should be able to drink at 18 › Reply To: If you can go to war at 18, you should be able to drink at 18
DaasYochid: Got it in one. This has been fun.
yekke2: But, continuing my train of thought, yes, I am arguing in semantics. It’s not as if 20 year olds are naturally more susceptible to alcohol, they are deemed too irresponsible to deal with it safely. If the law deems them not yet old enough to be responsible for their actions, to the extent that it will ban them from doing an otherwise legal activity, then the state should not consider them legally an adult. The definition of an adult should be the age at which one becomes considered fully responsible in all respects, with no exceptions. That’s what it should mean, and the law should reflect that.
Persuant to your further question, the nature of heroin is that people under its influence harm others, due to their altered mental state and its addictive nature. The same argument can be made about alcohol, but for societal reasons it is legal to consume. There is far less reason to ban marijuana, although there are studies showing it leads to psychosis in the long term.
And with regard to your final point, as I’ve said, I don’t think the state should consider adults responsible and mature in only some respects.