I say make it the same across the board and move on. It's not really all that big of deal in my opinion.
For as long as time has existed once a person reaches the age of 18 they are considered to be "an adult." Most have graduated from high school (hopefully) and they prepare to embark into new lives. There are 18-year-olds who go off to war for heaven's sake. Many move out from their parents nest. They begin to make their own decisions, pay their own bills (not ALL but many ha ha) and they learn independence. It's the time when they are expected to grow up and to start mapping out their life paths. Yet we want to dictate for another year (or three if you live south of the border) when they can have a beer?
The government of Saskatchewan has once again opened the door to the issue of whether the legal drinking age in the province should be lowered from 19 to 18 as it is in Alberta and Manitoba. It's been a topic of heated contention in Saskatchewan for at least 36 years when the age was raised from 18 to 19. Now we're at it again, except the idea is to reverse it back.
It's not a concept that sits well with many.
"In terms of human lives, dollars and cents, physical deterioration, quality of life and in terms of suffering and heartbreak, it just does not matter... every available statistic shows conclusively that absolutely nothing is gained by lowering the age... Isn't it incredible that a government with the guts to do something like nationalize the potash industry can't find the intestinal fortitude to say 'no' to such a completely negative step," say some opposed to the idea.
Seriously? Do you not think that at the age of 18 if they want to have a drink they're not going doing it anyway? Do you remember back to YOUR younger days? Besides that point, just because you legalize something does not AUTOMATICALLY mean abuse. At 18, at 19, at 45, there IS the potential for alcohol abuse. All we can do is hope that we've educated our children well enough that they make the proper choices.
If at 18 we want to call our children adults. We allow them sign up for military duty, we let them vote and we want them to "cut the apron strings," then I say we should trust them enough to decide whether or not they want to have a glass of wine.
