Re: [CH] US Alcohol policy

robhuns1 (robhuns1@earthlink.net)
Wed, 6 Jun 2001 13:51:37 -0400 

How many of us that are in the United States of North America actually
waited till they were 21 to drink? I started to drink beer and  whiskey when
I was in the 6th grade. I remember street vendors in Washington DC(the
nations capital) selling me and my friends beer while on a school field trip
to the Smithsonian. Now heroin and crack are more accessable than alcohol is
for kids in the USA. They can't seem to get the drug dealers to enforce an
age limit.....go figure.

----- Original Message -----
From: <mstevens@exit109.com>
To: <chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 1:28 PM
Subject: [CH] US Alcohol policy


> At 08:00 AM 6/6/01 +0200, T wrote:
> >> It's not always that easy; restaurants and bars that serve alcohol are
> >> frequently the target of 'sting' enforcement by decoys, and the servers
> >> of alcohol may have a *responsibility* to report such
> >
> >Don't police in the US have more important things to do, especially when
in
> >most of the world even 18 year olds can buy alcohol?
> >
> >Here in CH it's 16 (18 for hard liquor), and not enforced.
>
> There's a separate country for Chile Heads?
>
> >Until recently,
> >most people here didn't even know that there was a minimum age.
> >
>
> It's a political football here.  A largely prudish population demands that
it's
> elected officials and law enforcement be resolute on maintaining the "War"
on
> the use of  alcohol by minors.  Anyone in public service that does not toe
the
> party line on this is considered not to have the best interest of the
children
> in mind.  They refuse to let their opinions be clouded by inconvenient
facts
> and feel that not allowing people under 21 enjoy a sip of beer or wine in
a
> social setting will somehow prevent them from succumbing to alcoholism.
As a
> result alcohol becomes a "forbidden Fruit" and gives those who indulge in
it
> underage that slight thrill of rebellion.
>
> The fact that so much of the world includes alcohol in a family/social
setting
> with no age barriers and suffer much less substance abuse seems to make no
> impression.  The irony that folks who can drive, vote and join the Armed
Forces
> and die for the country is often cited, but as was said, no public
official
> would commit political suicide by questioning the status quo.
>
>
>                     =Mark "Runs With Scissors" Stevens
>
>                 @ http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens @
>                                   @ ICQ# 2059548 @
>
>                           Dyslexic Agnostic Insomniac...
>
>            Lying awake at night, wondering if there is a dog.
>
>
>