[neverdem]

I called MADD once it became obvious that distracted driving with mobile phones was as bad a problem as drunken driving or worse. They were so concerned that they had nothing to say about distracted driving with mobile phones. So much for those health nazis. That wasn't their hobby horse.

[humblegunner]

I experienced drinking reform about twenty years ago.

Budweiser was too expensive, so I reformed to Busch.

[a fool in paradise]

In the United States, we treat 18-year-olds as full citizens. At this age, a man may vote and he may serve as a juror — or he may search for excuses as to why he should do neither. He may smoke cigarettes and fly an airplane. He may get married, or he may eschew that road in favor of pornography and promiscuity. He may enter into contracts, max out his credit cards, and run a business into the ground. He may join the military, putting his life in danger. In some jurisdictions, he may run for public office. Less welcome but no less real are the opportunities to be executed by the state for capital crimes and to sign up for the Selective Service. But what he may not do — in any of the 50 states — is walk to a bar and buy an alcoholic drink. This is nonsense — an aberration from the usual rules. What sense does it make to deprive an adult of just one feature of adulthood, and why are the arguments in favor of doing so taken seriously?

Promiscuity in today's sex positive realm of the medical profession and academia no longer "begins" at 18. Kinsey and Reich's goal of sexual people sexual active at all ages is here. Kids are encouraged by teachers to experiment while in school and learn oral sex and fisting techniques as well as how to properly put a condom on a phallus.

In some areas, stripping and access to porn is restricted to those over 21.

You have to be 35+ to run for the office of President.

There are all sorts of age restrictions on things. but the above summary missed a few of them.

[pepsionice]

MADD is focused, period. You could make the drinking age twenty-five, and you’d still have an abundance of DWIs. You can put out forty police points on a Friday night, and round up two hundred folks out of any major town...for DWIs. People do stupid things...no one wants to drink responsibly. Lives are wasted.

[a fool in paradise]

The woman who founded MADD left the organization in the 1980s when she realized it had shifted to being a neoprohibitionist movement. She subsequently lobbied on behalf of alcohol producers and bars.

There are some who would like breathalyzer ignition systems required in every car. There are some who want 0.03% BAC to be the standard for drivers and 0.01% for bar employees (including bands and strippers). I think Sweden’s DWI standard is 0.01%.

[Rusty0604]

When I turned 18 Texas changed the legal age to 18 and when I turned 21 they changed it back. Hope I wasn’t the cause.

[Triple]

As a libertarian I can tell you that just because I don’t want the government, with the full force of law cracking down on citizens for certain behaviors - DOES NOT MEAN I FAVOR THOSE BEHAVIORS.

There is a role for individual responsibility as well as family, church, and community intervention.

With a smaller government (less expensive and intrusive), individuals, family and churches will have the opportunity to step up. These entities can handle these problems much more appropriately.

[DManA]

It may be something a libertarian minded person might agree with but it’s about 5,356 on the list if priorities. We still have to save the country from total fiscal collapse so we should probably avoid distractions like this.

[Iron Munro]

The Democratic Government Of The Peoples Reppublic Of Obamaland says that “children” aren’t mature enough to be dropped from their parents medical plan until after age 26.

And that they aren’t mature enough to drink alcoholic beverages until they are 21.

So why are they allowed to vote when they are only 18 years old?

[Perdogg]

South Dakota v Dole was Scalia’s worst vote.

[neverdem]

New antimalarial drug class resists resistance

Court convicts ex-Aptuit researcher over drug data

Meningitis Spreading Via Anonymous Sex in NYC (among blades) [gay]

Painting circuits on skin

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[dfwgator]

Help for those with drinking problems.

[Gene Eric]

Old enough to go to war, old enough to do anything.

[1010RD]

I suspect that nannyism is the real disease. Bad behavior cures itself eventually. Insulating people from the consequences of their actions just encourages worse risks.

I also think that measuring traffic fatalities or any fatality as your baseline is off. That we have fewer fatalities in Iraq or Afghanistan isn’t because of smarter officers or better tactics/strategies/ROIs, but medical advances in trauma treatments.

Liberals point to gun fatalities when the real benefits of gun ownership rarely lead to someone’s death. Did traffic fatalities fall due to safer vehicles, better training, etc. Illinois has made it very hard to get a DL for a kid. Fewer are getting them early and many wait until they’re 18. So are we measuring a smaller pool of teen drivers and thus see lower fatalities?

Correlation leads the way to all kinds of bad laws or outcomes.