Bill would lower drinking age in Wisconsin to 19

[Archae]

Source: WBAY, ABC affiliate in Green Bay, WI

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The legal drinking age would be only 19 in Wisconsin under a bill circulated by the former president of the Tavern League and two other Republican lawmakers.

The proposal unveiled Wednesday calls for lowering the drinking age from the current minimum of 21 only if Wisconsin would not lose its federal highway funds. A federal law passed in 1984 penalized states with a reduction in federal highway money if they didn't have a minimum drinking age of 21.

The bill sponsors say that at age 19 "there are very few things that you cannot do," but drinking is one of them.

Read more: http://www.wbay.com/content/news/Bill-would-lower-drinking-age-in-Wisconsin-to-19-456161953.html

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"Blood Border" version 2.0...

[PoliticAverse]

1. If you can join the military at 19 and go to war you should be able to drink at that age too. n/t

[3catwoman3]

2. IIRC, in some European countries, the drinking...

...age is 16 and the driving age is 18. Get the initial fascination with booze out of the way before someone can get behind the wheel.

Seems like a reasonable idea, IMO.

[Chipper Chat]

21. I remember in the 80s our high school choir performed in Germany.

At a high school in Bavaria the pop machine also had beer in it. You had to be 14 to drink one at school though.
My thought was "gee, what a way to relax before that math test."

[jmowreader]

58. Things are different in Europe

Alcohol doesn't carry the same taboos in Europe as it does in the US.

[Saviolo]

3. Drinking age in most of Canada is 19

Except Quebec, where it is 18.

[LeftInTX]

4. Doesn't stand a chance of passing

They would lose their federal high funds.

I guess the tavern lobby is powerful...

We got stuck with all this extra Daylight Savings Time due to the sports lobbies.

[Thor_MN]

24. I don't know what Wisconsin uses federal highway funds for, but the roads are terrible.

The times I've driven through WI, the roads were pretty bad.

I hit drinking age at 19 in MN, right before it was raised to 21, so I was grandfathered in and didn't have to wait until 21.

At the time, I believe WI was 18, so going to Superior, WI was a thing. Soup town run, it was called.

[TexasBushwhacker]

60. They only lose 10% of fed highway funds n/t

[FakeNoose]

5. I remember when it was 18 in New York

... and it wasn't strictly enforced either. It was so easy for teens to get served then, with a fake ID or no ID at all. I grew up in Pittsburgh where the legal drinking age was 21 but it was very easy to get served as a teenager.

Of course there were no worries about liability either, nobody sued the bar owners in those days.

[brewens]

27. It was 19 in my state and I went over the boarder to a 21 state to buy in high school.

A little mom and pop store in the neighboring town just across the river. It was perfect. Who would be dumb enough to try that? I was a big kid and probably looked old enough. I had trouble in my town but they just weren't looking for that over there.

[TygrBright]

6. ah, jeeez.... Not this shit again.

The bridge in Stillwater used to be ambush zones for the MN cops trying to intercept drunk teens before they killed themselves (and other people) on their way back from the bars and offsales in Hudson.

That was in the 1970s... I thought we'd learned better, FFS.

disgustedly,
Bright

[NNadir]

7. I am so old, that when I grew up, the drinking age in New York was 18.

Last edited Thu Nov 9, 2017, 03:45 AM - Edit history (1)

I lived through it, although I am aware of a few people who didn't.

Learning to drink responsibly is a task that one ideally would undertake while parents still have some input.

My wife's father, first generation Italian, taught that to his daughters, and my feeling is that it went very well. They had glasses of wine at dinner at the age of 16, at home, occasionally a beer.

We did the same with our sons, and I'm convinced, even though they share the genes of my Grandfather, a notorious alcoholic (although possibly from unrecognized PTSD), I have never worried about my boys getting caught up in the party culture.

My oldest son, in particular, who has a low tolerance for alcohol, knows it, and behaves accordingly.

You are old enough at 18 to vote, and old enough to enlist in the armed forces and be killed as a result. I approve of a lower drinking age.

[Skittles]

10. I swear it was 18 in Wisconsin when I was in high school

the teenagers in Illinois flocked there

[GoCubsGo]

16. That is correct.

But, Illinois was 19 for beer and wine, and 21 for hard liquor up until the current national limit was instituted. It was just a matter of a year, unless one wanted to drink the hard stuff. A lot of (mostly) girls I knew, including my sisters, don't like beer and wine. Wisconsin allowed them to have their umbrella drinks and boozy milk shakes while the rest of us drank beer.

Actually, now, anyone can drink in Wisconsin. If you are under 21, you can have alcohol in the presence of a parent or teacher, or your spouse, if you are underage and married to a "legal" spouse.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. Yeah, it was.

We drove back to the Chicago suburbs a bunch of times when we had no business behind the wheel.

We were lucky nothing bad happened.

[Skittles]

22. I remember being called a FIB

oh yes

[dflprincess]

40. So did the 18-20 year olds from Minnesota

My blood now runs cold when I think of those drives back from Hudson, WI.

[Skittles]

42. I was never a big drinker so I was often the driver

and yup, there were a lot of drunks on the road

[MountCleaners]

48. Yes.

I was in college, at Northwestern, in the eighties and we went up to Madison to party.

[Skittles]

50. it was Kenosha for us

[ProfessorGAC]

54. It Was For A Very Long Time

It was 19 for beer and wine in IL, but 18 in WI for all alcoholic beverages.

Rock joints just over the border (Racine, Kenosha, etc.) were super hopping places for bands like ours to play because they were pretty big rooms and always packed.

When i was in college, (17 to 19), i was only legal the last year in IL. But, we had college friends from the Milwaukee area and we would go up there in the summer to hang out. Get in the car, drive 100 minutes and go bar hopping, see bands, and so on. Stay over Friday and Saturday and come back in time to go to summer job on Monday.

[Skittles]

55. oh my gosh

I'm trying to remember the names of the bars, I remember I think it was the CAVE in Kenosha

[ProfessorGAC]

56. Yeah, And The Brat Stop. . .

. . . which was in Kenosha, and like i said, the Rock-It North which was pretty close by to that, but think it was a different town.

Played Rock-It North about a dozen times, maybe more. Big room so we could set up our full 5.5 ton show. Thursday, Friday and Saturday gig for serious coin. (IIRC, around $1200 a night.)

There was also a big joint around Janesville to the west, but i have no recollection of the name. Played there many times too.

[GoCubsGo]

18. That is how I was raised, as well.

I had my first sips of beer at my first birthday party. There are photos of me sitting on my grandma's lap, sharing her Miller's with her. Grandma was German. She was married to an Italian. They both had the same attitude about alcohol, especially beer and wine. It was just another thing to drink, like coffee and soft drinks. My dad would often "split" a beer with me, which meant I'd get about a third of it. That was before I even got into high school. If we were sick, we got a small shot of bourbon, which I though tasted awful. Drinking was no big deal to me, so I never got into the partying thing, or the binge drinking. If I have a drink of alcohol, it's because I like it, not because I want to get drunk.

[djg21]

23. It was 18 when I grew up

In CT and while in college in VT. Before computers it was pretty easy to go to the DMV with an older friend’s birth certificate and get a duplicate license made with your picture and his/her name and DOB (so long as you looked somewhat alike). I had one at 15 before I could drive. I was never a big drinker, but liked to go to Toad’s Place in New Haven to see live music. I also got the drinking out of my systen before I got to college and watched the other fresh get sauced every night.

[AllyCat]

8. I feel there are concerns with developing brains and drinking alcohol

However, if one can get married, buy a house, vote, go to war, and get a credit card, you should be able to drink.

That said, if Wisconsin loses federal highway funding over this, we will be all gravel roads. Our roads have not been worse, in my memory, since Walker and his ilk hijacked our state. Major highway going through our town is ruts and potholes because the Star can’t afford to fix it.

[djg21]

25. A mind is a terrible thing. . .

and must be stopped in our lifetime.”

That was comedian Bob Nelson in a very old comedy routine parodying the old United Negro College Fund that some of us are old enough to remember.

[AllyCat]

29. Remember when Shrub said a mind is a terrible thing

or not to have a mind.

[djg21]

47. It was Dan Quayle.

“What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.”

Here is a link to the Ben Nelson routine. Warning: it is from a different time and certainly would be considered offensive, racially insensitive and homophobic by today’s standards.

https://m.

[AllyCat]

52. Doh! Thats right! All those GOPers seem the same to me

[maxsolomon]

9. The Feds won't repeal that law

But go for it, WI. Someone needs to inject some reality back into the issue.

Why 21? Why not 30? Why not eliminate it?

An open and honest approach with mentored drinking worked for us - our emphasis was on knowing your tolerance, and knowing not to get behind a wheel because a DUI will ruin your life.

[AllyCat]

30. It doesnt ruin your life in Wisconsin.

You get to keep driving, usually until you kill someone. First offense isn’t even a misdemeanor.

[JDC]

34. Is that true re: DUI not a misdemeanor in WI?

Sorry, but I could not disagree more with that policy. What is the rate of repeat offenders there? Higher than avg sounds like it might be a good guess. As you state, keep going until you kill someone.

[AllyCat]

35. First offense, no. Penalties go up from there.

A former coworker just lost her brother hit by a lady charged with her THIRD DUI in 8 days.

[JDC]

39. Im sorry to hear that.

I know what I was like at 19.

I don’t think I fall into the drop the age camp on this one.

[still_one]

11. After Wisconsin electing and re-electing republicans to the top offices to run their state, they

probably need a good stiff drink to get through the next 2 to 6 years

[AllyCat]

36. I will admit to an extra half glass of wine many a night.

[still_one]

45. I think my comment applies to the whole country now that I think about it

[localroger]

12. The Lousiana state constitution sez

...that at the age of 18, a person acquires "all the rights and privileges of adulthood." That's pretty airtight. We're the only state that has that, because it comes from the Napoleonic Code. The other 49 states based their legal system on English Common Law, which has no such provision.

So when this drinking age 21 bullshit came around, the Lege sensibly resisted it, because anything they might do to comply with the Federal blackmail would clearly be illegal under our own state legal framework. But the pressure of the highway fund deadline mounted and the Lege passed the law, which the state Supreme Court promptly struck down as being obvoiusly unconstitutional.

But the Feds didn't care about little things like state constitutions. The deadline got closer, and someone had a talk with someone and la-di-da the next year hte Lege passed the exact same law, and this time the same Supreme Court did a backflip and a handstand and said that the Constitution doesn't in fact say what it very plainly says and the law stands.

Too bad, for a few minutes there I was actually proud to be a Louisianian.

[kimbutgar]

13. Trying to get young people to vote in down ticket for rethug races

These rethugs in Wisconsin are a devious bunch.

[VA_Jill]

14. When I was growing up in Wisconsin

you could drink BEER at 18. Hard liquor was supposed to wait until you were 21. There were beer-only taverns that catered to the under-21 crowd. Sometime after I was 21 there was a law passed that lowered the drinking age for everything to 18. The federal law that was passed in 1984 was engineered and pushed through by the auto insurance companies.

I have always felt that if at age 18 you can vote, get married, establish credit, buy a house and a car, and enlist in the military to fight and die for your country, you damn well ought to be able to buy a drink. That is why when our kids turned 18 we let them and their friends drink at our house. (We also collected car keys and didn't let anyone drive. We weren't stupid.)

[truthisfreedom]

15. Its fine to introduce this now but

Passage can wait until we have a majority of self-driving cars.

[sarisataka]

17. I wouldn't object

As long as it came with increased DUI penalties. Loss of license for 5 years on First offense, Lifetime on 2nd.

[Sunlei]

33. I agree loss of license for 5 years, with 5 years of Probation.

[jpak]

20. They should give them free guns and ammunition as well

what could go wrong?

[Doreen]

26. My first thought.

Teenagers + hormones + alcohol + guns = heck no problem.

[Chasstev365]

28. It was raised to 21 nationwide in 1984 because of different drinking ages.

If they do this, a lot of Illinois teens are going to die and or kill others in car crashes returning from Wisconsin after a night of drinking.

BAD IDEA!

[AllyCat]

31. Thats what we did. Didnt kill anyone

But we sure drove up north, sometimes on a free hour at school.

[murielm99]

44. I live not far from the Wisconsin border,

in Illinois. I remember when the drinking age was 18 in Wisconsin. Teens from Illinois and other bordering states drove to Wisconsin to drink. There were many teen deaths on the roads because of the Wisconsin drinking age. Nearly everyone was happy when the age was upped to twenty-one. I hope this law does not pass. We have had this nightmare already.

[Sunlei]

32. Take away federal highway funds. But Republicans never let go of 'free government money' do they?

[dembotoz]

37. It should be remembered that the only riot at my University was over an attempt to raise the beer ag

Uw point supposedly late 60s?
I can assure you this would swell the gop ranks with youth .
Few places drink like Wisconsin universities. Actually few places drink like Wisconsin in general.
As a side note.the cop Dept used the protest to purchase an armored car .

[LeftInTX]

41. UW-Oshkosh here

We used to pay for our rent by holding keg parties and charging a buck admission.
So did the rest of the campus.....

We had a St. Patrick's day riot in 1974.
Too much beer. Too many drunks.

[Yavin4]

38. Now I get this joke from the movie, "Stripes"

[Luciferous]

43. Yeah, because Wisconsin needs more people drinking lol

[Loyd]

51. Indeed

[Luciferous]

53. Yeah, I grew up there and knew quite a few high-functioning alcoholics.

And some not so high-functioning ones lol

[TheFrenchRazor]

46. the prohibitionists here aren't going to like it. nt

[Loyd]

49. Blame Canada

Nineteen years is the legal drinking age up there.

[Wolf Frankula]

57. Those who favor denying rights because of arbitrary factors

Try this.

No black person shall use tobacco. Why? Blacks are 20% percent more likely to develop lung cancer than whites.

No Christian shall serve on a jury. Why? Belief in forgiveness makes you more likely to let guilty people off.

No woman may vote until she has had a baby. Why? That gives her a stake in society.

We need a constitutional amendment. 18 shall be the age of majority in ALL matters. All matters means ALL matters.

Wolf

[TheFrenchRazor]

59. sadly, "progressives" are no less willing to take away individual rights than RWers. nt

[TexasBushwhacker]

61. The reason is was raised to 21 was because of young drunk drivers

https://www.boston.com/culture/health/2014/07/17/why-21-a-look-at-our-nations-drinking-age

"Late 1960s and 1970s: Drinking age lowered. During the late 1960s and 1970s, nearly all states lowered the drinking age to 18. This led to a huge increase in alcohol-related car accidents and drunk driving was deemed a public health crisis. In the mid-1970s, 60 percent of all traffic fatalities were alcohol related, according to the National Institute of Health(NIH). Over two-thirds of car accidents involving persons aged 16 to 20 were alcohol-related."

[TheFrenchRazor]

64. yes, but it was the wrong answer. education is far more effective. nt

[CTyankee]

62. I know this thread is about public policy but from a health point of view I think it is problematic

to lower the drinking age. Why? Alcohol is very difficult for the liver to process and if drinking persists for a long time you can develop cirrhosis. My Sil died of cirrhosis and the family was in intractable pain and sorrow (including me).

I stopped having my two glasses of wine at dinner this month because I had a blood test that revealed some issue with my liver. My gastro doc said maybe if after 3 months my liver test comes out normal I can start having one glass of wine with dinner. I said the hell with it and just stopped entirely. I'm getting kinda old anyway. I notice that more and more of my friends who are in their late 60s and 70s have also given up alcohol entirely. It's a good idea. If there is a real health risk why not just stop? You sure save money and might have a few more good years. I know I feel better and stronger now.

[TheFrenchRazor]

63. prohibition doesn't prevent any of this; it makes it worse, if anything. i drank far more when i was

underage than i ever did after turning legal. education is the way to prevent the things you mentioned.

[CTyankee]

65. of course, prohibition is irrational.

What I was saying is that prohibition makes drinking look better but it impedes those who might be at risk of liver damage by starting to drink so early in life. And of course you are right education is key. but if you are impeded from drinking as a young person, you will have less scarring to your liver. I don't like the rationale because it denies moral choice which I think is essential to us as human beings. But there is no denying the health benefits with keeping a body organ, i.e. your liver, from early damage.

[roamer65]

66. 19 is a good age.

Ontario, Canada has the age of 19. Just don’t get caught drunk driving over there. The fines and jail time are heavy duty.

...and they are beefing them with the impending July 1, 2018 legalization of MJ.