Why fake ID is an American rite of passage

[dipsydoodle]

New York is pioneering "unforgeable" drivers' licences in a bid to clamp down on fake IDs. Will it succeed in a country where generations have relied on false documents to buy alcohol before reaching the legal age of 21?

It is Friday night in a busy Washington DC saloon when the barman meets the eye of 20-year-old Madison Jeffries and tells her: "I'll need to see some ID."

Madison - not her real name - doesn't so much as blink. Calmly, she reaches into her handbag and produces a Florida driver's licence which declares she is 21 - old enough, that is, to buy alcohol legally.

The bartender looks carefully at the card. Down to the last detail, it is a well-crafted fake, indistinguishable to a layman from the genuine article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21976718

[Ash_F]

1. I don't get why people are so eager to get started early.

I wonder if it is more about being in the 'scene' than consuming alcohol. That's what it was for me. I don't drink though. I would usually sip a red bull.

I don't think there is anything wrong with lowering the age to 18 anyway.

[bananas]

2. Minimum alcohol purchasing ages

Minimum alcohol purchasing ages

Germany: 16 for beer and wine, 18 for spirits
Netherlands: 16 for drinks below 15% alcohol by volume (ABV), 18 for those above
China: 18
South Africa: 18
UK: 18
Canada: 19 (18 in Manitoba , Alberta, and Quebec)
Norway: 18, but 20 for spirits of 22% ABV
India: Varies from 18 to 25 depending on state
Japan: 20
US: 21

[dipsydoodle]

3. I've never quite understood the US figure of 21.

Is there a background to it ?

[bananas]

5. We were posting at the same time.

I just posted a sidebar from the article about that question.

[bananas]

4. Why does the US have a age limit of 21?

Why does the US have a age limit of 21?

In 1982 a Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving recommended raising the minimum legal drinking age to 21 to prevent road accidents
Technically, setting a minimum age for alcohol purchases is a matter for individual states
However, since 1984 those which set the cut-off below 21 have been subject to a 10% cut in federal highway funding
By 1988, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had the same age limit of 21 for buying alcohol
However, some 40 states have exemptions to the limit on religious grounds and/or do not ban minors drinking in their own home

[dipsydoodle]

6. Thanks

Yes - we had posted at the same time.

[bananas]

7. The article doesn't mention MADD, which was a big influence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_Against_Drunk_Driving

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy. The Irving, Texas–based organization was founded in 1980 in California by Candice Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver.[1]

<snip>

Shift from reducing DUI to reducing alcohol use

Lightner had left the group in 1985. In 2002, Lightner stated that MADD "has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving".[5]

<snip>

edit to add:

Candice (Candy) Lightner is the organizer and was the founding president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. On May 3, 1980 Lightner’s 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver at Sunset and New York Avenues in Fair Oaks, California. The 46-year-old driver, who had recently been arrested for another DUI hit-and-run, left her body at the scene.[1]

So to stop 46-year old drunk drivers, they raised the drinking age to 21.

[bananas]

8. "In 1985, Lightner objected to the shifting focus of MADD, and left"

There's a lot more in the wikipedia article.

Her organization was taken over by extremists and manipulated by politicians.

[dipsydoodle]

9. btw

despite the corresponding fact the age in the UK is 18 - life is changing. Issues with youngsters getting wrecked and causing have led to some pub licences being withdrawn, even if only for short periods while they get their act together, and new licences not being necessarily easily obtainable. Some new licences are based on over 21 only whilst others are 30 +