Given our earlier story of how English parents are no longer allowed to buy alcohol with their teenagers present at the store, this may be a bit of a mixed message. A study has concluded that parents should supply alcohol to their teenagers at home rather than have them venture out for more dangerous liaisons. The researchers propose a weekly alcohol allowance for teens.
Study leader Professor Mark Bellis of Liverpool John Moores University found that teens often combine alcohol abuse with sexual encounters that they later regret. The best way to keep the children from such encounters and later problems is to give them a weekly alcohol allowance.
Such a program of introducing alcohol at a younger age will allow teens to “prepare themselves for life in an adult environment dominated by this drug.”
However, you need to leave them at home when you run to the store.
For the full story, click here
Gyges,
with woodruff-flavored syrup. But like Mike I’ve largely lost my inclination for psychoactive substances, so it’s rather seldom.
Mike Spindell,
on a side note I think it is generally unwise to legislate rules which a large portion of the population will not see as a legitimate restriction and will therefore routinely break.
In my mind there is a danger that people start thinking of laws as a “game to beat”.
Regarding law makers, we see the same knee jerk reactions over here (i.e. inane statements of politicians, especially after spectacular cases), but it’s only rarely that these will be actually enacted (e.g. the rather pointless tightening of gun permits for minors after the Erfurt school shooting).
For good or worse I think the speed of legislation over here is lower (which allows the topic to “cool down”) and the respect for, and trust in, specialists and experts (e.g. criminologists, psychiatrists), both in the media and in parliament, is higher.
Berliner,
Thank you cor the clarification. I personally believe the 21 year old drinking age is ridiculous. If someone can vote and can enlist, than they should be able to drink. The truth is though, as you might suspect, the entire drinking and drugs issue is not about substance, it’s about form. It’s good political practice to be on the side of dramatic fixes for problems, that are really empty exercizes in hypocrisy.
The dichotomy of it all is that the self same politicians who would play on public fear of our children and the behaviors, also use our children to justify other actions like censorship of sexual materials in the name of protecting them. The US, with all of its’ good points, nevertheless is a country where hypocrisy often succeeds over common sense.
Berliner,
If I can ask, do you drink your Berliner Wiesse with or without syrup? And which syrup do you prefer?
I recently had the pleasure of drinking some Berliner Kindl Wiesse (almost impossible to find in the U.S.), and that was one of the more refreshing things I’ve ever had, but it was without the syrup.
Everyone else,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Weisse#Serving
Mike Spindell,
Oops, sorry for switching languages.
To explain my thinking:
The way I understand the US regulations, the German drinking age has two major characteristics that aren’t found in at least one US state regulation:
#1 the lower age (16 for beer and wine, 18 for spirits/liquors)
#2 that the minor is never the offender. The offender is the person giving the alcoholic beverage or allowing it to be consumed.
Ken could argue that punishment for the under-aged is essential for the definition of “drinking age”, but honestly I think that that would be a very narrow definition of that term.
The German drinking age is of course a lot (3-5 years) lower, and it is on the permissive side of the US spectrum (not restricting consumption, only the purchase and public consumption), and it doesn’t penalises the minor.
So yes, our drinking laws are not as tough, but “there is no drinking age” is quite a stretch.
§ 9 alcoholic beverages
May do
(1) in restaurants, sales offices or otherwise in the public 1. Branntwein, branntweinhaltige beverages or food, which contain Branntwein in not only slight quantity, to children and young people, 2. other alcoholic beverages to children and young people under 16 years neither delivered nor them the consumption may be permitted.
(2) paragraph 1 No. 2 is not valid, if young people of an personensure-entitled person are accompanied.
(3) in the public may not alcoholic beverages in automats be offered. This is not valid, if an automat 1. at a place inaccessible for children and young people is set up or 2. in a commercially used area set up and by technical devices or by constant supervision it is guaranteed that children and young people cannot take alcoholic beverages. § remains untouched for 20 No. 1 of the licensing act. (
4) Alkoholhaltige of sweet beverages in the sense § of the 1 exp. 2 and 3 of the Alkopopsteuergesetzes may professionally only with the reference ” Under 18 years, § 9 Jugendschutzgesetz” forbade delivery at persons; into traffic to be brought.
This reference is so far missing on the pre-packaging in the same character font and in the same size and color as the mark or fantasy names or, to hold as the traffic designation and attach with bottles on the front label.
[this translator is used for service manuals]
CCD,
Hick says it all, much better than I can. Priceless comic set. He’s a comedian that I’ve been barely aware of, which is my loss. By the way I love Chicago, but have only been there in the summer, it is a truly beautiful city and to my mind if not for the weather and the propensity for outrageously fattening, though delicious foods (french fries on Sub sandwiches?) gives NYC a run for its’ money.
Berliner,
While I don’t read German, I know a little from Yiddush to sort of get that the drinking age is for all intents and purposes 16. As you may be aware Americans don’t share the multiple language capabilities of most of the world. It is a fault, but then I flunked French in High School and College, barely passed Spanish and my Hebrew is poor. My own English grammatical knowledge, due to inatention in class, is so bad that learning another languages grammar mystifies me.
“In Germany and many other European countries there is no drinking age.”
That depends on how narrow you define “drinking age”.
Personally I would call the regulations in article 9(1) JuSchG a “drinking age”.