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I disagree. There is a whole stigma/taboo around alcohol in the US. Here in Belgium drinking is permitted at the age of 16 (previously 15 or it still is 15, I d
by Improvotter 9y ago
I disagree. There is a whole stigma/taboo around alcohol in the US. Here in Belgium drinking is permitted at the age of 16 (previously 15 or it still is 15, I don't know and most people don't care), but many people don't really care because the most important part at that age is to make sure that when they drink, they drink responsibly. Prohibiting something is only going to cause the opposite effect. I remember reading how alcoholics are spread amongst age and amongst countries and most European countries (most importantly Belgium most of all) have some of the lowest amount of alcoholics per capita. You can see from these statistics [1] that for Belgium the amount of 15-16 year olds that report being intoxicated lately is lower than the US, even though Belgium has got some of the highest amount of 15-16 year olds that report they've drunk alcohol in the past few days.
[1]: http://www.ourdarien.com/pdf/Europe-vs-USA-drinking.pdf http://www.ourdarien.com/pdf/Europe-vs-USA-drinking.pdf
- numismatex 9y agoGreat, so your tiny ass country loves alcoholics. Your unemployment rate is an average of 33% of your population. Life expectancy is 81. So slightly higher than average quality of life. Then again, your age of consent is 16, too, so that screams something else about your country alongside being a bunch of unemployed alcoholics.
- graeme 9y agoI think you misinterpreted the OP. They weren't saying alcohol should be prohibited. They were saying to watch for the warning signs of alcoholism. I would argue that North America's culture of legal taboo around alcohol is what creates the conditions for the bad alcohol habits OP described. You can't have a drink with your parents at a restaurant, but you can have a clandestine binge drinking party.