The point of age restriction on drinking and cigarettes?

[poiuytrewq0987]

Why set an artificial line between when you can smoke and drink and when you can't? I don't see much point in doing that, other than people being prunes.

[SwordoftheVistula]

Partly because people aren't mature enough to make such decisions until they are older, and partly because these things have a greater effect on the body when still developing. In specific regards to alcohol there is also the interest in keeping as much distance as possible between the driving age and the drinking age, so that people are experienced drivers before they start drinking.

[poiuytrewq0987]

Partly because people aren't mature enough to make such decisions until they are older, and partly because these things have a greater effect on the body when still developing. In specific regards to alcohol there is also the interest in keeping as much distance as possible between the driving age and the drinking age, so that people are experienced drivers before they start drinking.

Clearly the solution is to reverse the driving age and the drinking age. :thumbs up Since you can kill someone in a car accident whereas you can't when drinking. So it's more dangerous driving than it is drinking thus it makes sense for driving to be restricted to older people meanwhile drinking is harmless since it makes people drunk and being drunk doesn't kill anyone.

[SwordoftheVistula]

No, because a lot of the deaths in drunken driving cases come from young people who are bad enough drivers in the first place, and then drinking just makes it worse. Also they have not internalized driving to the point where they can go on 'autopilot' (like when you are daydreaming and somehow snap back to reality and you have arrived at your destination), and when drinking & driving only this 'autopilot' can allow you to get to your destination safely.

[Eldritch]

If you start smoking regularly while your body is still growing/developing, well, that'll be the end of said growth/development.

Also, getting drunk often during the same stage multiplies the risk of alcoholism later in life.

It was only today that I read that Mother Nature has seen it fit to hardwire teens' brains for reckless risk-taking. Introduce alcohol to the mix and you'll have a lot of injured, disabled and dead teens.

[Tabiti]

Alcohols and nicotine are poisons, especially when you're still a child. However, my personal observations show that all of us start drinking and smoking before the legal age. Personally I drink beer since I was 14 (with the knowledge of my parents), started smoking at 16 (told my parents again). Blame society and wrong moral for that. Maybe all the aggressive campaigns in school against the use smoking, drugs and alcohol have the opposite effect. Kids love to do "strictly forbidden things", so just explaining them the body functions, drugs effect and dangers is far enough. Slogans like "If you drink you're going to die" just don't work.
And not the last (even the first) is parent's model. It would be just silly if my mother, a devoted smoker talked fiercely against smoking, wouldn't it? Same if I forbid tattoos and piercings (after 16 of course). Exactly the lack of personal example is what creates biggest gap between youth and older people.
So, if you want healthy and intelligent children be such yourself first.

[Stegura]

Smokers are jokers!!! :thumb001:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTbusMZEL0Q

[Grumpy Cat]

Well, alcohol and tobacco use can stunt growth if someone starts using them on a regular basis before they finish growing.

Same reason they don't recommend you lift weights until you're finished growing (though that's not illegal, and I've been smoking, drinking, and lifting weights since I was 16).

[Tabiti]

Well, alcohol and tobacco use can stunt growth if someone starts using them on a regular basis before they finish growing.

I know people who smoke regularly since 4th grade. Their physical development is good, unlike their mental one.