If Drinking Had Been Legal When I Was 18…

September 14, 2008     Posted in HaHa

Lots of people in the USA like to complain about the drinking age. And by lots of people, I mainly mean those who are under the legal drinking age of 21.


By CC Staff

This included me when I was underage. I used to rant continually to any listening ear around me about how hard it was for me to get into bars. I despised the injustice of the photo ID and the fact that I had to constantly verse myself in the full name, birthday, and address of the older friend I was always pretending to be while out on the town.

I had a boyfriend in London and HE was allowed to drink already. It drove me, as he would say, mad. However, now that I’m a few years past the drinking age and a few years wiser, I have come to understand how detrimental a legal drinking age of 18, for instance, could have been to my life.

If I had been drinking (legally) when I was 18, things would be different for me now, I reckon:

I would have been able to deal with the anxiety of living at home better and perhaps I would have never moved out.

I would have been drinking my first year of college and may or may not have made it through that first difficult year after throwing hangovers into the mix.

I would have spent a hell of a lot more money on drinks at the bar vs. bottles in my room.

I certainly would have lost my virginity before 19. Alcohol makes sex so much easier. And desirable. And “OhmygodIneeditnow!”

I wouldn’t have had to flirt/exchange numbers with the massive bouncer at the bar to let me in every Thursday.

I would have thrown up all over my freshman year roommate, who was a total b*tch.

I would have left the privacy (read: hiding spot) of my dormroom to drink.

I would have drank things other than Vodka and Fresca, or “Whatever I Could Get My Hands On” and Diet Coke

I would have, likely, calmed down with my drinking by the time I was 22 and I would already be on my way toward a more neutralized, commonplace life.

Yes, I was drinking regardless of the law by age 19. However, drinking has never (and probably will never be) as fun as it was then – when it was still illegal. You under-21-year-olds won’t believe me, but being able to get tanked legally isn’t really as fun as you think. There is something to be said about the thrill of using a fake or chugging from a flask in a bathroom.

Savor your opportunity to partake in criminal behavior, I tell you! Savor it! Before you know it, you’ll be sipping on martinis at happy hour after work, too tired to keep your eyes open, and wondering how you used to have the energy to drink and dance all night.

(Photo from: telegraph.co.uk)

9 Comments on "If Drinking Had Been Legal When I Was 18…"

  1. Laura says:
    Sun, 14th Sep 20081:15 pm 

    I feel the same way! Ever since I turned 21 I am way more mellow, attend less college parties, and generally don't have the energy to be drinking 2+ nights a week. Hell, half the time I don't even drink on one, or if I do it's just 1 drink, maybe 2. It's not as fun as before, but I also think it could be because all the excitement of having to go to parties instead of bars and having to hide it made me more energized. I feel plain old now.

  2. Leah says:
    Sun, 14th Sep 20088:31 pm 

    Yay for Canada, I was drinking legally at 18, but then moved provinces for first year uni and was not legally able to drink for 4 months. I don’t think a lot would have changed it i wouldn’t have been legally able to drink until i was 21, i just wouldn’t have been able to hang out with my older friends ever.

  3. Laura says:
    Sun, 14th Sep 20087:33 pm 

    Ah, yes Canada… I should count that as I had many a night of legal drinking and clubbing in Montreal around 18-20 also, but that's only because it is the closest real 'city' to where I live. So much better than the college parties were, yet so much more expensive.

  4. Alice says:
    Mon, 15th Sep 20082:15 am 

    The 21 thing is atrocious to me. A 16-year-old in the US can kill someone by driving a car, can own a gun, join the army – vote in two years… but isn't considered mature enough to have a glass of wine??

    I grew up in a country with a drinking age of 16. Result? By the time I got to university I knew my limits.

  5. zoe says:
    Mon, 15th Sep 20082:44 am 

    im totally with alice on this one. in england, where i live, the drinking age is 18 and we still had plenty of fun illegally messing around before then, i do see your point that that was often a lot of fun but it was also kind of pathetic, grabbing whatever the hell we could regardless of taste just in order to desperately feel that illicit buzz? especially given that we had no idea what was good for us then, i remember one memorable aoccasion when i mixed a bottle with a little bit from each of the spirits in my parents alcohol cabinet… to be honest, my phase of flirting shamelessly with bouncers at age 15 isnt one of my proudest recollections, im so glad it didnt have to last. where i'm from you are considered an adult at age 18, not 21, and i think being given that responsibility is a good thing, it teaches you a bit of responsibility. and i can still party just as hard now (im 20)… dunno what happened to the rest of you guys? only, as alice says, by uni time i knew my limits, and didnt make a complete fool of myself by throwing up on anyone or go hopping into bed with any boy who passed me by when i was drunk. it is possible to drink responsibly. even at 18.

  6. Carolynn says:
    Mon, 15th Sep 20083:31 am 

    I gotta say, "savoring" the fact that what I'm doing is illegal really isn't that great. For those of us who have received a ticket for underage possession of alcohol, I don't really like that it isn't legal for me to even have alcohol, yet I can vote for the leader of our country and have friends my same age fighting for our country. It's just entirely ridiculous. Oh, and want to know how much I had to drink when I got my ticket? A beer. So I was drinking responsibly, and actually I only had it because I actually enjoy the taste of beer. Not just "For the thrill" or to "get hammered".

  7. Tyler says:
    Mon, 15th Sep 20085:40 am 

    Looking at European countries or countries with more lax drinking laws, they have a lot less problems with drunk driving and other alcohol related problems (soccer hooliganism aside). I think we should take away the age limit altogether. Get them acquainted with alcohol and they'll stop seeing it as something special. I think it loses it's coolness factor after some nights at the table drinking with your family.

  8. Michelle says:
    Mon, 15th Sep 20087:18 pm 

    Drinking shouldn't be such a big deal. I turned 18 8 years ago and didn't really care. I didn't drink before and I rarely have a drink now.

    People just make a huge deal about it, and then when they turn the legal age they go ape shit and it all starts hitting the fan then.

  9. DiceK23 says:
    Fri, 26th Sep 200811:46 am 

    I wish I would have been able to get a kickass href="http://www.CollegePad.com">Beer Bong

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