Capping the Bottle

So a little known fact by Americans is that the drinking age in Europe, aint as high as it is here. The drinking age ranges from 16-18 and not a year higher, while in the United States of America, we have to wait until we're the ripe old age of 21. Take it from me, the drinking age in this country shouldn't be any lower than 20, I learned that from experience, but in Europe, it's just different. I lived in France for 6 months, and here's what I learned in my travels...

1. They don't have spread out cities like we do where you have to drive to get places. Worst case scenario, people take cabs to get across town, but they live in walking-distance cities because they're OLD and weren't built for cars to begin with...Bars are right down the street from where you live, or even underneath your apartment, and no car is required to get there. So, they don't have to worry as much about drinking and driving whereas in the states, it seems like 9 out of 10 bars aren't anywhere nearby nor cab distance, unless you live in a 'big city.'

2. Kids have been drinking wine with their parents since like, forever. They learn responsibility slowly and don't see the glamor of binge drinking like college kids of the U.S. They share a bottle of wine with their friends, and generally get the bubbly drunk instead of reaching the obliterated fight phase we see to see all too often on game days. Even when I did drink beer in France, we drank in the park and in the afternoon casually, and rarely got to the point where anyone was drunk. At the bars, liquor is syruped down (NO PURE SHOTS) and pints were expensive. So most drinking was done in houses over long periods of time (it was only the Americans that seemed to puke)

3. Bars are open until 2am, but clubs are open until 5am. Clubbing is HUGE in Europe while here, not so much. Clubs offer free champagne or shots for women often but it's never enough to get drunk. The mainstay of club is the giraffe or what I believe is called the 'tower' in the U.S. You split the bill with some friends, and you share a tower of beer, and everyone is happy and bloated.

The biggest difference is STILL, however, that you can drink in public in Europe (except Spain), and you CANNOT do that here. It's widely accepted there, and public intoxication is only a problem if it gets violent. Who cares about some drunk stumbling around singing their football chants. It might be a problem, but not a big one like it is here because so many kids are drinking underage, and in excess.

Now Germany has three drinking ages...

At 14, a minor can consume AND possess wine and beer as long as they are in the company of their parents.

At 16, a minor can consume AND possess wine and beer WITHOUT their parents

At 18, as adults, they can drink whatever they want.

Talk about easing children into a culture of drinking. SO, I read the articles, and found 'Capping the Bottle' particularly interesting, seeing as I spent time in Europe and never got in trouble for drinking in public, and I never got carded, ever. I agree with the article in the respect that punishing everyone for the problems of a few is unrealistic. Placing a ban on public drinking may not be the way to go, but finding solutions to the problem like banning drinking on public transit, after certain hours of the day, or on government property like parks seems like the better way to go than to punish the working man who has a beer on his walk home from work in the evening. The problems reside in the fact that, in order to push bans for public intoxication and public drinking, they'd have to change the laws on how police can enforce the law. Overall, everyone is just worried about the civil rights of the drinker. I mean, drinking is a HUGE part of the culture in Germany, as it is in the U.S. too, so the law needs to find a way to keep citizens safe and happy without stepping on the toes of civil rights.