Helllllllllllllllo all. Just some random thoughts that have entered my mind in the past few days.

Ok, first thought, it's kinda random, but I'll let ya hear it. So my one friend Lloyd is in my grade and so is his brother. Lloyd is 18, but his brother is 20. He turns 21 in February. Alright, so here's the thing. His brother is mentally handicapped. He has down syndrome and cannot even really communicate.

So I was just wondering and it came to mind.. if he's 21, that's the legal drinking age. So I was curious to know if it is legal for Lloyd and myself to walk into a beer distributor with his brother after he turns 21 and purchase alcohol with him? Just curious. And if you take this the wrong way or something, don't, I'm just wondering. If you continue to want to take it the wrong way, than shove it.

Alrighty then, moving along here. My second thought has to do with the image of marijuana today compared to the image it was given in the 60's, 70's, and some of the 80's. From what I have read in books and seen in movies, pot was something that most teens experimented with back in the 60s-80s and it was given the image of just an average drug like alcohol. Today it is given the completely different image and people who experiment with it at all are looked at as criminals. Some are even put away behind bars for longer terms than sex offenders.

So my question to you is: What was it like back in the day compared to today? Could you get away with more? Think 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High.' Accurate or inaccurate portrayals?

And for my final thought, I just wanted to say, Iraq is my generation's Vietnam. Good day.

You'll have to explain that one more. Tell the scenario that you are asking.

If we literally walk into the place with the guy and we go to get it and carry it for him, then we hand his brother the money to give to the clerk, then leave with it.

That would be illegal and would probably get the 21 year old arrested. And I doubt the person behind the counter could sell it to you knowing its for underage kids.

How is it illegal if he is 21 though? I used to go into the beer distributor with my dad all the time. As long as I don't hand the clerk the money or carry it out. I could ask the clerk to carry it out to my car. You only have to be 18 to transport alcohol.

As an educator, I would like to know more about Lloyd's brother. If he is a 20 year old with Down Syndrome, how is he still in school? Was he retained at any point? I'll wait to give any of my thoughts until I hear your answers because that is quite a puzzling situation.

My two cents here. Are we talking about using a mentally handicapped person to get your booze for you?


Don Cardi

I have no idea. Fellas, I highly doubt we would ever try to pull it off, I am just curious to know if it can legally be done.

This is how I interpret it, don't get me wrong.

You want a mentally handicapped person who will be of legal age, to get you alcohol which you can't get because you aren't of legal age, right?

But he some times drinks. What I'm trying to say is that it's going to be as if he's purchasing it for himself. Here, imagine this scenario. Let's say that my grandfather is in his late 70s and has problems getting around. I take him out grocery shopping and he decides he wants a case of beer from the distributor. Is it legal to go in and help him get it if I'm underage?

I'm still curious to know about how a differently abled person can still be in school when they are 20 years old. Please Pat, I don't post often, but you created an itch that absolutely needs to be scratched. If you have any details about this young man, I would absolutely love to hear them. Plus it will give you a little break from having to deal with what you wrote about the booze.

I don't know bro. I'd imagine maybe he started late and also ended up going to pre-first.

Very interesting. I actually find the fact that this young man is still in high school more shocking than anything else you wrote.

No decent, normal person would ever even consider using and putting a mentally handicapped person in a postion like that! Someone would have to be pretty desperate to manipulate and take advantage of a mentally handicapped person for their own benefit and enjoyment.


Don Cardi

Okay DC, thanks for completely ignoring anything I addressed.

Pat, I didn't ignore you or what you addressed. You brought up a scenerio and I gave you my opinion on that scenerio. That's all. Now if you do not like my reply, then that's fine. But don't make it look like I didn't address your scenerio.

The guy is mentally handicapped. No one should take advantage of him and use him for something like that. As much as he may be legal to buy that booze for an underage person, and not fully realize what he is doing, by the same token hs is just as legal to get into some serious trouble if he is caught buying that booze for an underage person.

He can't be legal for one aspect and then not be legal because of his handicap for another aspect.

Someone can really cause some unnecessary problems for this poor guy.


Don Cardi

See, that's all I wanted to hear DC. Grazie for the input.

Have a derelict buy you drinks like any normal teen.

You want booze that bad? Then just have some stones and buy it yourself, you lazy bum. I don't care that you're underage. Underage people every where can get booze.

Unless, you buy crap and the clerk ID's you because he hates your choice of beer.

This post reminds me of the South Park movie when the kids got that homeless guy to get them into the theater to see Terrence and Philip. :p

If I can rape an autistic girl knowing that she would never be able to communicate in order to turn me in, I don't see why Pat can't have a guy with downs syndrome to buy him drinks. :rolleyes:

Well on the topic of 'Dazed and Confused', I went to high school in Texas in the mid to late 70's, when Linklater's film is set and it is a very accurate portrayal of that place and time.

Pat, most things legally come down to the mental capacity to carry out functions. If a contract is formed in a situation where one or more party's are incapacitated, ie, drunk, stoned, some mental handicaps, then the contract is void.

It really depends on how sound of mind your friend's brother is and whether they've been coaxed into the act.

I've done some awful things for beer but Pat, c'mon, I know you haven't said you're going to do it but you're at least thinking about it. If you're 18 just come to England and you can get drunk every day of the week.

I don't think he will do it. His morals are still higher than his need to get drunk, according to me.

Pat, how 'stupid' is that 20 year old? I don't know jack shit about the Down syndrom, so if he actually would buy the booze and give it to you, would he realize he is doing something illegal??

Besides, Pat, think about the possibilities. The lack of oxygen to your brain will give you a far-better high than any of your ill-begotten alcohol.

It's obvious by your using the word "stupid" in reference to that person with downs syndrome, that you really do not know jack shit about Downs Syndrome. So here you go :

Down Syndrome, chromosomal disorder that results in mild to severe learning disabilities and physical symptoms that include a small skull, extra folds of skin under the eyes, and a flattened nose bridge. Muscle tone throughout the body is usually low. The condition was formerly known as “mongolism” because the features of people with Down syndrome were thought to resemble those of Mongolian Asians. This term is now considered offensive and inappropriate and is no longer used.

Down syndrome occurs in about 1 out of every 800 births worldwide. In the United States each year, about 1,600 babies are born with this condition. Down syndrome results when a person inherits all or part of an extra copy of chromosome 21. This can occur in a variety of ways, the causes of which are unknown. The most common chromosomal abnormality that produces Down syndrome (accounting for about 95 percent of all cases) is Trisomy 21, a defect in which an extra, third copy of chromosome 21 is present in every cell in the body.



Don Cardi

Wikipedia -- Down\'s Syndrome

Pat, I really hope that you aren't seriously considering this...

It's obvious by your using the word "stupid" in reference to that person with downs syndrome, that you really do not know jack shit about Downs Syndrome. So here you go : [/b][/quote]I put the '...' around it. I didn't mean stupid as in dumb, but more like... you know, how does he think as opposed to people who don't have Down.
I actually wanted to use an other, less denigrating word, but my English vocabulary was lacking. I didn't know a word resembling my thoughts.

Btw, I already knew everything you wrote in italics, DC.

I guess the politically correct word would be "ignorant."