Stages young people must go through to become an adult

Debra Saunders writes in The American Spectator that there seem to be several stages of legally becoming an adult. When you are 14 in progressive California, you can get an abortion without parental consent. When you are 16, you can get a drivers license. When you are 18, you are considered old enough to vote, enlist in the military, to sign a contract, to buy a gun, to get a tattoo and to get married. Saunders writes,

On Tuesday, the California Senate voted to raise the age when young people can buy cigarettes, from 18 to 21. The Hawaii Legislature has passed similar legislation. A companion California bill would mandate that e-cigarettes fall under the same restrictions as tobacco smokes.

Recreational marijuana? Colorado, Washington, Alaska and District of Columbia say ya gotta be 21.

Here is a map showing the age at which young people may begin drinking, courtesy of Wikipedia.

colors: black = illegal, brown = 25, reddish brown = 21, red = 20, purple = 19, blue = 18, green = 16, grey equals no regulations/no information

When is an American finally recognized as an adult? Saunders writes,

The Democrats’ 2010 Affordable Care Act mandates that health plans provide coverage for parents’ adult children up to age 26. It was a popular provision with parents whose college-graduate children could not get a job with health benefits. But then, to the nanny-state left — with its proposals to squeeze soda drinking and ban single-use plastic bags and smoking (other than medical marijuana) — we are all children, regardless of age.

Read more here.