Nothing too wrong with lowering the drinking age, I still believe the parents are the ones who should be in charge of their children in this manner.

It's the same thing with 'drug control' we have morons liek HoH that can go anywhere and buy an ounce if he wanted.

And I agree with you Volls, for the most part I've been allowed to drink, and I'm guessing my parents did that to take the damn fun out of it... because I've never really had the urge like most kids my age growing up...

Make fun of me one more time for smoking pot and I'll flame your ass so hard you won't know what hit you. Fuck the fuck off. It's drugs, get over it! Alcohol is more lethal anyways.

It's obvious in many European locales as well, where they've grown up with alcohol being around. I don't have the numbers on me, but they typically suffer less from alcohol related injuries than the US does.

It's a large sign of independence and "maturity" in America (since you can only do it at an age where you are typically independent). If you take away what makes it special here, it becomes less of a deal after a generation or two.

The French and Italians definitely let kids drink at an early age - maybe small glasses of wine. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Germans let their kids drink smalls glasses of beer or similar. Same for the Irish and Scottish. And we Brits? 14 y/o in the pub, downing pints. Proper like! And then we grow up into holiday-makers who go abroad, get absolutely rat-arsed, and annoy the locals. :D

Sounds like the life. I've been able to have wine with supper since I was 16 and when my parents had it. Now I get beer or white russians.

Right, but statistically, Europeans tend to be safer than Americans after being intoxicated.

I largely think it's one of those, "OH, I CAN DO THIS NOW" kind of things over here.

Makes sense, I suppose. 18 just isn't as much a big deal as 21 is. Plus, with the drinking age being 18 (lower in some European countries, I think) people then get three years practice at University before they are let loose on the world.

My parents let me start drinking when i was 18 because "if i can vote and go to war, i can def get drunk."

Yeah, I find it amusing that the government will train people to kill as young as 16, but you gotta wait 5 years to have a beer.

Sounds a bit off.

Let's petition to lower the drinking age to 18 again! w00t w00t

Eh, I don't really care. I'm gonna drink before I hit 21 either way.

Word.

Been like that since I was 16.

Same here. There's a lot of things I couldn't do in front of family that I did with your sister.

Does anyone know if the gov't allows people 18-20 years old to drink beer in the army when they are in Iraq?

You can drink beer at 17 if you're enlisted, as far as I know. I think being a soldier makes you qualify as 21 ;).