Alcohol and Teenagers: A Lethal Mixture

The forbidden fruit is always sweeter, so lowering the legal drinking age will make drinking less attractive. I think the focus should be on promoting individual responsibility, so that self destructive behavior such as binge drinking can be reduced.

I am in DC getting my son moved into his dorm. I had sent an edited and spellchecked version of this article to Chowk edirots, I guess that didn't make it in time. Anyhow, when I return on tuesday, I will be able to partake in this discussion. Until then, cheers, bottoms up, salut, and LaKhaem.

how about increasing driving age to 21?

I think that social problems including drink driving, teenage alcoholism and related other issues such as violence and the like, are largely particular to Anglo-Saxon cultures i.e. the UK and US. Alcohol and soft drugs are far more accessible to young teenagers and indeed far cheaper in Europe than in either the UK or the US, nevertheless the attitude to alcohol (inter-alia) is much healthier on the continent. I live in London and the drink culture (here at least) is intrinsically tied up to the work culture, almost as though alcohol is the state's sanctioned release mechanism perhaps because alcohol (and coke) are more conducive to maintaining a more productive workforce than other narcotics or indeed lifestyles.

This is interesting. . . it only seems like a few years ago - almost two decades - since they decided to make the legal drinking age 21 for most if not all states, and now they want to change it again? When I first moved back to the US, the legal age in Idaho was 19.

It does not really matter whether they change the legal drinking age or not, men and women will still find a way to drink alcohol. I had my first beer when I was in freshman dorm, and none of us were "legal" at the time. . .

Kulharee, I am with your boys on this one. :)