I'm glad that you agree, but in jest... How will it have limitations if it is illegal? That forces it underground, where there is no oversight nor instruction. In bars/clubs, social pressure and staff can control drunken behavior, at least to a certain extent.

Our culture needs a more open, realistic perspective on youth drinking. The only way to change a culture is individual action, discussion, and deviance.

You could die for your country when you are 18 but not legally have a beer.

I fear the drinking age in this country happens to be no more than a simple test: If you can hold a can of beer and drink it without spilling it, you're old enough to drink.

too true... and i would definitely need a drink after doing a job like that!

America has never made sense to me. Driving at 16 but drinking at 21? Here it's 16 (for drinking, driving is 18... I think) and as of last year, 18 for strong drinks.

Never met anyone who liked beer they just got used to it. It seems really fucking dumb to me why people drink at all. Bored people/people trying to be cool/miserable people/people trying to feel 'alive' are the ones who drink. I ofcourse have no data to back this up.

It's obvious you never drank before. If you wanna get drunk, you don't drink beer! Beer is lemonade compared to other drinks + it will make you feel horrible the day after.

Not for me! I love getting drunk off beer, case races/power hours/40 hands/beer bongs are a blast!

Obviously shit that is almost pure alcohol will get you drunk faster... Give any 8-18 year old whatever you drink and tell me if he likes it, K? Doesn't change shit, they taste like shit and even burn your throat.

Not really, I tend to drink those things on parties that taste like lemonade and that stuff, you can barely tell there's alcohol in it. Thing is, you don't really know how much alcohol you're taking in.

And I think beer is just meh, I never even drank a whole pint.

I don't believe their should be a drinking age at all. It being 'bad for you' is irrelevant, people should be able to do whatever they want with their own bodies. It should be their decision, not the governments.

I see from your status that your from Belgium, yet you don't like beer? It's like a frenchman not liking wine! Sacrilege, thats what it is! (I grew up in Belgium, so im not entirely speaking out of my ass). Ah, what I wouldn't give for a nice Orval right now...

Anyhow, I've always thought that the high drinking age has made it into something illegal and dangerous, which entices teenagers to binge. To pause the USA-bashing arguments and take a European example, the UK has the strictest drinking rules I know (Pubs close at 11pm, silly laws ) yet the highest rate of bingeing in Europe, while Belgium's drinking age is 16 and bars & clubs are open all night yet the drinking is far more tame. If it's authorised, drinking loses its 'dangerous' attraction factor and becomes just your average activity - which tends not to be done in excess (not as much anyways). Same with smoking pot in NL (for the locals anyways).

That said, now that the age is 21 in the US, lowering it to 18 will cause a massive surge of legalised bingeing. Only solution: move to Europe .

tl;dr drinking age too high but nothing can be done. Come to Europe, we have good beer!

perfect analysis i agree, the tougher the restrictions, the more does alcohol appeal to the youth. i still believe however that 16 is the youngest age at which drinking alcohol (beer) should be allowed.

The reason is that the hypothalamus doesn't fully develop until around that age.

I've never had beer, and don't plan to for another 3 years

I'm pretty sure a bullet from one of the Taliban's AK-47's is far more damaging to the young brain than a beer, is it not?

Germany's got the best system.
16 for beer and wine, 18 for spirits.
Works out just fine if you ask me

Drinking ilegally is more fun for me because it becomes a badass thing to do. Whether it is legal or not, I will do it, and I'm certain that many others will too.

I'm not stupid enough to get into a car drunk. ANYONE who does that is bound to crash. I have heard stories of both legal and ilegal drunk drivers who get into accidents and die. Age does not necessarily determine the decision making skills of the drinker. Where I am from, there is almost always a designated driver, and if not, then usually whoever is having the party will make take the person's keys and make him either walk home or sleepover. That said, younger drivers are probably more inexperienced and are probably more likely to crash than older drivers. So maybe if the drinking age were to be 18, require more driving lessons for kids so that they would be smarter about their choices and set more limitations.

Legal Age in New Zealand is 18
We all start at 15
Binge drink in the weekend... wake up, hung over, hu the f!@# is this guy in ma bed...
Gud times

21 here I think but no one cares and it's very rarely enforced... Tried it once but not for me

While I feel that many 18 year olds are not quite responsible when it comes to alcohol, neither are many adults either. Regardless, it is so easy to get alcohol that if you want it and you have friends, there's no way in hell you won't be able to drink if you underage, so the very law itself doesn't even work. I would vote to lower the age to 18, for no other reason than to standardize all the other elements of the benefits which come to 18. And to be honest, whenever cannabis is finally legalized, you can bet that it'll be sold alongside alcohol at the 21 age limit...would make similar sense to lower that to 18 as well.

I won't get into how the only reason we have a nationwide limit of 21 is due to the federal gov't forcing states to adopt the 21 limit for fear of losing highway funding, as I'm sure others have already mentioned that.