Although this may be a cultural problem more than an age problem. I grew up in Toronto, in English Canada, the legal drinking age was 18 and everyone drank by the time they were 16 but we tended to overindulge for the first few years because we felt we were tasting forbidden fruit. My wife grew up in Montreal, in French Canada, the legal drinking age is also 18 but wine was served at dinner for children as young as 8, usually with a little water in it, so alcohol was no big deal. Montrealers get drunk the same as everyone else, it's a great party town but there are fewer problems with younger drinkers compared to Toronto. So maybe it isn't about age but about upbringing.

@Surfpirate I agree. I was going to bars as a 16 yr old to hear him play. By the time l was old enough to drink l knew how to act in a bar. The US seldom does anything other countries or cultures do, no matter how much sense it makes.

@Sticks48 I'm never sure if it is a repressive undercurrent or just a retard undercurrent. We had a similar problem in English Canada, slowly outgrowing it, could be a religious thing, that has a way of knocking down the IQ levels.

@Surfpirate ?

Oh there are demons, they exist in peoples minds, a lot like gods that way.

I have always wondered about that. It has always seemed pretty screwed up to me that you are expected to fight, possibly kill and die for your country but ALCOHOL....THAT'S going to far.