The drinking age being set at 21 is asinine. People often point to irresponsible drinking behavior of high-school age kids as proof that people aren't ready at 16 or 18 or even 19 to drink responsibly, but they're totally missing the point. People respond to what is expected of them, and setting the drinking age at twenty one is just one of many ways that we tell young adults that we expect them to act like irresponsible children.

That aside, I think that no matter what the official drinking age is, parents have a responsibility to be the first ones to introduce an intoxicating substance so ubiquitous, socially accepted, and dangerous to their children. A taste or two in early teenage years, so its not forbidden fruit, and when you get close to the actual drinking age, an actual drink now and then. I'm not saying parents should go around getting their kids wasted, but there is no reason why an eighteen year old can't have a beer or two in his parent's home so that he 1)stops seeing his first sip of alcohol as a big deal and 2)knows what he's getting into when he does drink. That wouldn't completely eliminate irresponsible drinking, but it would help.

I vividly (or perhaps hazily) recall my early drinking experiences as excessive because I did not immediately feel the effects of the alcohol I had consumed. It seems to me that it takes some time and experience to realize that the effects of any alcoholic beverage can be not only gradual but a bit sneaky.

I have always believed that parents should first set a safe example for their children...drinking occasionally and in moderation. I have also long been a proponent of teaching safe drinking habits at home once your children are well into their teens.

I think alcohol should be made illegal period. The government makes a good buck off ETOH sales, so that won't happen. But it would make a lot of the misery discussed here stop. How can society sanction the legal use of such a dangerous drug and then complain about the consequences of peoples use of it? Please, lets be real here. Better to legalize pot.