Fair enough, but here's the point. The idea behind lowering the age is "There's already underage people drinking, lets lower the age so that it's legal for them and they'll do less stupid and risky things now that it's legal" except they DONT and all it does is get younger people to drink. It's a flawed idea. Nice in theory, but in practise blows bigtime.
Way wrong. That may be "your' idea why people want to lower the drinking age, but it sure as hell isn't mine. I think it should be lowered because I don't see how 21 is the magical number. You are only mature enough to buy/consume alcohol when you are 21. That is a load of crap. If you are an adult (18 years old) and can live on your own, be tried in court as an adult, vote,
die for your country, then you are sure as hell old enough to drink alcohol. If you think an 18 year old is responsible enough to do all those things, but not responsible enough to drink alcohol, I would like to see your logic there.
No one is saying, hey since kids are drinking alcohol, lets make it legal for them so they don't get in trouble. That is ludicrous, and doesn't make any sense. No one would even debate this if that was the real reason.
Like I said earlier, I lived in Italy for 4 years, and the drinking age their is 14. It works perfectly fine over there. They don't have a bunch of 10 and 11 year olds getting smashed because "hey I'm close the the drinking age." The key to their success of course is how they are raised and taught about alcohol by their parents. Also, like riciardos said, the driving age is 18. I think that is a big part.
In regard to 16-17 year olds drinking because they are closer to the drinking age, they have a lot less freedom than 18 year olds do. Parents
usually keep closer tabs on their 16 year old daughter that just got her license, than their 18 year old daughter that is about to graduate. Also, 18 year olds have an easier time getting the alcohol. There are more 18 year olds that have their own cars and that have jobs than there are 16 and 17 year olds.
Give me a good reason that a 20 year old is not mature enough to buy/consume alcohol, but a 21 year old person is. There is a big difference with the responsibilities of 17 and 18 year olds. They are considered adults, and have way more responsibilities. 21 is not a magic number, and sure as hell doesn't stop anyone younger that is an adult from not drinking if they really wanted too. 18 year olds have the resources to easily get the alcohol if they want, because they are mature enough to handle it. Some live on their own, have jobs and money, or are in college, living on their own. You can't stop an adult from doing something if they just have to wait a couple of years before they can do it.
It is like saying hey, your 18 now, an adult, well almost an adult, we are going to give you all the responsibilities of an adult, punish you like an adult, but not all the freedoms, because ... well... I'm not really sure why, I know because I said so. Bull ****