[gekko]

So nothing about kids drinking has anything to do with this being the first time they're away from parental control? There was a study a while back where most Americans considered an "adult" to be someone 25 or older, and I completely agree.

With the rare exception here and there, most 18-year old kids have finally left the house, but have yet to take on any responsibility that actual adults have. They have this feeling they're all grown up as they continue to call home and ask for money, and don't need to worry about their health insurance, or life insurance plan, or trying to get enough money to cover their mortgage, or get their new baby the vaccinates he or she needs.

Personally, I think the mix of being away from home for the first time without having any responsibility is the perfect mix for partying, and partying brings alcohol. College kids will drink illegally, so I don't see how somehow legalizing it will get it out of their system faster. Same amount of problems, only they don't need to go through extra channels to get it.

I don't mind it being 21. I really think they just need to make up their mind. I don't agree with the inconsistency with being able to drive a car at 16, which can easily kill others, vote at 18, drink at 21, and then finally get your "No longer a hazard to society" car insurance drop at 25. They should pick an age and stick with it.

However, going back to the 25 year old being an adult mentality, I do believe the only way to stop college drinking, if it's such a problem, is to raise the drinking age to 25. Most people will be three years out of college by the time they can legally drink, and then you don't need to worry about all the immaturity being combined with alcohol, and it would be much, much easier to bust underage drinking.

That said, being 23 I will not give up scotch and beer for 2 years, but I have watched many Marine buddies become alcoholics, and then came back to college at 22 to watch many young 18 year olds not be all too smart when it comes to drinking... specifically driving.

If you ask me, leave the drinking age where it's at, and allow college kids to get plastered and get alcohol poisoning. I don't care if someone drinks until they are passed out on the floor puking... as long as it's not my house. I think the much bigger problem is the ones who drink and drive, and that includes much more than college kids.

It's pretty sad when 1 in 8 people in Minnesota has been convicted of a DWI. I never liked the current system, 0.08%. Oh, but that changes per person, so no one can be sure. I went to a beer festival not that long ago, and they did the smartest thing I've ever seen: Free breathalyzers as you leave. So you thought you were sober, blew 0.1%, the honest man (or woman) can return to the festival, enjoy some music and grab a brat, and wait it out. I think breathalyzers should be available to all, so the people drinking and driving are deliberately doing it, and the honest person who feels like having a drink or two at the bar before going home isn't intentionally breaking the law and endangering the lives of others. If that's such a problem, then why not make it illegal to drink and drive? Force DDs, cab rides, and buses, at least then people don't have to chance it, and again, it doesn't make people want to drive to the bar, thinking they'll be good to drive home.

That's my 2 cents, but you didn't give me the option of raising the drinking age, so I didn't vote.