I think 18 is a fine age. 21 is too old, you'd have to wait too long. It definitely shouldn't be lowered, so generally I think it's ok the way it is now.
Over here it's legal for someone to drink from when they're 15/16 if they're drinking beer or wine in a restaurant with family, or something like that lol.
I've had quite the scuffle refusing sale of alcy to underage people! One night at work these lads were in but not all of them had ID and a couple of the guys they were with looked younger, so we didn't give them their beer and they went mad.
To me, alcohol isn't really that important.

21 for here. But what does it matter anyway, few people follow it, especially in college. I know you people in Britain drink pretty damn early, heh, got a few friends from there. I had my first beer when I was like 7, I didn't know what it was and drank half a mug before I started to throw up and cry. I mistakened it for korean tea.... Strangely I did it twice. I wasn't a bright child I guess.

I don't drink by the way, I see no need, and I intend never to drink. One of the few exceptions would be if I had to lets say toast at a wedding, I can't just go "before I give my speech about the newly weds, can somebody replace this with orange juice?"

It's 19 where I'm from. It's funny though, because Ottawa is across the river from Quebec, where the drinking age is 18.

We follow liquor laws quite stringently. I'm a server and I am held personally accountable if I serve someone underage. So I'm kind of anal about it.

I think the drinking age is fine where it is. I don't mind having a few drinks with my underaged brothers (16-1.

Its 21 in most if not all the States now.. which is stupid IMO because at 17 I enlisted in the Navy; other young people do too. Its basically saying "you are responsible enough to defend your nation, die on foreign soil but not responsible enough to drink" which is complete Bullpucky!

i think 21 is way to old. i like 18 because you get so wasted for those few years you usually slow down by 22 or so hahaha. if they have to wait till 21 to go buy a beer i imagine would cause alot of the problems with SOME alcoholics as they maybe wernt exposed to it at a younger just as reasonable age.

jincks thats complete crap that you can fight for your country and not drink, shows you whats on the agenda for some high ranking people in the government. america should definitly reconsider it one way or another.(raising the age you can join, lowering the age you can drink). i know alcohol is not an importent thing at all in the army or navy but its an experience that i feel one should in experience in life for the meer fact of doing it. what if a 17 year old boy dies in combat without never tasting a cold beer on a hot day with his best friends thats one memory that he could be deprived of.

def agree with you tho thats bulls#!%

18 here. I think 18 is when children should start drinking. I don't agree with 15 yrs olds drinking but hey who can really stop them.

I feel it should be 18 as well, since that's when you get everything else. I'm also in America and to my knowledge it's 21 in all 50 states.

An example:

11/16/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Ashley Sietsema, 20, of Melrose Park, Ill., died Nov. 12 in Kuwait City, Kuwait


This girl was old enough and responsible enough serve her country; die for her country but wasn't considered responsible enough to have a beer..

18 here. My parents have let me have small amounts for a while now though

I don't drink much, but 18 sounds like a good number. Especially since you're able to enlist in the armed forces at that age.

I agree about the strangeness of the discrepancy between age of adulthood and all its responsibilities, and the ddrinking age being 21. However, even 21 year olds in this country have been proven to be way too immature to make proper choices while drinking. I think in the US we have a messed up idea about drinking in general.

I wish I could debate futher, but I am mesmerized by Lone Star's avatar!

Its 21 in the states I think mainly because if the fact that in many places, public transportation is terrible and you really need a car to get around (from my knowledge, it is not a federal law, but the government would not fund roads and highways in the particular states unless they raised the drinking age) . So, lowering the age limit now would cause a lot of trouble on the roads. However, the 21 age limit creates puts alcohol in a platform which makes it that much more desirable. I believe that if the age was lowered, eventually it would lose some of its stigma and increase responsibility overall.