What do you think is appropriate?

Well since you can join the Armed Forces when you are 18 in the US I think you should be able to drink if you like. I personally don't drink but if you can serve your country you should be able to have the ability to drink.

That's basically how I feel. By the time you're 18, you're probably living on your own, working or going to school (or both), you can be convicted as an adult, you can be a stripper, you can die for your country... but heaven forbid you should have a beer after work.

Well, luckily the neocons have not completely made it into our living rooms just yet. So, enjoy your beer in the privacy of your own home.

well, here you are allowed to drink beer and wine with the age of 16 (same goes for smoking). To drink hard stuff you need to be 18 (same goes for a driver's license).

I'm fine with that.

im 24. i no longer care lol

It's 19 here in Ontario. I think that 18 is the best age to start legally drinking and smoking, but also that it should be fairly strictly enforced.

It's basicly 18 here.

They say that younger people drink to get pissed. surely some do this for the fact that they are not meant to be drinking and so get pissed to stick there fingers up to the law (put bluntly)

so....

reduce the age reduce the problem?

That makes sense to me, too. The only problem with drinking at 16 is if they're allowed in bars - that's just begging for all kinds of statutory rape. However, it'd be nice if kids were allowed to drink and learn how to do it responsibly before they graduated high school. I couldn't believe some of the kids in residence in first year who had never been away from home and their parents were so strict with them they had never learned what alcohol was all about.

also the problem with not being allowed to drink before the age 21 makes you, well, it makes you criminal.

We know that kids are drinking and it's bad, but if they got alcohol problems they shouldn't be treated like criminals. I think this is one of the most important parts of a lower drinking age.

In Australia, the drinking (and smoking age) is 18. Its probably fair enough. Though most people start drinking before then (I had just turned 15 when i started goin to parties and drinking).

If people are found drinking underage the cops just empty out their drinks and tell you to move on, but if your not causing any trouble they'll usually turn a blind eye.

If you wanna flout the laws, and you look the part, you can often be served at bottleshops, or sneak into pubs before bouncers arrive. Seeing as i had homebrew gear i was also brewing my own alcohol at 17 (I was living away from home as well, not that it mattered, guess who gave the gear hehe - its also available to anyone at most supermarkets).

All the major rights should be granted at the same age- voting, drinking, serving, etc. I say this age should be 18.

Driving should be 100% granted at 18 with trial periods (ie: Drive only to school and work, drive only with a parent, drive with a higher insurance fee, can only drive normal vehicles (ie: no motorcycles, semis, etc)), and the "lighter" drugs (tobacco, marijuana) should be legal sooner.

Most rights should be granted at birth- freedom of speech being an obvious example.

nicotine is one of the most addictive substances around (moreso then Cocaine or Heroin). I beleive no drugs should be legal until 18, but a blind eye should be turned to those a little younger then that using soft drugs if they cause no trouble or harm to themselves.

OTOH we could just make the adult age 16, which is about when most teens have finally began to, or have "grown up".