It should definitely be lowered to 18, you're legal to do just about everything else when you're 18, like own a house, make your own decisions etc. so I think it's pretty logical that you should be able to drink at 18.
You can legally drive at age 14 in many states. The voting age was originally 21 but was lowered because 18-year-olds had no say but could put their life on the line for this country. The age for smoking should actually be raised to 21.
Regardless of what is should be/was before, the fact is as the law stands today, you can vote and smoke cigarettes at 18 and fight for your country.
Obviously. Teenagers still find ways to drink regardless, so there's not much of a point of having the highest drinking age in the world.
But darling, even in Spain, where the drinking age is 18, kids at 14 try to avoid the legislation and even are able to get drinks by buying them in ''underground'' stores
Smoking cigarettes doesn't alter your hand-eye coordination nearly as much as alcohol. When you smoke the only person you are killing is yourself (unless you factor in second/third hand smoke related incidents). Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers and throwing in alcohol would cause a serious spike.
... I'm not saying you should do all at once, do you think I'm crazy?
I'm saying that if you have the legal responsibilities of an adult in every other instance, the same should be true for alcohol.
When it's 21 you create a "forbidden fruit" problem.
16 with adult supervision is silly.. you're legally allowed as a parent to give your kid alcohol under age as long as you're supervising them regardless of age already.
I believe that it from 21 to 18 will irresponsibly allow a greater proportion of the US population to drink alcohol in bars and nightclubs, which are not always safe environments.
Alcohol will always have the stigma that it has to underage people now though.
The problem, more than anything, is the fact that in the US, you're generally driving to go out.
And? Its called Designated Drivers. Its the same thing in Canada and all you need is safe alcohol consumption campaigns (which many groups will happily run) and the message sticks for most of the general population.