Legal Age to Drink in the Land of the Not-So Free

Is anything more hotly debated than the legal drinking age in the U.S? (Okay, maybe legalizing marijuana, but the legal drinking age is a close second, right?) Who decided 21 was the age American citizens should start consuming alcohol? And where exactly did they pull that number out of? Thin air? Their ass? Where?

Yeah, alcohol can be "bad," if you abuse it. Then again, smoking is "bad" for you but you can do that at 18. Sex can be bad for you too, but you're old enough to choose to go at it, get knocked up, or father a child at 16 in some states. Look. Too much of anything is bad for you. Let's start putting age limits on fast food and candy. No more of grandma's cookies for you!

No one is saying that teenagers should all go out and get "knocked off your ass" F'd up. But why is the supposed land of the free one of barely more than a handful of nations that doesn't let citizens drink legally by 18? Is it that we're inherently more immature and unable to make responsible decisions? Okay, I'll even give you that. Maybe we can be. But if we are, I'd equate it to the stereotypical bad catholic schoolgirl persona. The more you tell us "no, you can't do this and no, you can't have that," the more people are going to act out. Restrictions breed revolt. Kids are going to drink if they want to. Why not let them do it under a parent's supervision legally instead of exploring alcohol under the umbrella of who knows what?

Legal Drinking Ages Around the World

Did you know in the U.K. that kids can consume some wine with dinner at five years old with a parent's consent and supervision? Okay. Maybe we don't need to go that far, but why not 18? That's when citizens of most developed nations are freely picking their poison -- in the UK it's when they can drink all types of spirits for example. Other countries with drinking age limits of 18 include China, Denmark, France, Ireland, Australia, Russia, Sweden, and the Bahamas.

Do you know where people have to wait until they're 21 to drink? Fiji, Pakistan, Palau, and Sri Lanka -- oh, and the United States of course! Isn't it nice to see that we're in such good company? WTF?

The issue of international legal drinking ages can be a sticky one. For example, maybe you've gone on a wild spring break overseas just so you could drink at 18 instead of 21. We know it wasn't really for the "culture." Were you suddenly more mature when you arrived on foreign soil? No. But could you manage to hold your liquor? Probably (and if not, maybe if you'd been allowed to drink here legally, you wouldn't have overdone it out of sheer rebellion).

Then there's the issue of drinking on cruise ships. This is even crazier. If you depart from a U.S. port, chances are good that the cruise line will have a 21 year age limit on alcohol or they might let you drink only wine or beer at 18 with a parent's consent. Leave from a non-U.S. port and when you hit those same international waters, you're free to get your hands on the "good stuff" from 18.

Why is it that we can trust an 18 year old to defend our country but not with the responsibility to defend themselves against irresponsible alcohol consumption? Yet again, we have a nasty habit of being a big bunch of hypocrites.