I was thinking the same thing, yesterday, futurebeachbum! It is a backwards system indeed.
Mermaid, I understand the concern with high-schoolers (18 year olds) buying for younger kids. It is true, and will happen, so that is a very valid point.
Having a drinking age of 21 is also the reason why so many of today's high-schoolers are smoking pot -- buying pot doesn't require an ID or a minimum age. The more hoops you make people jump through, the more they look for alternatives. I started drinking to get drunk when I was 14 (shocker), and I smoked my first cigarette in the second grade (maybe 8 years old). Today, I don't smoke anything, and I don't drink to get drunk, but I don't mind drinking 2-3 beers on occasion. To be blind to what kids are doing, is not helpful to anyone. Educate, educate, educate! When I was in the 9th grade, seven years after that first cigarette, we had a science teacher (heavy smoker) who shared photos of human lungs, one who didn't smoke with fleshy-pink lungs, and the other who smoked, with lungs which looked like a charcoal briquette. That may be the single-most deterrent for me. We adults need to be educating our youth, with truthful information about the benefits and dangers of intoxication, and the varying degrees.
