When drunk, adults have the judgement equivalent to a 6 year old.  Why, then, are they allowed to drink, if a 6 year old is not?

Now I'm not proposing that we buy our 6 year old's beer, but we seriously need to rethink alcohol.

Above, we see a glass of whiskey compared to a can of Red Bull. dwilliamson recently made a brilliant hub about Energy Drinks and Teens. In the hub there was a proposal for regulation in energy drink consumption for teenagers. Teenagers are thought to have such bad judgement that they can't be trusted with caffeine.

Now, we know teenagers have a tendency to be reckless, and take more unnecesary risks than other age groups, but drinkers and alcoholics are infinitely worse. I am not against some kind of regulation for energy drinks, but when we regulate caffeine in teens, we must regulate alcohol in adults. Alcohol is more dangerous and more addictive, and no matter what your age is, alcohol can take you. Whether you are 16 or 61, alcohol doesn't care, it will strip you of your judgement.

When an american is 18, they are permitted to leave their family. They can enlist in the army. They can kill someone. But they cannot wash away their troubles in a cold beer. They have to wait three more years for that. This way of thinking doesn't make sense, and it doesn't work. Adults drink before they turn 21, the age limit doesn't keep them from drinking, it just makes it illegal when they do drink. Now america needs to make up it's mind. It needs to either practice complete prohibition (never going to happen) or lower the drinking age to 18, and apply a tighter regulation to the amount one can drink once they are of age.

Special thanks to dwilliamson for inspiring this hub.