[tbontob]

The question of drinking age is rather interesting.

In my parents house, we were permitted to have a drink whenever we wanted.

The interesting thing was that out of a family of 8 (6 children), no one took advantage of it.

I soon learned this was not shared by most of my peers.

Whenever I brought friends home and they saw the bar with the 300+ different bottles of liquor openly displayed, their eyes would light up.

When I was about 14 years old and not realizing the problems some people have with liquor. I asked if they wanted a drink.

It surprised me when all of them literally tossed back the drink, not even bothering to taste it and then looked at me expectantly.

Still not realizing the problem, I asked if they wanted another. To which the response was a unanimous "Yes!"

Again the drink was tossed back and the expectant look.

Only then did I realized my friends had a problem with liquor and stated "Bars closed."

IMO, there isn't a age when people are able to handle liquor better than another age.

18 or 21 are arbitrary ages used in an attempt to provide some protection to our youth.