You missed Didy's post, MooKoo. Two posts above your first one. Alcohol does impair judgment, yes, but is just one glass with dinner at home so bad?

Okay, an extension of one of my questions asked in the girlfriend/boyfriend thread: What is a class of 13 year-olds doing drinking? While I don't mind that people do underage drinking if done responsibly, that is seriously too young for anybody.

Yah', but think about the damage you do to yourself. Or does your body not matter to you?

Also think about what happens after using drugs. I mean, look what they do to you, like that won't hurt your friends and family emotionally?

Its bad man, and thats all there is to it.

Of course its too young, I think 21 is too young! From what I've seen, WAY too many 21 year olds are too irresponsible to drink.

IMO, yes.

At the end of my post there I was talking about legal and illegal drugs.

I expect that some 13-year-olds drink, I just didn't expect half a classroom of 13-year-olds to be drinking.

I disagree. In fact, current medical studies have shown that moderate amounts of alcohol can be beneficial to one's health.

I've heard this many times, but I believe it only applies to wine. I also believe that that is only because of grapes.

In moderation, alcohol consumption has significant health benefits. These include a lower risk of heart attack [4], lower risk of diabetes [5], lower risk of Alzheimer's disease [6], reduced risk of stroke [7], and an increase in overall longevity.[8] One study found that a person fifty-five or older who consumed 1-3 drinks daily was half as likely to develop dementia linked to poor oxygen to the brain as a person who did not. Additionally, because alcohol increases 'good' cholesterol and decreases the 'bad' cholesterol, there are indications that frequent doses in moderation reduces the risk of blood clots and stroke. These benefits are all counteracted by excessive consumption.[9]

Before even talking about the age-legality of drinking, I think it's important to establish that any drinking that goes on should be done responsibly. Responsible drinking is a practice altogether lacking among most of the "drinking public" in America, and a good argument for a minimum legal drinking age (apart from the exacerbated effect that alcohol has on children's development and smaller body mass) is that kids aren't born with responsibility--they need to develop it! Whether you're religious or secular, I think that Paul's admonition in I Corinthians 10:12, "Let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall," is a good common-sense consideration here. The potential consequences for erring on the side of caution are much less destructive than the results of irresponsible drinking. If you abstain, there's not much worse that could happen to you beyond a few missed social opportunities, which can probably be made up through other social avenues. In contrast, the short-term and long-term effects of alcohol overconsumption range from vomiting and hangovers to automobile accidents and developing alcoholism.

As for the issue of underage drinking itself, I pretty much agree with Didymus. However, I do think allowing one's children to sample alcohol under supervision at home might send the message that "it's okay to break the law in small things as long as you're responsible about it." I'm not entirely sure what to make of that, and it's probably something that parents should consider if they're thinking of letting their children drink while supervised in certain situations.

But one indisputable fact is alcohol is a poison. A minor one, but still a poison.

As for the issue of underage drinking itself, I pretty much agree with Didymus. However, I do think allowing one's children to sample alcohol under supervision at home might send the message that "it's okay to break the law in small things as long as you're responsible about it." I'm not entirely sure what to make of that, and it's probably something that parents should consider if they're thinking of letting their children drink while supervised in certain situations.

Yeah. There are teenagers out there who drink more responsibly than adults.

But as I said earlier, alcohol is a lot more harmful to them because their brains aren't developed, even if they are drinking as responsibly as adults. That's why I support the drinking age as it is.

Can I see some citations for this, please? Norway has no drinking age, and the people there have very long lifespans.

the available evidence suggests that adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of alcohol on both memory and memory-related brain function,

I'm working on this idea where the occasional, and I mean occasional, bout of irresponsible drinking is necessary to lead a complete life of many experiences. Sometimes it's good to do dangerous or dumb things in order to learn from them.

Or you could just learn the easy way and see how something ruins someone else's life.

Or you could just learn the easy way and see how something ruins someone else's life.

Isn't the lesson usually learned simply "don't do that", which you don't need to learn if you're not inclined to do it in the first place?