Here’s a list of things you can do when you turn 18 in the United States of America.

• Vote in government elections
• Buy spray paint
• Gamble and purchase lottery tickets (in all but three states)
• Sign your field trip permission forms
• File a lawsuit
• Buy tobacco
• Get married without parental permission
• Be selected for jury duty
• Enlist in the military and possibly die for your country

Here’s a list of things you cannot do until you turn 21 in the United States of America.

• Legally purchase and drink alcohol

One of my biggest frustrations with this country is the legal drinking age. There are so many other things you can do before you’re allowed to order a glass of wine, and that is bonkers. Alcohol was always present but never encouraged in my childhood, and being exposed to alcohol as a child and teenager made it less alluring when I got to college where alcohol was prominent.

My biggest gripe with the drinking age is the imbalance of what you can do when you turn 18 before you can drink. You can die for your country without knowing what a beer tastes like. If we believe as a country that 18 is old enough to fight overseas and possibly kill or be killed, then isn’t 18 enough to do tequila shots to blow off steam?

The drinking age in the U.S. should be 18.

For supposedly being so ahead of the curve, the U.S. is surprisingly chaste. Sex is taboo, nudity is taboo, alcohol is taboo. Countries in Europe, Asia and South America allow unsupervised drinking at age 18 or 16, and some allow alcohol to be consumed with parental supervision as early as 14.

Lowering the drinking age in the U.S. would decrease binge drinking since people wouldn’t feel the need to go so hard when they turn 21. Instead, people will be gradually exposed to the effects of alcohol with more structured supervision. I’d even be down for the drinking age to be 16 when alcohol can be introduced under parental supervision.

Some countries place limits on what kinds of alcohol can be assumed at different ages. For example, beer and wine is allowed at 16, but liquor isn’t allowed until 18. I think this is a great compromise that may be ideal for the United States. I would even suggest beer and wine at 18 and hard liquor until 21. Beer and wine are less intoxicating substances, so young adults could learn how alcohol affects them gradually, before introducing harder liquor.

The most common argument for the drinking age being 21 is that the brain is not yet fully developed and cannot make proper decisions or alcohol impacts the brain’s development. However,  the human body can do quite a lot before the brain is developed, including but not limited to birthing a human.

I think if a person can be responsible for all of the responsibilities that come with turning 18 then they can be trusted with a Scotch on the rocks.