What should be the legal age to purchase alcohol?

Teenagers don't need to be encouraged to drink, and they don't need it to be legal. The only question is whether they'll drink responsibly or not. And when you force it underground, you make it less likely they'll be responsible.

Do you know how things are run in Europe? The drinking age has been well below driving age for decades, and they have a much lower drunk driving rate. Drunk driving is precisely BECAUSE OF our laws. With a lower age to purchase and drink alcohol, teenagers 1) wouldn't need to worry about being "busted" or any of that 2) the alcohol loses it's intrigue when you're nothing special by drinking, there's no "forbidden fruit" appeal, and 3) would reduce the contact between moderate teens and crazy ones. As the way things are now, the teens that just want to have a few beers go to the same source that the wild ones go to, which can cause the moderate teens to end up doing more than originally intended which is always bad. Having a legal drinking age of 21 does not mean that people under 21 will not drink and drive; it actually is a large cause of it.