Those of us 18 and older are considered old enough to buy tobacco, serve on a jury, and join the military, yet the state Legislature (due to the federal government’s coercive withholding of highway funds) prohibits us from purchasing and consuming alcohol. This law is ineffective (teens drink anyway) and dangerous (teens drink less responsibly when they’re more worried about circumventing the law than their own safety), but most importantly, a drinking age of 21 is illegitimate.
No government has the authority to prohibit the consumption of a substance by adults. Laws like the current drinking age are the result of a government full of “Moral Majority”-type old men who are out of touch with modern society. I find it hard to believe that my desire to have a glass of wine warrants an act of the state Legislature prohibiting it.  It’s time to repeal this draconian abuse of government power and lower the drinking age to 18.  I’ve already contacted my state legislators about this issue, and I encourage everyone else who opposes authoritarian laws to do the same.
 
Garrett Ordner
Economics freshman
 
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