Ever since 1984, the drinking age limit has been 21. Of course before that year it was age 18. By 1988, all 50 states had fallen in line and by that, I mean that they were forced into changing it. Should the states have changed the age limit? Should the drinking age be at age 18 instead of 21? The answer is yes, it should. A lot of people believe that a person is an adult when they hit the age of 18. At 18, you can go to war, get married or even join the military. 18-year-olds do grown-up things like vote, pay taxes and become parents. It is strange though, they can't go to the pub for a beer because when it comes to liquor, they are still just kids. The fact is that underage drinking will never stop. It is fun and "kids" enjoy it. Personally, I don't see why the drinking age isn't lowered to 18. People are considered adults at 18, but they can't enjoy a drink like other adults. That's wrong!!! A question you might be thinking is, "Why is the drinking age at 21?" Well, the answer to that is simple. The government forced states into changing it. In 1984, only 18 states required that drinkers be 21. That year, legislators required states to enforce a drinking age of 21 or risk losing some federal highway funds. These Highway funds for states like Colorado are in the upper $20 million dollars a year. These funds are hard to come by if you have to compensate for a loss of that much. "Lowering the drinking age" placed fifth in a recent Kansas City Star survey, which asked 8,726 area high school juniors and seniors to list the 10 issues most important to them. In a follow-up survey of 7,092 students, 54 percent favored either relaxing the laws so that 18-year-olds could drink at least some kinds of alcohol or abolishing age restrictions. If you can join the Army and get killed fighting for your country, you should be able to drink," said Tim Maloney, who was a junior at Grandview High School when he participated in the survey. "Eighteen-year-olds can drive a car, buy a gun, get hitched, serve in the state legislature, play video poker. Why shouldn't you be able to buy a beer?" said George Brown, Executive Director of the Beer Industry League of Louisiana. I mean why give all 18 year olds the freedom as an adult, yet stop them from buying alcohol. 18 year olds can buy cigarettes which also kill. As we have found out from recent tobacco settlements, that tobacco companies are very evil, yet you can buy cigarettes when you are 18. Over in foreign countries like Austria, the drinking age is 16. The thing is that they have less percentage of alcoholics in Austria than in the United States. Here the kids never learn how to handle alcohol and have serious problems with it. The problem is that the government and parents show alcohol as a death sin. They tell youth that it is bad to drink and not to do it, just plain don't do it. And it makes young people curious. It interns is the forbidden fruit. An 18-year-old should be responsible enough to make his own choice about alcohol. All the government is doing is treating them like a baby that has to be saved from all dangers. One thing might be the elimination of binge-drinking among college students. The way to do that is to make it legal for them to drink alcohol when they want to. In places like England where it is legal to drink at age 18 and easy for anyone over the age of 15 to get it. The result is very few people feel the need to drink huge quantities of alcohol at a time. This could cure a lot of the drunk-driving problem we have with the college students. If students were allowed to drink in bars whenever they wanted, or if they could buy alcohol from a liquor store without finding someone to go on a 'booze run' for them, then binge drinking would become less prevalent. The truth of the matter is that raising the drinking age did not solve any problems. "It is not a question of states' rights," said New Jersey Democrat James Howard,