So, Dear Son and/or Daughter has arrived home!

[fundingfather]

<p>Trout, apparently you have seen statistics that are different than those reported here: <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A37205-2003May9&notFound=true[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A37205-2003May9&notFound=true&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>An excerpt:

Let’s start with the facts. In 2001 the Justice Department released an analysis comparing drinking rates in Europe and the United States. The conclusion: American 10th-graders are less likely to use and abuse alcohol than people of the same age in almost all European countries, including Britain. British 15- and 16-year-olds were more than twice as likely as Americans to binge drink (50 percent vs. 24 percent) and to have been intoxicated within the past 30 days (48 percent vs. 21 percent). Of Western European nations, only Portugal had a lower proportion of young people binge drinking, which is defined as having five or more drinks in a row. </p>

<p>That same year, in a study of 29 nations, including Eastern and Western Europe, the World Health Organization found that American 15-year-olds were less likely than those in 18 other nations to have been intoxicated twice or more. British girls and boys were far likelier than their U.S. counterparts to have been drunk that often (52 and 51 percent vs. 28 and 34 percent).

</p>

<p>There was another study by European nations that looked at their youth drinking problem and concluded that raising the drinking age was a key to address it.</p>

<p>I’m glad to hear that you are a responsible drinker. I hope you enjoy your college experience here.</p>

[trout]

<p>Yes I am aware there are many problems, and these manifest themselves in younger teens. I have seen studies over DUI rates and deaths due to DUI accidents that show a different trend. (Driving age vs. drinking age is an interesting topic to explore).</p>

<p>Binge drinking is definitely a problem, I didn’t cite any binge studies. I’m not averse to raising the drinking age. It would solve a lot of problems. It’s the way that the society treats alcohol that can be a problem, and I see this in the somewhat draconian Georgia statute. </p>

<p>Older teens are a somewhat different story. University in the US seems to be more, well, Animal House. (And I’m not a nai</p>