It's going to be hard to have a reasonable debate about this. I recently heard an anti-drunk driving crusader says that giving alcohol to anyone under 21 is "child abuse." My kids have grown up with wine on the dinner table, and they've been at least sipping since they were 12. It's a natural part of their lives; they can discuss the great grapes of Bordeaux and Burgundy. One is in college now and one is in high school and neither of them drinks anywhere but at the dinner table. They see being drunk as a sign of childishness rather than adulthood. I believe that one of the reason's they are the way they are is that alcohol holds no mystique for them.