[Barcalounger]

Everybody knew that guy in high school who had the early curfew and was in bed by the time all the fun things came out at parties that then dropped out of college because he was too busy smoking pot on his couch all day. Or getting drunk. Or the virgin girl with the overprotective parents that does the entire college football squad. It really comes down to psychology, and if something is banned it makes it more attractive. Then they go too far with it because they were never taught responsiblity, and haven't had adequate time to find acceptable levels on their own. They just jump head first into something and often overdo a good thing.

Banning is the easy way, because you don't have to have nuanced discussions with kids about acceptable levels, tolerance, learning your body, etc when you can just say "it's evil, you can't do it until you're some arbitrary age". Something about a country founded by puritans makes it more likely to ban, instead of teaching responsibility.

Anyways, IMHO a culture that doesn't preach "the evils of alcohol", but instead allows a kid to have a couple glasses of wine inside the home and treats it as no big deal will have less cases of abuse.