from my experience living in a country with the drinking age at 16, compared to the US, people back home learn their limits in safe environments and by the time they’re in college they rarely puke/ pass out/ black out from drinking, don’t drunk drive, don’t do stupid shit. it’s when drinking gets hyped and idealized and people don’t learn their limits in a controlled environment that shit goes wrong and that’s why a bunch of freshmen go to hospital every year for alcohol poisoning