Counting down the seconds until legally being able to purchase alcohol on their 21st birthday, young adults in California anticipate this right of passage into adulthood, though a majority wishes it would come sooner.

Lowering the drinking age has been a constant complaint for those who are forced to stay home or find other forms of entertainment on weekends, rather than consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

With high hopes to follow in Europe’s lowered-drinking-age footsteps, American teens idealize the laws of the European culture, often arguing that legalized alcohol consumption at younger ages will make for more responsible drinking.

However, the assumption that European teens are responsible alcohol consumers is nothing more than a myth, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“A great percentage of young people in a majority of Europe report binge drinking at higher rates then compared to their US counterparts,” according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

False notions that introduced early on, alcohol consumption will gain a healthy balance was shown in 1999 as New Zealand lowered their drinking age from 20-years-old to 18-years-old, according to the American Journal for Public Health.

“Not only did drunk driving crashes increase, but youth started to drink earlier, binge drinking escalated, and in the 12 months following the decrease in legal drinking age,” according to American Journal of Public Health.

American culture is so heavily absorbed with gluttony and instant gratification that the right to alcohol should not be something to be taken lightly when human life, addiction and death is concerned.

“More than 40 percent of individuals who start drinking before the age of 13 will develop alcohol abuse. 95 percent of the 14 million people who are alcohol dependent began drinking before the legal age of 21,” according to the Journal of Substance Abuse.

Because something is introduced early on in life, or legal within the boundaries of another country, does not mean that it is a safe option for the youth of America.