Drinking while young.

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The argument goes like this: Our current drinking age forces young people to drink in private, so binge drinking of serious alcohol is on the rise and can be deadly. Lower the drinking age, and kids will choose to drink low-alcohol beer openly--and safely.

Teenagers want to drink because it's a "forbidden fruit." If drinking alcohol were legal at 18, proponents of lowering the drinking age argue, it wouldn't be such a big deal, and those under 21 would be less likely to drink. Lawmakers in Minnesota and Vermont have considered this reasoning recently. And citizens in Missouri and South Dakota may be looking at initiatives on the issue.

"We hold our young men and women up as adults when it comes to paying taxes or entering into contracts. We expect them to take up arms at home and abroad in defense of themselves and their nation," says lawyer N. Bob Pesall, author of the South Dakota initiative. "We put their lives in harm's way overseas, but at home we do not trust them to enjoy a cold beer. This is simply wrong."

But opponents don't buy these arguments. Since Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984, traffic fatalities involving drivers aged 18 to 20 have been cut by 13 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "We welcome the attention to the drinking age," says Mothers Against Drunk Driving's CEO Chuck Hurley. "The data are in fact overwhelming."

Groups such as why21.org cite research that indicates higher graduation rates from high school and college for those who drink minimally or don't drink. Still others argue that recent brain research proves that the still-developing teenage brain is more susceptible to damage from alcohol; short-term or moderate drinking can impair learning and memory far more in young people than in adults. The teenage brain is also poor at discerning risk, they argue. And, drinking at earlier ages is associated with higher rates of drinking later in life.

Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin lawmakers are looking at lowering the drinking age only for military personnel. "If you can take a shot on the battlefield," says South Carolina Representative Fletcher Smith, "you ought to be able to take a shot of beer legally."

Either way, states risk losing up to 10 percent of their federal highway funds if they pass a measure to lower the drinking age. None has done so yet.