By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Feb 09, 2010 at 9:10 AM

"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, rapid bar reviews and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

Depending on your perspective, the photo that accompanies this blog is either disturbing, disgusting, hilarious, inappropriate or a combination of all four.

But it got your attention, didn't it?

That's the idea.

While our elected leaders plan to spend another year arguing about toughening Wisconsin's relatively lax drunk driving laws, I'd like to offer a radical solution that I firmly believe would improve the alcohol culture in this state and eventually help make everyone safer:

Lower the legal drinking age.

Plenty of smart people will counter my argument with plenty of statistics showing that raising the drinking age to 21 reduced the number of accidents and deaths on our highways. I will grant that, but counter that safer vehicles, increased emphasis on curtailing speeding and mandatory seat belt laws have played a role in that reduction.

Still, we have considerably more alcohol-related accidents and deaths among young adults in the United States than they do in Europe, where the drinking age in some countries is 16.

The crux of my argument is simple and it's based primarily on mixed message we send with the drinking age at 21.

Turning 18 in the United States allows a personal almost all the advantages and responsibilities of adulthood. You can vote, serve on juries, get married, enter into legal contracts, join the military and be prosecuted as adults (some earn the last one even sooner than 18).

The only thing missing from that list is the legal right to enjoy a glass of beer or wine.

If we are going to empower 18-year-olds to make all those other important decisions, some of which carry life and death consequences, why can't they be trusted to make decisions about consuming alcohol?

The United States has the highest drinking age in the world. Has that done anything to curtail underage drinking? In many nations where the drinking age is 17, 16 or non-existent, high school students outperform their U.S. counterparts in standardized tests. They are also less likely to be injured in alcohol-related accidents.

I became an adult before Wisconsin, facing pressure from federal officials threatening to withhold highway funds, rolled back the drinking age, first to 19 and then to 21.

I don't own a bar, nor do I have much desire to pound drinks with the beer-pong crowd. But, I think that banning drinking among those between 18 and 21 has created as many problems as solutions.

Prohibition didn't work in the 1920s and it isn't going to work today. Ask any college administrator and they will tell you that curtailing underage drinking is about as easy as stopping the tide with a toy shovel and pail.

With no legal options, the 18-to-21 crowd is forced to take their drinking "underground" at unsupervised locations like basements, attics parking lots, farm fields and just about anywhere else you can imagine. For some, the "taboo" associated with the illegal activity adds to the thrill. It also adds to the danger.

Without supervision or role models, young drinkers often consume alcohol in binge fashion. When they get hurt, they often bypass medical attention for fear of legal repercussions.

The legal aspect is somewhat fascinating. Walk around any college campus and what you'll find is a version of the military's woefully ineffective "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Inebriated students try to compose themselves as they stumble past law enforcement officers and administrators, many of whom act like they don't notice the transgression.

How is this a positive environment? Aren't we, in effect, sending a message that some laws can be ignored?

The folks at chooseresponsibility.org have proposed a graduated licensing system. In essence, a license to drink. Individuals could pay a fee and enroll in alcohol education courses before getting their "drinking license."

In an era when cries of "socialism" ring out at virtually every town hall meeting, that may sound an alarm for people nervous about government expansion. Ask yourself this, though: how much money and how many police man-hours are spent trying to "bust" underage drinking parties on and around college campuses?

The 21 drinking age has created an atmosphere when young people compromise their ethics and violate the law, often in unsafe, unsupervised environments.

Lowering the age to 19 or even 18 would remove the taboo and possibly make us all safer.

What do you think?

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.