And the drinking age was 18 for a very short period of time. Some magical as you call it things actually do happen to you as you get closer to the age of twenty five. Your brain is still forming pathways til then,,,but you obviously dont care
"In response to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984, which reduced by up to 10% the federal highway funding of any state which did not have a minimum purchasing age of 21, the New York Legislature raised the drinking age from 19 to 21, effective December 1, 1985. (The drinking age had been 18 for many years before the first raise in 1982, to 19.) Persons under 21 are prohibited from purchasing or possessing alcohol, from consuming alcohol in public (though they may do so in the privacy of their own homes with consent of a legal guardian), or from having a blood alcohol level of more than 0.02% while driving.
The federal government thru its club of withholding money has forced the states to accept its mandate.
Why not just ban alcohol altogether if you believe that it is that dangerous. Or raise the age to 25 or 30. You can embrace this intrusion of the federal government and government in general, into our personal lives, but we are losing our liberty.