You didn't read what I wrote. Why am I not surprised?

We are not talking about 15-year-olds going to bars.

We are talking about people who are physically and legally adults.

People who can marry without parental permission. People whose hormones have settled down. People who, most of them, have grown almost as much as they ever will, physically.

People who can sign their own contracts, get their own credit cards, take out their own loans.

People who can apply for work without someone cosigning the application. People who can enter the armed forces. People who can drive after midnight.

People who can vote. People who can serve on juries. People who will receive adult sentences should they be convicted of a crime. People who can be executed.

Those people.

Why aren't people 18 to 21 allowed to drink alcohol? They're allowed to smoke, which is much worse for them.

And for the record, I don't think adults should be told they can't smoke either. I just don't want them smoking at a gas pump, in an elevator or any closed government building, or any building whose owner doesn't want smoking. Some stupid things we have to learn for ourselves.

If we are so concerned with kids' health, why aren't we paying a little more attention to smoking and drinking among minors instead of trying to regulate the behavior of -- yes -- adults? Have you called the cops on underage smokers?