If you are under 21, you get drunk and break some law, like driving under the influence, you will get into MAJOR trouble (you are already breaking the law just by drinking at all). The problem with being drunk is that most people have no clue as to how drunk they really are, and what they are doing. Ad d’lo yada, in this day and age, can be a light buzzed feeling, it doesn’t necessarily have to be out and out drunk. When our chazal talked about this “mitzvah,” they lived in a time when people drove wagons with animals. They didn’t have two-ton killing machines under their control (or lack, thereof). I sincerely doubt any responsible rov would suggest that talmidim should get plastered. Some of the biggest chillulei Hashem have occurred in Purim, because boys drank obscene amounts of liquor. Halevai that these same boys were as dedicated to getting to minyan on time every day, as they are to being mekayeim the mitzvah of “ad d’lo yada.” Amazing what chassidim they become when they want to be. As you can tell, I am totally opposed to the kids drinking altogether, much less getting drunk out of their minds. There is no such thing as responsible drinking for irresponsible people.
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