Because the Baptists don't want anyone drinking, anywhere, and it was easy to convince lawmakers that alchohol shouldn't be near schools. I didn't grow up here. I grew up in the land of Germans and Scandinavians, Lutherans and Catholics. My parents gave me a little glass of beer when they were having one when I was below the age of 5 (I know I was that young, because I remember the house and we moved when I was 5). We were allowed to have a single glass of wine with our nicer dinners when we were in high school. My parents are infrequent drinkers, I rarely drink, and my brother and sister rarely drink as well. There were no restrictive liquor laws like there are here, and, to be honest with you, we didn't have anywhere near the high school age drinking that I saw in my kids' schools here.

As usual, vice laws rarely affect behavior. If restraint is not taught in the home or you have a genetic propensity for drug problems, you're more likely to have them.