It's the same argument that guns kill people rather than incompetent people with guns kill people.
I'm not a drinker - will have one socially or at a party - but don't see the point in getting blotto. Been there, done that a couple of times and it wasn't nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be. Nobody is forcing these kids to drink. Today's young adult culture is surprisingly better than my own (I'm only 34 so a generation past today's) when it comes to drinking (there was an article on the news last night about it statistically supporting this fact). Movements such as straight edge (no drinking, alcohol, etc.) are a lot more prevalent, etc. than they were even half a decade or so ago.
I would argue much of it stems from the level of discipline being applied at home from an early age. When I was growing up, due to older parents, I was always well disciplined. I was given some rope but if I hung myself, I was called on it and disciplined as I should have been. It appears to me that discipline is much more casual today than it ever has been. Most families have to have both parents working long hours to be financial enough to support their families resulting in less time available to be spent with the family/kids, the common cry that parents expect teachers to do their job, etc. This has led to some of the younger generation not growing up self disciplined because of a lack of repercussions.