JB, Where in L.A. do you live?!? Unless you were talking about in Russia....I have -sadly- lived in L.A. almost all my life and I have yet to see 12 year olds drinking and smoking in parking lots...Not even in Compton...Unless you were joking...in which case I take the whole first half of this post back.
Part of the reason why we are so strict over here is because people are stupid. More often than not, people don't drink responsibly. We have these laws because we messed things up from the gate. We had more freedom, and people pissed all over it. In other countries it isn't such a big deal to be ridiculously drunk all the time-other cultures handle themselves better.