Should We Lower the Drinking Age?

Should We Lower the Drinking Age?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

filed under: family

A new law may make it OK for 18-year-olds to hit the bottle.

Soon your college kid may be legally hitting keg parties.

College presidents from Duke, Dartmouth, and Ohio State are asking government to lower the drinking age to 18 from 21, saying the current law encourages dangerous binge drinking on campus.

The movement called the Amethyst Initiative was started by a former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell, who says: "This is a law that is routinely evaded. It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory." The group may even start publishing newspaper ads to promote their efforts.

And while they don't outright ask the drinking age be lowered, their plan calls for "an informed and dispassionate debate" over the issue and the federal highway law that made 21 the national drinking age by denying money to any state that refutes the trend.

But the group makes clear the current law isn't working, citing a "culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking," and noting that while adults under 21 can vote and enlist in the military, they "are told they are not mature enough to have a beer." Also, "by choosing to use fake IDs, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law."

And even though schools like Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon, and Morehouse support the organization, it should come as no surprise that public outrage is also mounting.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is adamant that lowering the drinking age will lead to more fatal car crashes and says colleges are "misguided" and "deliberately misleading" the public and is even encouraging parents to reconsider sending their kids to colleges that support lowering the drinking age.

"As the mother of a daughter who is close to entering college, it is deeply disappointing to me that many of our educational leaders would support an initiative without doing their homework on the underlying research and science," M.A.D.D. national president Laura Dean-Mooney said. "Parents should think twice before sending their teens to these colleges or any others that have waved the white flag on underage and binge-drinking policies."

The only thing both college presidents and M.A.D.D. agree on is that alcohol abuse by college students is a huge problem.

And the stats don't lie: 40% of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or addiction. And one study has estimated more than 500,000 full-time students at colleges suffer drinking-related injuries every year.

And according to a recent Associated Press study, 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death between 1999 and 2005.

But representatives from Amethyst Initiative insists that students will drink no matter what, but do so more dangerously when it's illegal.

And although Duke President Richard Brodhead declined to comment, he wrote on the Amethyst Initiative's Web site that the 21-year-old drinking age "pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks."

"I'm not sure where the dialogue will lead, but it's an important topic to American families and it deserves a straightforward dialogue," said William Trout, president of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, who has signed the statement.

Would you send your child to a college that supported lowering the drinking age?

9 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

No!!!!! That’s not a good idea. At 18 they are still teenagers and not mature enough to handle drinking. In our area, South Texas, it is a norm for hispanic dads to introduce their sons to drinking at an even earlier age than 18 and as a result, school dropouts, teenage pregnancies, teenage marriages abound in this area. There have also been about 7 deaths of teenagers involved in traffic accidents in just the last 5 months. Say NO to drinking at 18!!!!

- Sonia Carrillo

Posted 08/21/08 03:29 PM

But making it legal - makes it less of a big deal. Statistically these colleges are saying that kids are drinking b/c they can’t. if they can go to war, vote, be at college, drive, makethier own medical decisions - shouldn’t it be legal for them to ddrink?

- foxymama

Posted 08/21/08 03:32 PM

I would encourage my child to attend one of these colleges, as opposed to those colleges that recognize the problem and choose to ignore it. I say bravo to these leaders. It’s nice to see some academic leaders with the guts to challenge the status quo!

- kevin

Posted 08/21/08 04:04 PM

Regardless if it is illegal or legal, college kids will drink. They always have and always will. I am a firm believer in the fact, if at 18 years old you are old enough to be considered an adult and old enough to fight in a war, why are you not old enough to have a drink?

- Work At Home Mom Tara

Posted 08/21/08 04:15 PM

I grew up in MS and we would go down to New Orleans, LA, where at the time you could drink at the age of 18. Okay, I know that NO is a crazy drunken party city, but most kids got it out of their system before they finished college. Most kids are already drinking before the age of 18. I grew up in a very open-minded family and that helped me to realize that drinking wasn’t a big deal. You are considered an adult at 18, so you should have the freedom to be one.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/21/08 04:26 PM

Why are kids allowed to drive at 16, vote and go to war at 18 but not allowed to drink till they are 21? It is far more dangerous to drive and be in a war at younger ages don’t you think? If it wasn’t made to be such a big deal it wouldn’t be a big deal. Look at the European countries that have no drinking age. drinking is not a big deal to them at all because they are introduced to it at an early age.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/21/08 04:54 PM

Can you imagine the impact a change in the drinking age would have on HIGH SCHOOL parties? This change will surely take the pressure off the colleges and universities stuggling with binge drinking, but this will only shift the problem to a younger crowd. Most high school seniors turn 18 during their last year in high school. What does that mean? They can supply the beer for their own parties with younger attendees. Doesn’t enyone else see the problem here?

- Kate

Posted 08/22/08 11:26 AM

I live in Canada and the drinking age is 18, I do not see the problem with this. I belive that if you are old enough to go overseas and fight for your country then why shouldn’t you be able to have a drink if you chose. Most people are responsible enough at 18 to make their own decisions. I turned 18 in high school and I graduated, even my brother graduated and he went to the bar on a regular basis while still in high school. I really don’t understand why the drinking age is still 21 in the US.

- Melissa

Posted 08/25/08 03:26 AM

If you can be tried as an adult and go to prison,die in a war,get a job, and pay taxes.It shoud be you right to have a drink if you want.Know body should be able to tell you that you cant a drink!

- william

Posted 12/18/08 09:26 PM