A Spirited Debate On A Lower Drinking Age

More Than 100 College Presidents Say Reducing Drinking Age From 21 May Cut Binge Drinking

(CBS/AP)  There's a new push to change the drinking age, and it's coming from an unlikely group of people.

It seems like an age-old question: Is the current drinking age of 21 the appropriate one, or should it be lowered, to 18? The answer is lowered, according to a movement called the Amethyst Initiative.

College presidents from more than 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, were recruited by the Amethyst Initiative more than a year ago to provoke a national debate about the drinking age. And provoke it has.

While petitions are being circulated on some campuses to lower the legal drinking age, other activists say such a move would only cost more young lives to alcohol and alcohol-related accidents.

The drinking age was raised to 21 nationwide in 1984 when Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act.

"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who founded the Amethyst Initiative. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."

Caitlin McCarthy, a University of Arizona junior, said, "Should they initiate the draft, you know, the age is 18. If we can go out and fight and die for our country, and you can't have a beer, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me."


An Epidemic Of Binge Drinking

Studies tells us parents like the drinking age as-is. But many students disagree. One told CBS News, "Whether the drinking age is 18 or 21 I don't think it really matters, because if people are going to abuse alcohol they're going to do it regardless of the law."

According to a 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Department of Health and Human Services, 28.3 percent of Americans aged 12-20 (about 10.8 million people) reported drinking within the past month; 7.2 million were binge drinkers (at least 5 drinks in one sitting).

Alcohol is relatively cheap, is heavily marketed, and often packaged in youth-friendly products like sweet alcohol beverages and malt liquors. Accessibility is key: A 2002 study said that, despite laws against sales to minors, 11 percent of all alcohol purchased in the United States is consumed by underage drinkers.

With underage binge drinking on the rise, seven states have explored the possibility of lowering the drinking age.

McCardell said that binge drinking occurs primarily because students must hide their behavior.

In its statement (currently signed by 114 college heads), Amethyst says, "Twenty-one is not working" and "A culture of dangerous, clandestine 'binge-drinking' - often conducted off-campus - has developed.

"Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students. …

"By choosing to use fake IDs, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law."

Research has found more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependance. One study has estimated more than 500,000 full-time students at four-year colleges suffer injuries each year related in some way to drinking, and about 1,700 die in such accidents.

A recent Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005.

"We also need to keep in mind that alcohol-related traffic fatalities reached a ten-year high in 2006," McCardell said on The Early Show. "They've been going up in the last ten years. We also need to keep in mind that peer-reviewed research shows more than 1,000 lives of 18- to 24-year-olds are lost each year off the highways to alcohol. The evidence is not all on one side of this debate, and we need to consider all of those data and consider whether 21 is, in fact, serving us well."

But Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.

"It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses," said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.

Dean-Mooney told The Early Show she was "alarmed" when she heard of the Amethyst Institute's statement, and suggests that those university presidents who signed on were perhaps misguided or misled.

"We know the 21 minimum age drinking law does work," she said. "There's 48 highly-backed studies to back the fact that the law does work. It saved over 1,000 young people's lives every year for the last 24 years. Why would we go back? We tried this in the '70s and '80s. It simply did not work then; alcohol-related fatalities went up in that age group.

"College presidents don't want this passed down to them from college presidents who are being irresponsible," she said.

When asked if raising the driving age to 18 would lower the risk of young people drinking and driving, Mooney discounted the suggestions. "We know that people continue to drive, for instance, after a drunk driving conviction," she told Early Show anchor Harry Smith. "They'll simply drive without their license. Up to 75 percent of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive. Why would we think that 18-year-olds would drive or not drive, you know? It's not the solution."

McCardell said the presidential statement released does not call for a change in the drinking age. "The presidential statement simply says that based on our own experience and 24 years of this law on the books, we believe there's evidence to show that 21 is not working - that it has had unintended consequences, and that it is well past time to open public debate about all of the effects of this law on our campuses and elsewhere."

Federal law would impose a heavy penalty on any state which opts to lower its drinking age: a loss of ten percent of its federal highway funds. "That penalty needs to go," McCardell said. "Removing that 10 percent incentive is the surest way to resume the debate that needs to take place."


Waving The White Flag?

Both sides agree alcohol abuse by college students is a huge problem.

"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 Troutt, president of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., who has signed the statement.

But some other college administrators sharply disagree that lowering the drinking age would help. University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services under President Clinton, declined to sign.

[hellol69]

I really think lowering the drinking age would be a good idea. At first? Of course not. In the beginning, things would get worse, before the widespread fascination with the change would wear off.

If nothing else, think of it this way: If drinking for these people is illegal until they turn 21, and they are determined to drink, they're going to do it. Somehow, they'll find a way. Unfortunately, the people they would be forced to associate to do so are much more likely to indulge in other legal activities (anything from weed all the way up to heroin), and makes more dangerous substances easily acceptable. Once they fall into such a crowd and harder drugs become more available, they become much more tempting. If the law allowed an eighteen year old to drink, he or she might not be as tempted to partake in drugs.

Personally, I'm nineteen years old. I would love to sit down at a nice dinner and enjoy a glass of Belgian wine or an equivalent with dinner. Not a lot of my friends care for wine, really, but I guess I'm impatient to turn 21 so I can indulge in a fancy dinner or two. I may just be the minority in this, though.

Someone earlier tried to argue that if everyone began stealing, people might begin to try to have it legalized. The difference with drinking and stealing (or with drugs like marijuana) is that it is illegal for any single person, regardless of their age. It's not as if a teenager comes to an age where they are suddenly allowed free range of the local electronics stores, and steal until they pass out.

Moreover, there will always be stupid people or responsible people, and that applies to every age group. The argument that 'more teenagers will go plumb wild' is almost a moot point for that reason; older adults aren't always the more reliable, example-setting group. Lastly, I do believe someone has already made this point, but if an eighteen-year-old can cast a ballot to decide the fate of his country, join the military and/or die overseas, maneuver large vehicles weighing multiple tons through heavy and fast-paced traffic, buy cigarettes, adult material, further their education, and be completely emancipated from their parents, why can they not drink?

[wndrgmom]

I feel like I just woke up from a bad dream. This is the worst possible idea to lower the drinking age. Colleges need to step up their consequences for underage drinking. Students should know that if they are caught drinking under 21 they will be kicked out of school. Part of being an adult is making responsible decisions. If these 18-20 yr olds can''t control their behavior why would the administration just throw up their hands and say "go ahead, and drink " except to make it easier on themselves. Binge drinking is irresponsible and dangerous. Students have become alcohol abusers, committed other crimes while under the influence and sadly some have even died. If these students are also receiving gov. funding to assist with their education, they need to work with all their faculties intact. I hope the age for drinking will not be lowered. I for one will object.

[wndrgmom]

I feel like I just woke up from a bad dream. This is the worst possible idea to lower the drinking age. Colleges need to step up their consequences for underage drinking. Students should know that if they are caught drinking under 21 they will be kicked out of school. Part of being an adult is making responsible decisions. If these 18-20 yr olds can''t control their behavior why would the administration just throw up their hands and say "go ahead, and drink " except to make it easier on themselves. Binge drinking is irresponsible and dangerous. Students have become alcohol abusers, committed other crimes while under the influence and sadly some have even died. If these students are also receiving gov. funding to assist with their education, they need to work with all their faculties intact. I hope the age for drinking will not be lowered. I for one will object.

[honestabe8]

Again!

Legalize pot and the reduction of drunk driving will definitely increase.

One substance makes people agressive, the other passive. Which is a greater danger on our roads?

[joberg03]

again!

Change the driving age! and the reduction of Drunk Driving will defintaly decrease!

ALSO offer cheaper and more convienant ways of public transportation, so that ALL AGES can take advantage of the ideas, so that people can get home safer.

Look at the Europeans, they know what they are doing.

You don''t see young people in cars over there.....

[honestabe8]

Voltaire: It would cut down on domestic assaults, and violence in general seems to be linked to alcohol consumption

[kansas1946]

While petitions are being circulated on some campuses to lower the legal drinking age, other activists say such a move would only cost more young lives to alcohol and alcohol-related accidents.

***********************************

Come on kids. Smarten up. My generation gave you the vote, it was 21 until Viet Nam, now all you have to do if you want the drinking age lowered is support candidates that take that position. The reason 18-21 year olds don''t have a voice is because the rarely vote. Petitions are fine, but you have to back them up with threats of massive voter turn-outs.

[sistatee-2009]

The college presidents hate Big Oil, but apparently they have no problem with Big Alcohol.

[u-r-right]

I kid. I kid. I think today''s 18 year olds act like they are less mature than when I was the same age in the early 80''s. If you serve in the military or other high stress, life threatening job, then by all means, drink up. If you drink and drive, you should lose the privledge indefinitely.

[u-r-right]

Why I did some of my best drinking when I was 18. Once I hit 40, I had to cut way down because it gave me heartburn. Enjoy it while you can.

[honestabe8]

the alcohol companies and their lobbyists would not allow the drinking age up to 28. for the same reason that they do not want pot as a legal alternative to their poison, they would lose money. drug free america, my ever growing arse.

[honestabe8]

republic1776: i agree. sometimes i think that "to fine and collect" should be on police vehicles instead of "to serve and protect". it seems more appropriate sometimes

[stupidrules3]

When I was 18 it was legal for me to drink and I did. I started when I was 17 because it was easy to get. Lowering the legal age would make it easier for 16 and 17 year olds to get drunk. I''m glad I survived some of the stupid things I did then and I finally grew out of the drinking thing. Today''s teens are not mature enough to handle drinking,just as I was not. I have supervised many of them and they haven''t been taught accountability or responsibility by their parents. I even wonder if they are mature enough to drive at 16.

[downsteamjim]

I have always felt that the age should be up to the state not the feds. This certainly falls under rights left to the states. As far as the binge drinking, it started along time before 1984 and does not miraculously stop when a person reaches 21.

[republic1776]

mclam010,
I agree...
See the Government and all of thier fat chinned cronies need to "middle man" it.
Lots of Money to be made.
Finding ways to get our money is what our Government does best!

[hypnotoad72]

Raise it to 28 for adults. High school kids have no business driving -- too young, reckless, impudent, and irresponsible. I''ve seen and encountered enough on the roads already.

Let it stay 18 for military personnel.

[hypnotoad72]

Raise it to 28 for adults. High school kids have no business driving -- too young, reckless, impudent, and irresponsible. I''ve seen and encountered enough on the roads already.

Let it stay 18 for military personnel.

[freckster]

The universities want to absolve themselves of the responsibility of underage drinking on their campuses. The liability to them has been great.

I was of legal drinking age in college, as were the crowd I hung with. We partied and binged. Lowering the drinking age does not solve the problem.

[peacedreamer-2009]

I guess instead of debating the way to give the kids the best possible educations and getting the US on an educational par with the rest of the world again, all they can do is debate lowering the age at which a person can legally get drunk. This is a symptom of the dumbing down of America.

[haoli25]

Hmmm... Can''''t drink a beer if you are 18, but you can murder your baby.
As Art Carney use to say on Laugh-in, " Very intersting, butstupid''. Posted by far_point200


Put down the bottle, Sparky. ART CARNEY was on the HONEYMOONERS, Artie JOHNSON was on Laugh-In.