Posted on 09/09/2008 2:29:35 PM PDT by neverdem
What happens when presidents from more than 100 of the nation's best-known colleges call on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18? Well, a brigade of hyperbolic mommies start screaming at them, that's what.
In the Amethyst Initiative, college presidents have offered a rational, if counterintuitive, plan. Let's stop treating young adults like wards of the state. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (naturally) replied: No debate allowed.
There is plenty of empirical evidence suggesting that the drinking age of 21 is counterproductive. To begin with, it bars parents from educating their own children about alcohol and, like all prohibitions, it fosters criminality.
"Kids are going to drink whether it's legal or illegal," explains Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody. "We'd at least be able to have a more open dialogue with students about drinking as opposed to this sham, where people don't want to talk about it because it's a violation of the law."
Sham, indeed. It begins with the demonization of alcohol. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving once compared alcohol to heroin.) Imbibing is a satisfying and highly pleasurable way to spend a couple of hours. It is completely harmless for the majority of adults. Let's not pretend otherwise.
And by outlawing even the moderate use of alcohol among young adults, society creates a forbidden fruit. It drives students off campus and underground. It creates an incentive to drink as much as possible in the shortest amount of time possible.
According to the presidents, the drinking age has "created an environment of excess consumption and goal-oriented drinking. While fewer individuals aged 18-20 are drinking, those who choose to drink are doing so at dangerous and alarming rates."
Perhaps if young adults were allowed to experience the effects of alcohol in a controlled environment, they would be less inclined to binge later. (Binge drinking, incidentally, is usually defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men and four or more drinks in a row by women. Let he among us without sin . . . .)
The present drinking age, it can be noted, treats 18- to 20-year-old adults as if they were criminals, pre-emptively outlawing them from partaking in a legal product that other adults even adults convicted of drunk driving or serious felonies can enjoy legally.
Every state has the authority to set its own drinking age. They won't. After the 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, the government blackmailed states by threatening to take away 10 percent of federal highway funding.
There is no politician who has the audacity to take on MADD, anyway. No one wants to be accused of willfully hurting children.
Yet, even if MADD were right, the safety of the "children" should never be the sole basis for public policy. Call them naïve or idealistic, but there are still people in this country who believe the word "freedom" matters as well.
If I may indulge, let's extrapolate on a cliche: It's regularly pointed out that young adults can volunteer to serve in Iraq but are prohibited from buying a beer. But young adults are also free to produce children (many children). A young adult can plan the entire course of his or her life by the age of 21. A young adult can serve on a jury and determine the fate a fellow citizen. If a young adult chooses, he or she can act in pornographic films, gamble nightly, smoke several packs of cigarettes or, in some places, even engage in the truly depraved act of becoming a politician.
Yet this same young adult is breaking the law when ordering an appletini?
It makes little sense. And when a large number of college presidents ask, "How many times must we re-learn the lessons of Prohibition?" the answer is: We never learned the lesson the first time.
When you bring the ‘military’ argument into the discussion you lose the case.
In the military you are expected to follow the rules. All the rules, not the ones you like. You dont get to ignore the rules you don’t like.
LOL
There you go again. You avoid the question and try to change the topic.
The military was mentioned in the article, as was the age 18. You brought up 14 year olds and 16 year olds.
Do you want to raise the age for all ‘adult’ activities to 21 or is it just drinking?
It’s a rather easy question and can be answered by a yes or no.
Alcohol is a tough one. I’m an alcoholic, working on twenty years sober.
I came up in the libertine early seventies, when the drinking age was lowered for Vietnam. I had places where I could buy it at fifteen, because I was six feet tall. A lot of society wanted to get us off the nasty drugs of the late sixties and onto the legal drug, alcohol.
Many of my peers became alcoholics. Others didn’t. With some in the eighteen to twenty one age group, it’s just the party years.
I opposed Reagan raising the drinking age. I was already twenty one, but I’ve always thought it strange that you can vote and join the military at eighteen, but still not drink. I do think we should make up our minds and make everything either 18 or 21.
Bottom line question, will it result in more or fewer alcohol related deaths because of the increase in youth drinking?
The drinking age should be the sole perogative of the states, and the Feds should have no say in it.
“Bottom line question, will it result in more or fewer alcohol related deaths because of the increase in youth drinking?”
For me, that is not necessarily the bottom line question. If it were, we could have a discussion about whether or not we could lower the number of alchohol related traffic deaths by prohibiting alcohol altogether. We could lower the number of motorcycle deaths by eliminating motorcycles. We could lower heart disease rates by dictating what grocery stores can sell, and what restaraunts can serve. It’s not the point. The point is, it’s weird that 18 is the age our society universally recognizes as being mature enough to make basically every important decision in life and live with the consequences, accept for the decision to take a drink. For me, the absurdity meter is pegging...
I grew up under the 18-year old drinking age. Most 16-year olds had fake IDs so they could buy beer.
But our crowd had a buddy who worked in an ER. About once a month, he could deliver a REAL draft card from a REAL 18 or 19 year old who wouldn't be needing it any more.
This was the best form of alcohol ID (for guys), since you got it on your 18th birthday.
Most 17 year olds, and many sixteens, drank all the time when I was a kid.
That being said, I think adult is adult, and if 18 year olds are adults in the eyes of the law, they should be able to buy alcohol, too.
It’s really difficult to compare cultures, but I do agree that it’s a shame that there is a divide between adults and teens. Interestingly, however, I think some of that is not quite as large as the media makes it out to be. I remember when my own boys were in their teens (not that long ago, they are now late 20s and one is 31). We did many things together and they didn’t complain, or act like it was awful to spend time with my husband and I, or other adults for that matter. Certainly they also liked doing things with their friends, but there was not *war* between us as the media would suggest. I don’t think we were all that unusual.
I do think American culture (read, media driven culture) makes getting drunk and idiotic the apparent goal of drinking. Other countries may not have that, I don’t know. I only lived in Japan and the PI and it was many years ago and I wasn’t old enough to drink and my idea of a party still involved cake and ice cream!
susie
Your post is quite sensible. I don’t know the answer is, but I am very leery about suddenly changing the drinking age simply because there is a movement afoot to do so. I think it is properly decided by the states, and the voters can decide if they like the idea or not.
susie
The drinking age was 18 when I was that age (in TX). Believe me, there was LOTS of drinking by legal 18 year olds. I think the comparison between an 18 year old and a 21 year old has to do with maturity, not whether or not it’s legal. Another problem (and I think this was big on the minds of people when the 21 year old drinking age was reinstated) is that many 18 year olds are still in high school, which means not only can they legally drink, but they can and WILL provide alcohol to their 16 and 17 year old high school friends.
susie
The exact same argument could be made for legalizing drugs.
susie
I agree. And I don’t have an answer about what age is really best. Studies have shown that risk taking behavior declines significantly around age 26, but I don’t think we would ever get anyone to agree on that as an appropriate age.
If the age is lowered to 18, the states need to get really serious about enforcing drinking and driving laws. Of course, it would help if our 18 year olds were not treated as children in many other ways (how many have full time jobs and actually support themselves?)
susie
First, it is my impression that the UK has a HUGE alcohol problem amongst their youth. Can you provide some stats that this is not the case?
Second, teaching responsible drinking does not require drinking. You teach it first and foremost by your own behavior. Second, you teach your kids to be responsible people in ALL areas of their lives. Do you also think you have to let your kids start having sex at say, 16 so that you can teach them to be sexually responsible?
susie
Whatever the age should be, the federal government has no legitimate authority to set it.
LOL you don’t understand kids much! If 18 year olds are legally buying alcohol, they will be buying it for their younger friends. Bank on it.
susie
You also can’t run for President.
susie
You also can’t run for President. Would you be in favor of lowering that age too?
susie
I do agree with that.
susie
Interestingly, tho, it wasn’t always the age our society saw as maturity for everything. You couldn’t always vote at 18 (I don’t know if 21 was the original age, or if that was a later change, anyone know?)
susie
Of course one doesn’t become mature just by age. Stuff has to happen. And truth be told to get mature enough to drink responsibly one has to drink. It’s really very simple, there’s no way to learn to handle your booze without booze.
I was in high school when the age changed from 19 to 21, and we never had the slightest problem getting booze.
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