2008 Woodie Awards
Keep the drinking age at 21
(MCT)
MCT
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Op/Ed
A group of 120 college presidents is pushing to lower the drinking age to 18, in an effort to curb binge drinking on campus. They've got an impressive name, the Amethyst Initiative, named after the ancient Greek words that mean "not intoxicated."
These college leaders hope that a lower drinking age will encourage more responsible drinking. They also think it will cut the excessive, furtive, forbidden thrill of drinking -- "pregaming," in kidspeak -- before a frat party or other public appearance. But we think these top academics forgot their Econ 101. Legalizing something generally invites more indulgence, not less.
Yes, binge drinking is widespread, entrenched and pernicious. And that is surely frustrating for college officials. But their strategy reeks of surrender.
Kids under age 21 don't drink because it's illegal. And they won't stop drinking if it is legal. Another problem with lowering the drinking age: Surveys -- and experience -- suggest that making alcohol abundant and available to 18-year-olds also opens the spigot wider for 17- and 16-year-olds and even younger teens.
The current age threshold doesn't stop many underage college students from drinking, But there's evidence that the higher drinking age has curbed some binge drinking. In 1984, when Congress effectively mandated the 21-year-old age limit, 45.4 percent of college students engaged in binge drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks in a row at any point in a two-week period. That's according to Monitoring the Future, which conducts an annual national survey of drug and alcohol use by young people. By 2006, that figure was 40.2 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who reported drinking every day fell by more than a quarter.
Statistics on the effects of the higher drinking age on driving fatalities are even more dramatic. As legal drinking ages have gone up, the number of young people ages 16 to 20 killed in alcohol-related crashes has plummeted by nearly 60 percent -- from 5,224 in 1982 to 2,121 in 2006. This even as the number of young people killed in non-alcohol-related crashes has increased by 34 percent.
These college leaders hope that a lower drinking age will encourage more responsible drinking. They also think it will cut the excessive, furtive, forbidden thrill of drinking -- "pregaming," in kidspeak -- before a frat party or other public appearance. But we think these top academics forgot their Econ 101. Legalizing something generally invites more indulgence, not less.
Yes, binge drinking is widespread, entrenched and pernicious. And that is surely frustrating for college officials. But their strategy reeks of surrender.
Kids under age 21 don't drink because it's illegal. And they won't stop drinking if it is legal. Another problem with lowering the drinking age: Surveys -- and experience -- suggest that making alcohol abundant and available to 18-year-olds also opens the spigot wider for 17- and 16-year-olds and even younger teens.
The current age threshold doesn't stop many underage college students from drinking, But there's evidence that the higher drinking age has curbed some binge drinking. In 1984, when Congress effectively mandated the 21-year-old age limit, 45.4 percent of college students engaged in binge drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks in a row at any point in a two-week period. That's according to Monitoring the Future, which conducts an annual national survey of drug and alcohol use by young people. By 2006, that figure was 40.2 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who reported drinking every day fell by more than a quarter.
Statistics on the effects of the higher drinking age on driving fatalities are even more dramatic. As legal drinking ages have gone up, the number of young people ages 16 to 20 killed in alcohol-related crashes has plummeted by nearly 60 percent -- from 5,224 in 1982 to 2,121 in 2006. This even as the number of young people killed in non-alcohol-related crashes has increased by 34 percent.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Health Related Articles
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:23 PM EST
At one time people at any age could not drink alcohol. Maybe they should raise the age to 25 and get rid of drining for almost all college students. It does not make people happier. (Continued…)
Web hosting reviews
posted 11/05/08 @ 1:37 PM EST
I gotta disagree here... America has tried prohibition before and IT DOES NOT WORK. When will we learn our lesson? Prohibition is a good idea in theory, but it doesn't work out in practice. (Continued…)
Post a Comment