Lower the Drinking Age?

As I was driving to work this morning, 1010 WINS reported there is a new initiative being started by the presidents of many prestigious colleges and universities centering on the debate of the national drinking age.

The initiative being referred to is known as the Amethyst Initiative. The drinking age currently stands at 21 years of age. And to many who have passed that landmark in their lives, it was a right of passage. Of course, many people drink before they are "legal." And this is the issue that the presidents of Duke University, Ohio State, Tufts, Manhattan College, and many others are taking up. They want to encourage a conversation to seriously think about lowering the drinking age to 18 years of age. And for many reasons the presidents of these colleges, have a point:

- Students will most likely engage in drinking prior to turning 21, especially when they are living away at college

- Studies have shown that 40% of college students report at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependence, 500,000 students suffer injuries due to drinking while 1,700 die in such accidents. And finally between 1999-2005, 157 college students literally drank themselves to death.

- By the time one is able to legally drink, they are also legally allowed to smoke, vote, wed, and enlist in the armed forces, so why can't they drink at the age of 18?

All of the above reasons are justified in their own way, but there are people who feel that even considering lowering the drinking age is a bad idea. These people are proponents of the fact that the law is the law and should not be changed just because drinking has put colleges into tight spots before. Another big opposer to the initiative, Mothers Against Drunk Driving believes only more alcohol related incidents and accidents would occur.

In many ways, drinking in the United States carries an ugly stigma from very early on in our history from the time of temperance and boot-legging. Drinking has always been put under scrutiny in the United States. I personally wonder why our country continues to struggle with drinking when many other countries around the globe have drinking ages lower than 21. In many cases, drinking is a cultural behavior. The glamor associated with drinking before you are "legal" in the United States wears off. Even the punishments for drunk drivers and rinking related incidents in other countries are handled much differently. Could it just be case that Americans are rebellious because it is inherent in their nature?

There is no simple answer or solution to this questions, but I ask you, what do you think? To learn more about the Amethyst Initiative, click here.