Print |
E-mail to a friend
OPINIONS
Editorial: Nation needs serious debate on legal drinking age
Three Cabell Midland graduates built a "Beeramid" with their empty beer cans during senior week 1999 in Myrtle Beach. There are 433 empty cans in the structure. Presidents from across the country are calling for a new debate on the legal drinking age. They say current laws encourage binge drinking in underage students.
Purchase this photoPresidents from some of the nation's best-known universities and colleges have called for a national debate on lowering the drinking age. They say current laws, which require a person to be 21 before buying alcohol, encourage binge drinking among young people.
It's a debate that's worth having.
The federal law that more or less set the national drinking age at 21 is -- oddly enough -- about 24 years old itself. It is up for renewal next year. So it's time for a rational look at what should be the legal age for buying and consuming alcohol.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum age for the purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. States that did not comply faced a 10 percent reduction in federal highway funds. The law does not specifically prohibit someone under age 21 from drinking.
Does the federal law prevent underage drinking? Of course not. Has it worked? That is open to debate.
First, a few basic facts:
Kids drink before they turn 18. We all know that.
People may vote, serve in the military, be elected to public office, serve on a jury, be tried as an adult and enter into contracts when they are 18.
To buy a handgun in West Virginia, you must be 21, but you can buy a rifle or a shotgun at 18. To obtain a concealed carry permit, you must be 21.
In most states, a person may consent to have sex at age 16.
In West Virginia, a 15-year-old can get a learner's permit to drive a car.
Now, having said all that, there is the question of the consequences of drinking. The United States has had a long-running campaign against driving while intoxicated. If the drinking age is lowered, would there be more drunken drivers on the road? In other words, given how abuse of alcohol can affect not only the drinker but hundreds of other people on the road, are 18-year-olds mature enough to deal with the consequences of drinking? Some authorities say the human brain is not fully developed at age 18.
According to The Associated Press, Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the college 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.
Research has found more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependence. 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.
In a statement published on the Internet, Duke University President Richard Brodhead said the 21-year-old drinking age "pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks." It also prevents school officials "from addressing drinking with students as an issue of responsible choice."
It's time to reconsider the legal age for buying alcohol. It doesn't have to be an either-or situation. In the past, states have set different age limits to buy different kinds of alcohol. Perhaps a person age 18 or 17 or 19 could be allowed to buy low-alcohol beer but be prohibited from buying hard liquor. That, too, must be part of the debate.
Because the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 must be renewed next year, we probably will have the debate. But it could get lost in all the activity involved with having a new president and, possibly, a Congress that looks different from the current one. But it must not get lost. The issue is an important one for everyday folks, and it needs a comprehensive look.
