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closeAbout 100 college presidents in the U.S. have stirred up a hornet’s nest by arguing the country should consider lowering the legal age for buying and consuming alcohol to 18.
The group, calling itself the “Amethyst Initiative,” argues that laws requiring people to be 21 to legally buy alcohol do not fit in with other laws about adulthood in the nation and they argue it leads to dangerous binge drinking, particularly on campuses.
News of the movement spread widely earlier this month and was met with condemnation from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and even from newspaper editorial boards.
Our editorial board has not reached a conclusion on the question at this early stage of the debate. But we hope the issue is debated in public, and not just shouted down before its merits are considered.
Our community is one that could be strongly affected by such a change. There are more than 12,000 students at Western Washington University, and most of them are in the 18-21 age group.
Western, thankfully, does not have a reputation as a “party school.” In fact, the opposite is the case. Anyone who lives in a neighborhood near students has seen parties in which it was obvious underage people were drinking. But as a whole, the university does a stellar job with counter-alcohol programs and education. Reports of binge drinking causing deaths are, thankfully, few and very far between.
The question of drinking age is really about more than colleges, despite the fact this initiative is starting in campus administrative offices.
It is hard to understand, really, why we allow 18 year olds to drive, vote, smoke and go to war, but not buy a beer. Aren’t cars as dangerous as alcohol? Isn’t smoking worse? Isn’t choosing to serve your country in the military, especially during a time of war, the most “adult” decision young adults face?
On the other hand, we are well aware that access to alcohol can lead to many other problems. Alcoholism is real and dangerous. Having more people with access to alcohol could lead to much more poor decision-making. And it can lead to more drinking and driving and other illegal activities.
The federal law that required states to raise their drinking age to 21 has reduced fatal crashes for drivers 18 to 20 years old by 13 percent, saving some 900 lives annually, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Under the law, no state can receive federal highway funds if its legal drinking age is lower than 21.
We also believe the university presidents who are behind this discussion when they say they are worried that illegality increases the likelihood of binge drinking. Binge drinking is a serious problem, if limited. An analysis done by the Associate Press found that 157 people ages 18 to 23 drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005.
Other research has found more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependence, according to the AP article about the debate. Another study 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, according to the article.
That’s why we favor an open and honest debate about this question and urge national, state and local officials to seriously consider the pros and cons of a change.
If nothing else, a forthright discussion should lead to some ideas on how to confront dangerous drinking by young adults.
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