Drinking age debate continues

Underage drinking is a common occurrence on many college campuses. And while most officials are looking for ways to stop minors from drinking, one organization is taking a different approach.

"Choose Responsibility," a non-profit group started by John M. McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont, is proposing the legal drinking age be lowered to 18 in hopes it will lead to a decrease in binge drinking.

The organization also wants to implement a licensing program requiring individuals to complete an alcohol education course before being legally able to consume alcohol.

McCardell said he created the group to stimulate discussion about the legal drinking age, because the current law is not being observed.

"Our view is that 21 isn't working," McCardell said. "It's pretty hard to argue, as one looks around Tuscaloosa or anywhere else, that that law is being observed. What it has done is drive drinking underground, drive it into dark corners and sent it into dark environments."

There are statistics that seem to back up McCardell's claims. According to studies performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proportion of current drinkers that binge is highest among 18- to 20-year-olds, at 52.1 percent.

Ninety percent of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 is in the form of binge drinks.

"I think if drinking takes place in public places and out in the open and in the presence of adults, then it's less likely to be drinking that causes harm or puts anybody at risk," McCardell said.

McCardell said before Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984, the legal drinking age was 18. However, when the government threatened to withhold 10 percent of states' highway funds if they did not raise the legal age to 21, they all complied.

McCardell said, however,18-year-olds are adults.

"Young adults need to be treated like adults because the law says they are," he said.

Other experts disagree.

Aaron M. White, an assistant professor at Duke University and one of the creators of AlcholEdu, said times have changed since before 1984.

"I'm all for giving people rights," he said. "Until cultural changes occur, it would be disastrous to lower the drinking age. It would accomplish nothing; it would only make the problem worse."

White said as life expectancy has increased, so have the stages of life, making adolescence last longer.

"Fifty years ago an 18-year-old really was on the cuffs of young adulthood," he said. "Eighteen-year-olds in modern America no longer represent that threshold of young adulthood."

White said changes need to be made across the country before the drinking age is lowered.

"By and large, American college students haven't demonstrated that they can handle that responsibility at 18," he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 22,796 lives of 18- to 20-year-olds have been saved since 1975, around the time states began to raise the legal drinking age to 21.

However, Tuscaloosa Police Captain Greg Kosloff said even if the drinking age was lowered to 18, he doesn't expect the number of drunk driving incidences in the city to increase.

"It doesn't matter if you're 18 or 118," he said. "Age really has no effect on whether [drinking and driving is] going to increase."

White said he likes the idea of young adults being required to obtain a license to drink, but said 21 year olds, not 18 year olds, should get them.

"It's a great idea, but there are far more pressing issues right now than giving an 18-year-old a license to drink," he said.

Delynne Wilcox, the coordinator of health planning and prevention at the Student Health Center, agreed that lowering the drinking age is not the answer to prevent binge drinking. She said recent research has shown brain development continues even past the age of 21 and alcohol can interfere with normal development.

"Alcohol is a drug," she said. "As a society we tend to overlook that."

Wilcox said people predisposed to alcohol become addicted earlier than those who don't drink before they're 21, and that those who drink before college are more likely to drink heavily after they get there.

Wilcox said she understands the current legal age poses a problem at colleges since half of students are too young to drink, but proposes a different solution.

"If they shifted the age to 24, that opens the door to address it a little differently," she said.

According to a University of Alabama Police Department report, the number of alcohol violations on campus has decreased significantly in the past few years.

In 2003, 137 people were arrested for alcohol violations on campus, compared to 50 in 2005. Arrests in residence halls have dropped from 43 to four in the same time period. Disciplinary referrals on campus dropped from 202 in 2003 to 151 in 2005.

Some students agree with the legal age-change proposal. Others, however, do not.

Michael Lewis, a sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering, said if the drinking age was lowered, there would likely be negative effects.

"I think there'd be a lot more missed classes," Lewis said. "And although I'd kind of enjoy it, I don't think it should happen."

Melissa Moon, a freshman majoring in music education, expressed similar sentiments.

"People drink at a young age anyway, but it's probably not such a great idea because 18-year-olds are really immature," she said.

Aaron Hupp, a freshman majoring in pre-medical studies, said he sees the logic behind "Choose Responsibility." Hupp said not only would it decrease the number of law-enforcement officers the campus and surrounding areas would need, but the number of students who drink may also decrease.

"It would be like 'Oh, there goes the thrill'," he said.

Tacoma Morrissey, a sophomore majoring in biology, said the number of underage drinkers would likely stay the same.

"I think here with our culture the age doesn't really matter, it's still going to happen," she said.