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Should States Reduce the Age for Drinking Alcohol to 18?

"College Presidents Call For A Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age To 18. (Cover
Story)." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 20.34 (2008): 1. MasterFILE Complete.
Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
In College Presidents Call for a Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age
to 18, college presidents of 129 colleges call for a debate on lowering the drinking
age to 18, claiming that it would reduce the harm caused by a culture of
dangerous, clandestine binge drinking off campus and promote responsible
drinking for students who choose to drink. They say that their initiative called the
Amethyst Initiative has met with fierce and universal opposition from federal and
state officials, field groups, and prevention groups such as Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD), saying they dont only oppose lowering the age, they want them
not to talk about it . The Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors
(NASADAD), attempted to articulate a distinction between opposing lowering the
drinking age, while encouraging discussion on how to reduce the devastating
impact of binge drinking. The Presidents go on to say that despite state-level
restrictions on the purchase and consumption of alcohol for persons aged younger
than 21 years, their communities have local ordinances that allow persons aged 1820 years entry into bars, and if an 18-year-old should be allowed to vote, buy
cigarettes, join the military and possibly die for his country, why not be allowed to
buy alcoholic beverages? They also claim that even though a person isn't of age to
buy alcohol, chances are that the person will still be able to get it, so why not lower

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the drinking age? Perhaps lowering the drinking age could lower underage
consumption (Amethyst Initiative).
The Amethyst Initiative was launched in July 2008, and made up of
chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States.
These higher education leaders have signed their names to a public statement that
the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people continues despite the
minimum legal drinking age of 21, and there is a culture of dangerous binge
drinking on many campuses. This article was published by Alcoholism & Drug Abuse
Weekly, which is an independent newsletter aimed at meeting the information
needs of all alcoholism and drug abuse professionals; national trends and
developments in funding, policy, prevention, treatment and research in alcohol and
drug abuse. They won an APEX 2011 Award of Excellence in the category of Feature
Writing. This article draws a wide range of readers from the academic community,
researchers, prevention groups, and politicians. They put up a serious tone to make
politicians rethink on the realities of the 21 laws.
I find this article very important in my research because it answers some of the
reasons for binge drinking, and why University Chancellors and College Presidents
dont want to be hypocritical about the 21 laws. It has also helps me to focus more
on alcoholism in colleges and universities which has a large population of students
between 18 to 20 years. Before reading this article, I didnt know people below 21
could use bars and yet protected by their College or University laws.

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Belden, Doug. "Minnesota Drinking Age Debate Resurfaces with Federal Ruling."
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) 06 Feb. 2015: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 2
Apr. 2016.
In the article Minnesota Drinking Age Debate Resurfaces with Federal Ruling,
Doug Belden writes that the longtime state Rep. Phyllis Kahn, who has tried for
years without success to lower Minnesota's drinking age, is back with two bills that
would allow people younger than 21 to drink in bars and restaurants. The bill she
says would lower the drinking age in bars and restaurants to 18 with the idea that it
would let young people learn to drink socially as they do in Europe so that they
dont scramble for fake IDs or stocking up on liquor illegally and then binge-drinking
in their rooms. Belden goes further to say that Kahns second bill would allow
underage people to drink in bars and restaurants if accompanied by a parent or
guardian or spouse who is of legal age. She says one of Kahn's efforts in the past
has been based on the 1984 federal law that threatened states with the loss of 10
percent of their federal highway funding if they didn't move the drinking age to 21,
but that in its 2012 ruling on the Medicaid expansion requirement in the Affordable
Care Act, the U.S. Supreme Court established that the federal government can't
threaten to withhold funding to compel states to act in a certain way, which mean
states can change the drinking age without forfeiting federal dollars. Belden,
however, adds that a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety said the
agency opposes lowering the drinking age.
Belden is a writer at St. Paul Pioneer Press which is a newspaper based in St.
Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is
heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington

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counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,
Minnesota. This article will have readers not only based in Minnesota, but all other
states who will want to see if it will address the problem. Kahn has been persuading
Senators and Congress members to revisit the 1984 law. The author wants readers
to know that there is a better way to promote underage drinking without breaking
the laws that is making young people to drink in hidings because they are afraid of
being punished.
Minnesota seems to be the first state to have a House Representative that
wants to challenge the 21 laws. Before reading this article I was thinking that only
academic institutions would want to guaranty the protection of their students for
the breaching the law, but states too are seeing that the law is only there to make
their youths drink irresponsibly. I also learn that the 2012 Affordable Care Act
compel the federal government not to withhold funding to states that act in a
certain way, and would find this important in my research.

Glaser, Gabrielle Return the Drinking Age to 18, and Enforce It. The New York Times. New York Times,
10 Feb.2015. Web. 2 April 2016.
In Return the Drinking Age to 18, and Enforce It, Gabrielle Glaser asserts that the current system,
which forbids alcohol to Americans under 21, is widely flouted, with disastrous consequences. She points
out that teaching people to drink responsibly before they turn 21 would enormously enhance public health
rather than merely driving it underground, to the riskiest of settings. She says the current law, passed in all
50 states in the 1980s was intended to diminish the number of traffic deaths caused by young drunk
drivers, but has succeeded due to tougher seatbelt and D.U.I. rules, so raising the drinking age hasn't
reduced drinking. She goes on to say todays law encourages young people to dodge the system, and if

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American 18-year-olds have the right to vote, marry, buy guns and join the military, they deserve to
regulate their appetite. She concludes with the words We don't hand teenagers car keys without first
educating them about how to drive. Why expect 21-year-olds to learn how to drink responsibly without
learning from moderate models, at home and in alcohol education programs?
Glaser is the author of the book Her Best-Kept Secret which is focused on women and alcoholism.
She is also an opinion-editorial columnist for New York Times, The Guardian, and The Atlantic. Her
article appeared in New York Times which has a wide range of readers. Her major appeal to readers is that
responsible drinking has to start from homes and in alcohol education programs. She concedes the fact
that car crashes are linked to drunk driving by teenagers; however, she believes the reason for reduced
crashes is because of D.U.I rules and not the underage drinking law. That gives a strong reason to readers
why the 18-year should be given the chance to drink responsibly.
I find her argument convincing and she makes it clear that the reason why youth accidents have
reduced is because of D.U.I rules and not the 21 law as claimed by politicians. I also learnt that the 18years can buy guns which I think is more dangerous than drinking. If parents raise their children well, and
we have educational programs that target alcoholism in our institutions, as Glaser puts it, politicians may
not view alcoholism in youths from that direction.