Should 18 be the proper age to drink beer?

August 19, 11:21 AMNorthern Colorado Beer Examiner'Chipper' Dave Butler

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 It's been an age old debate that has raged within the U.S. for decades. How old is old enough to drink alcohol?  U.S. laws consider a person a legal adult once they turn 18.  Once an adult, a U.S. citizen has the right to:

- enter into legal agreements.
- be tried as an adult in a court of law.
- given the right to vote.
- join the military and fight in wars.
- drive a car without the restrictions of a minor.
- get married without parental consent (legal even sooner in some states).
- participate on a jury.

Yet, while we trust 18 year olds with marriage, guns, automobiles and jury decisions, we don't trust them at all with alcohol.  Most opponents of under 21 drinking claim drunk driving as the main reason we can't trust 18-20 year olds with a glass of beer or wine.  Others blame lack of proper alcohol education or parental guidance during the teenage years as a reason.

Did you know that the U.S. has one of the most restrictive drinking ages in the world?  There are at least 66 other countries with a lower drinking age than the U.S.  There are several countries who don't even have a restriction on age for alcohol.

Ever since National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed, states are penalized heavily by the Federal Government if they don't have laws restricting alcohol to people under 21.  States would have 10% of their federal highway funding withheld if they allowed people under 21 to legally buy alcohol.

Many college presidents, over 100 of them now, agree that it's about time to change the way we treat college students and give them the full legal rights as an adult they deserve.  Even Dr. John McCardell, the President Emeritus of Middlebury College, has been quoted as saying:

"State legislators, many of whom will admit the law is bad, are held hostage by the denial of federal highway funds if they reduce the drinking age. Our latter-day prohibitionists have driven drinking behind closed doors and underground . . . Colleges should be given the chance to educate students, who in all other respects are adults, in the appropriate use of alcohol, within campus boundaries and out in the open."

Some studies have shown that raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 did not remove most alcohol problems with 18-20 year olds.  In fact many problems increased according to a recent study of college age students:

- students who reported vomiting after drinking rose from 46% to 50%.
- cutting of classes after drinking rose from 9% to 12%.
- missing classes due to hangovers grew from 26% to 28%.
- getting lower grades because of drinking grew from 5% to 7%.

All of this happend AFTER the drinking age was raised to 21.  It essentially put 18-20 year olds in limbo and forced their drinking habits to go underground where it was left unchecked.  Binge drinking became more of a problem since the drink laws were changed.

While there is no clear solution to the problem of teenage drinking, proponents of lower the drinking age say that early education and parental involvement in teaching proper drinking habits are the key.

Would lowering the drinking age to 18 simply put all of the pressure on high schools to curb drinking problems?  Certainly it would place more emphasis there, but alcohol education simply must start earlier than high school in order for this to work.

Don't expect the laws to change anytime soon.  State governments simply can't do without their federal highway funding at the moment and most politicians don't even want to tackle this touchy subject.  Anyone want to bring this up at the DNC or RNC?

America may as well take away all of the other adult rights to 18-20 year olds.  Let's face it, we feel better putting guns into their hands, letting them vote on who we want for president and putting them on juries for murder trials than allow them to drink glass of beer with the rest of the adults.  It's time to take up this issue.  Treat college students as the adults they are, or face increased underground binge drinking.  The time to educate our kids is when they are still young enough to be at home with their parents and guardians.

Related articles:

* States weigh lowering drinking age

* Legal Drinking Age

* Why the drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research

* College Presidents want lower drinking age

* Time to let the kids drink legally?