Lower the national drinking age? The debate may be on

Sunday, November 23, 2008

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Eckerd College president Donald Eastman supports the Amethyst Initiative.

By Joe Wisinski, executive producer, BayNews9.com

BAY NEWS 9 - A debate is on about whether to have a debate.

The debate in question has nothing to do with presidential politics; the discussion is about whether the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18.

College presidents from about 100 U.S. universities have signed the Amethyst Initiative, which calls for a national debate on lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18.

"It's time to rethink the drinking age," the Amethyst Initiative's web site says. "Twenty-one is not working."

A statement on the web site also says, in part:

"We call upon our elected officials:

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"To support an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age.

"To invite new ideas about the best ways to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol."

Con and pro

Some activists, however, are concerned about where the discussion called for by the Amethyst Initiative could lead.

"I think it's a bad idea," said Ellen Snelling, co-chair of the Tampa Alcohol Coalition. "As far as discussion, I don't mind, but as far as lowering the drinking age, it's a bad idea."

Snelling said when the drinking age was raised in the 1980s, alcohol accidents and fatalities in the 16 to 20 age group decreased.

"It wouldn't be worth it to lower back to 18," she said.

Snelling also said research shows that young people's brains are not fully developed until they are in their mid-20s, and therefore drinking can negatively impact development.

"We believe anyone under 21 should not be drinking, especially not binge drinking, because it can be toxic," she said.

But one of the Amethyst Initiative signers, Donald R. Eastman, the president of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, said the intent of the initiative is to just get the discussion going, not necessarily make changes in the legal drinking age.

Ellen Snelling, co-chair of the Tampa Alcohol Coalition, opposes lowering the drinking age to 18.

"I signed because I think it is such a big issue that it needs a new set of widespread, thoughtful conversations," Eastman said. "Not so everyone would say, ‘Change the drinking age to 18 and forget about it.'"

But MADD is asking its members to send a letter to those who signed the initiative. The form letter says, in part, "It is apparent that the goal of this Initiative is to put pressure on elected officials to lower the minimum drinking age of 21."

Some agreement, many potential solutions

One factor most stakeholders agree on is that something needs to be done about binge drinking by young people.

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This story is a joint report between BayNews9.com executive producer Joe Wisinski and Bay News 9 TV reporter Emily Maza
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"Excessive consumption is a problem," Eastman said. "(Students) know it is an issue."

Snelling agreed with Eastman.

"Both sides agree (binge drinking) is a problem," she said.

Figures from the Associated Press back up those statements. The AP said they analyzed federal records and found that 157 college-age people, defined as ages 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005.

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, underage drinking also results in numerous traffic crashes.

The agency said underage drinking drivers were involved in 150 crashes in Hillsborough County in 2007. Those crashes resulted in three deaths.

The disagreement, however, comes in what exactly should be done.

Eastman said he's received some emails with creative ideas to address underage drinking.

One idea is to tie the drinking age to having a high school diploma. For example, if an individual is 19 and has a diploma, he or she could legally drink beer.

Eastman said student life organizations at Eckerd are discussing what can be done, and also said the dialogue should include high schools, parents, and young people who are not in college.

"We ought to talk about it," he said.

Although not opposed to discussion, Snelling said lowering the drinking age is not the way to solve the problem.

"Their solution is to lower the drinking age," she said. "We have many other solutions."

Snelling said ideas her group is checking into include verifying that bars are following the law and also examining the question of whether patrons should have to be 21 to get into a bar.

"The more access young people have to alcohol, the more likely they are to drink," she said.

Some signers of the Amethyst Initiative believe that lowering the drinking age would discourage binge drinking, thereby saving lives.

But Snelling said the current law is adequate, if it is enforced.

"We support law enforcement efforts to enforce drinking laws," she said. "I really think the (current) laws protect them."

Snelling also pointed to a survey from Nationwide Insurance that said 72 percent of adults think lowering the drinking age will make alcohol more accessible to kids, and almost half believe it would increase binge drinking among teens.

What's next?

Not even those most affected by the debate - young people between the age of 18 and 21 - agree on what should be done, if anything.

"Some students think 18 is a good age because it's tied to so many other adult responsibilities, such as voting," Eastman said. "And some think 21 is appropriate. There's no unanimity yet."

He added that no students at Eckerd College have objected to his signing of the initiative.

Eastman expects the Amethyst Initiative will begin collecting ideas and objective data on underage drinking. After that, he hopes the conversation will begin.

"What we need is a much saner approach to alcohol use by young people," he said. "How can we encourage that?"

Eastman said signers of the Amethyst Initiative are mostly presidents of residential liberal arts colleges where a large percentage of students live on campus.

"We see this stuff up close and personal," Eastman said. "We know that despite our best efforts so far there's a lot of underage drinking. So let's talk about it and see if we can come up with some solutions. It might enable us to work on this problem from a national perspective."