By Rick Berman
ABL Washington Counsel
Pop quiz.
It is legal for 18-years-olds to do all of the following except: A) Serve on juries; B) Fight and possibly die for your country; C) Get married without parental consent; D) Fly airplanes; E) Hold public office; F) Get executed for heinous crimes; G) Legally drink adult beverages.
If you answered G, you are correct. If you think this is an absurd double standard, you're not alone.
Even New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, infamous for pushing mandatory ignition interlocks in every car, thinks we should lower the drinking age to 18.
Few people understand the drinking behavior of 18, 19 and 20 year olds as well as college administrators. So we should listen carefully when Dartmouth College President James Wright suggests, "We would all be better off if the drinking age were 18.
John McCardell, the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, agrees. He argues that the current drinking age is "bad social policy and terrible law." He insists that "our latter-day prohibitionists have driven drinking behind closed doors and underground," and that society "expects us to graduate students who have been educated to drink responsibly. But society has severely circumscribed our ability to do that.
The University of Indiana's Ruth Engs, an expert in the area, believes that a drinking age of 21 causes irresponsible drinking behavior. That's because those under 21 see drinking as a "badge of rebellion against authority.
Engs reports that vomiting after drinking, cutting classes after drinking, getting lower grades because of drinking and fighting due to drinking all increased in this age group since the drinking age was raised to 21.
"This increase in abusive drinking behavior," she notes, "is due to "underground drinking" outside of adult supervision in student rooms and apartments where same age individuals congregate, and because of lack of knowledge of responsible drinking behaviors.
Engs has a solution. She proposes that young adults be permitted to drink in "controlled environments such as restaurants, taverns, pubs and official school and university functions." In this way, responsible drinking behavior "could be taught through role modeling and educational programs. Mature and sensible drinking behavior would be expected.
Engs is not only right about policy; she also points the way on politics.
We can begin a renewed debate about lowering the drinking age by proposing an intermediate step--allowing 18-20-year-olds to drink in these supervised settings. If this kind of drinking is permitted and, as expected, it does not lead to higher levels of irresponsible drinking, the American people could be persuaded to lower the drinking age to 18 across the board.
Another possibility would be to allow anyone enlisted in the armed forces to drink while off duty. You can also make the legal age 19 if you're worried about 18-year-old high-school students sharing drinks with their younger friends.
Giving young adults some rights without granting them the full rights of those over 21, is not breaking new ground. Consider driving laws.
Those with learner's permits need parents or other responsible adults in the car with them. Some states have special laws for young people that prevent night driving, or restrict the number of passengers in the car, or prohibit talking on cell phones.
A drinking age of 18 shouldn't shock anyone. That's what most states had prior to a 1984 federal law that essentially forced states to raise the limit to 21.
And many countries have a drinking age even lower than 18. In Europe, where the drinking age is almost uniformly lower than in America, there are far fewer problems associated with youth drinking.
Talking about a lower drinking age has been taboo in our industry for some time. So give credit to Pete Coors, who advocated a drinking age of 18 when he was running for the U.S. Senate from Colorado. We're criminalizing our young people,' he argued.
It's time for a change. It's time to begin this debate. Anyone mature enough to carry a gun in Iraq should be able to have a drink at the end of the day.
Source: ABL Leader, February, 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.