ForWhichItStood.org

The issue of the drinking age has recently come to public attention once more. Over 100 college presidents are calling for lawmakers to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. The argument that many presidents of the 100 colleges, including presidents from Duke, Dartmouth, and Ohio State use, is that the current age encourages binge drinking on or around campus. This group of college presidents call themselves the Amethyst Initiative. Their goal isn’t necessarily to repeal the drinking age limit set by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, but rather to promote debate and discussion on the issue. Since they’ve come into the public spotlight, they’ve faced a lot of criticism.

Let’s think about it in more detail. Why not? I’m 18. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to take a drink? Personally, I dislike alcohol. Were the limit dropped to 18, I most likely wouldn’t drink at all; even so, I think that I should still have the right to drink if I chose to.

It’s illogical and unjust. It’s an infringement on the personal liberties of anyone from 18 to 21. At 18, I’m old enough to enlist in the military, old enough to vote, old enough to sign private contracts, old enough to get married, and old enough to buy pornography and cigarettes. However, I’m still not old enough to buy and consume alcohol?

This issue, in my mind, is very similar to the issue of voting. The voting age was 21 until it was lowered to 18 by the 26th Amendment. While the right to drink alcohol is hardly as important as the right to vote, it’s the same concept. The government has a long habit of giving youth adult responsibilities, yet continues to treat them like children.

Many people will have strong, convincing arguments about why the drinking age should remain at 21. Perhaps drinking among college students will increase. It probably will. That being said, most college students will drink anyway. I could not immediately find statistics, but I know that a majority of college students under 21 have tried alcohol, and a large percentage still drinks regularly.

If the drinking age was lowered, it would most likely result in increased drinking for people in the 18 - 21 age bracket. However, it’s likely that it would gradually fall as students grew used to it. It would be become more casual and less of a big deal, which would most likely result in a decrease in their usage of alcohol.

Regardless of whether or not students would drink more or less in the long run, the fact is that they should be allowed to drink at 18. It doesn’t matter if they’ll drink anyway, it doesn’t matter that the rest of the world has a drinking age of 18; what matters is that, as a responsible adult, those age 18 to 21 should be able to make decissions for themselves. Essentially, an 18 year old is an adult and should be treatd as one; they should be trusted to know their limits and to drink responsibility. Just as it is not the governments duty to police morality, censor the internet, or regulate what people do in the privacy of their homes, it is not the government’s duty to prohibit and 18-year-old from drinking.