The Great Debate: 18 or 21?

18 to fight, 21 to drink.  An ongoing argument goes to new heights with the Amethyst Initiative.

By Devon Unger

The sign found in alcohol retailers helps deter those who are underage.

Published November 17, 2008

Morgantown, W.Va. – Keg stands, beer bongs, ice luges and case races. These have become tenants of college drinking. Another increasingly more common trend is underage drinking, which pushed university and college administrators this July to sign the Amethyst Initiative, which aims to open the discussion on lowering the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 18.

“If I can fight in a war, I should be able to drink”, said 20-year-old philosophy major Joey Trimboli. “We are pretty much the only country that sets the drinking age at 21. I don’t see why legal adults cannot be trusted with alcohol.”

Many college students echo Trimboli’s opinion, and his argument is certainly not new. The argument has been brought up ever since 1984, when the federal government threatened to withhold 10 percent of federal highway funding to states that did not raise their MLDA to 21. In today’s college environment, drinking has become an increasingly popular social activity often leading to “binge-drinking”

The Amethyst initiatives mission statements claims, “Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students.” The statement also stresses that “a culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge-drinking’” has developed, and the current drinking age forces otherwise law abiding students to make ethical comprises about breaking the law.

A study published in the Journal of American College Health found that students younger than 21 consumed almost half (48 percent) of the alcohol that all undergraduate students reported drinking.

Yet, the arguments presented by the Amethyst Initiative are met with overwhelming scientific data that shows the current MLDA has reduced underage drinking. One study at the University of Minnesota showed that once the MLDA was raised to 21, drinking by 18 to 20-year-olds was reduced. The data also showed a reduction in traffic accidents among the same age group following the increase.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) also showed that the rate of binge drinking and heaving drinking among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 is almost double that of the general population.

“The data is very clear. The 21 drinking age reduces alcohol consumption and traffic accidents by teenagers.I don’t even understand why there is any kind of argument at all,” said Debbie Poston of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Morgantown.

Colleges in localities where laws regulate underage drinking had significantly less underage drinking and binge drinking. These state and local laws include making it illegal for persons under 21 to buy, consumer or sell alcohol. Those underage are also not allowed to work at establishments serving alcohol.

Poston believes the supporters of the Amethyst initiative are ignoring hard facts in favor of public opinion.

“A lot of people think the drinking age should be lowered, but if they knew about all of the studies done on the issue, I hope they would feel differently.”