Should We Lower the Legal Drinking Age?

I have heard some stupid, irrational crap from our colleges and universities, but this takes the cake. It seems that some 100 presidents from some of the most Liberal renowned universities in America want to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Their reasoning: since kids are going to drink anyway, why not just make it legal and save us the effort of checking their ID's?

This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."

He wouldn't think it was unjust, unfair and discriminatory if he had ever pulled up to a traffic collision in the middle of the night where three people were killed by a drunk driver who walked away without a scratch.

In a newly-released report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)noted that there were just over 41,000 traffic accident fatalities in 2007, down nearly 4% from 2006. Of those fatalities, nearly 13,000 involved an alcohol-impaired driver. That number is also down slightly from 2006. While the report does not list the age of those impaired drivers, we obviously should be doing more, not less, to stop drunk driving.

It is both cowardly and irresponsible for these university representatives to suggest that we should make it easier for our youth to consume alcohol. We should be educating out kids about the problems of binge drinking and drunk driving, not inviting them to try it at an earlier age. The old well-they're-going-to-do-it-anyway argument is utter nonsense and I find it incredible that these supposed champions of higher education would even offer it.

If lowering the drinking age to 18 seems reasonable to you, I invite you to go on a ride-along with your local police department on a Friday or Saturday night, and see for yourself how many of the calls that you respond to are alcohol related. Domestic disputes, loud parties, bar fights, traffic accidents, DUI stops, suicides and alcohol-related hospital visits all mark the typical night shift for the uniformed patrol officer.

Take it from someone who has real experience with the drinking problems of a community that has both a city college and a major university campus: keep the legal drinking age at 21.

Here's a related statement from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.