The Amethyst Initiative has revived the debate concerning the 21-year-old minimum drinking age. With the support of more than 100 college presidents who have signed on to the petition, the initiative has already begun to spark discussion throughout the nation on whether the drinking age should be lowered. While The Miami Student editorial board believes lowering the drinking age is a potential fix to the problem of binge drinking and fake IDs, we think the Amethyst Initiative is one-sided in its approach to starting a debate about the subject.
Amethyst's Web site openly says "21 is not working" as a drinking age. This is not a way to start the "dispassionate" debate the signatories are calling for. Further biased wording in the initiative leads some to suspect that it is set out to lower the drinking age rather than just be an impartial moderator for an open dialogue on the issue.
We understand the reasoning for Miami University President Hodge's decision not to sign the initiative. Further, we respect that he is open to the idea of a discussion on the issue. We would hope that there would be enough interested parties to participate in such a dialogue on-campus and in the community.
Nonetheless, this editorial board feels that binge drinking is a major problem on college campuses. There are multiple reasons we think that underage students tend to drink excessively. One reason is the adrenaline rush of breaking the rules. Another reason stems from an inability to legally drink at the bars.
When underage Miami students want to go uptown, they often decide to drink excess amounts in a short amount of time in order to become more inebriated. Whether this choice is made because the students want to have fun or "fit in," it is a noticeable problem, not just at this university, but also at many nationwide.
Furthermore, the cultural differences in America make this a distinct issue separate from comparisons between other countries. This board recognizes the enormous differences in socialization and physical infrastructure between the United States and Europe. Cultural respect for drinking and widespread support within families for moderation, coupled with the prevalence of mass transportation systems within and between European cities, makes any comparison between our cultures largely invalid. Instead, U.S. culture must find its own path if we decide that the age limit is insufficient to preventing the harms accrued from drinking.
After holding our own debate, it is our belief that the drinking age would be most effective at 19. A reduction to 18 would be impossible because, with 18-year-old seniors in high school, alcohol would be too readily available at educational levels below college. A legal age of 18, we feel, would too easily compound drunk driving problems since there would be more driving between friends' houses or to drinking establishments in areas that aren't college towns or cities with mass transportation. In college, however, the ability of younger students to choose walking over driving makes this less of a risk than in other situations.
With a redoubled effort put toward education programs that have already shown results in spreading awareness about the effects of drinking, this board believes that promoting a slow and phased-in approach to a lowered drinking age would be the best possible option.
Additionally, a movement to lower the drinking age cannot ignore the issue of drunk driving. The initial reason for setting a national age minimum was a MADD campaign to decrease drunk driving accidents and fatalities through federal funding. More enforcement and harsher penalties would have to accompany any change in policy.
One can imagine the rush of 19-year-olds uptown if such a policy was enacted in the middle of the school year. Concerns of overloaded bars, liquor stores, and potentially hospitals and jails, would accompany any sudden legal change, but we believe that the long-term affects of an age reduction would eventually outweigh these short-term risks.
There would have to be a complete generational change for a full social transformation to occur-if age reduction legislation was enacted today, it would take at least two decades for new 19-year-old drinkers to have college-bound children themselves. This is no quick solution to the problem of binge drinking. Instead, any success would have to come from families in support of a new national drinking culture and not just from the signing or passing of one proposal.
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While the Amethyst Initiative may have begun as a neutral attempt to tackle the question of rampant underage drinking, what it has become-and what it now symbolizes-has gotten far away from simply a call for debate. For example, there would be no question that more than 100 college presidents would sign this petition if the result of its national tenure had not been directly targeted at demonizing the 21-year age. There are many concerns about the document itself and what true intent is held within the words that it proposes. We must not assume that 21 is an inherently incorrect or flawed age stipulation.
What we must do, and what this board urges and encourages, is to embrace either formal or informal discussions of this issue and offer viable alternatives to the current system. Even if Amethyst is flawed in its message, the promotion of debate that it embodies has the potential to be a great impetus for an honest and credible discussion of the drinking age and the harms that surround underage drinking.
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