Drinking age debate

The (Youngstown) Vindicator, Sept. 2

College presidents tend to be cerebral people, and so we have no problem with about 120 of them suggesting that there be a dialogue or a debate over whether the national drinking age should be reduced from 21 to 18.

Debate is a good thing.

But our gut tells us that giving teenagers legal access to alcohol isnt the best way of addressing the problem that most concerns the university presidents, binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse.

Before Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Act of 1984, the drinking age varied from state to state. The act tied a states receipt of highway funds to its drinking-age law, and states fell into line quickly, adopting the 21-year limit.

That, the college presidents, say, has encouraged a "culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking" and has caused students to make ethical compromises when choosing to use fake IDs. ...

At the same time, however, Students Against Drunken Driving, using National Highway Traffic Safety statistics, claim that as bad as the highway toll is today due to drunken drivers, hundreds more would die each year if the drinking age were lowered.

... Is lowering the age for legal drinking by three years the answer? Not necessarily, probably not even likely. But let the debate begin.