Should 18 be the legal drinking age?

One hundred-plus higher ed leaders (three from SoCal among them) started what they had to know would be a ferocious debate when they came out in favor of lowering the drinking age in the United States to 18. Proponents say the current law isn't working and encourages binge drinking. Opponents say younger drinkers will lead to a jump in drunk driving deaths. (This shot of students on spring break in Mexico, where the drinking age is 18, seems like fodder for both sides of the issue.)

Over at our Opinion blog, we've got a poll where you can weigh in. Yes or no.  And there's a comments section for those with more to say on the matter. Vote here.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[Jenna]

I say lower the drinking age to 18... and then raise the driving and voting age to 21 lol

[Rosie]

I live in a Canadian university town where 18 is the legal age to drink. I don't think it matters too much if it's legal or not - at that age they still binge drink when they are living away from their parents.

[Tim R.]

Why not lower or eliminate the drinking age and raise the driving age to 21? Let kids learn to drink responsibly first before we grant them a license to drive.

[ReasonSpeaks]

Anecdotally, I agree with the reasoning behind lowering the drinking age to 18. I went to college in New Orleans during a period when the drinking age in Louisiana was still 18, but 21 in the rest of the U.S. My experience was that drinking, while abundant, was more moderate and social, done in the context of some other social event. In contrast, my friends who were at other schools in other states where the drinking age was 21, spoke of binge drinking in seclusion with a small group of friends where the only goal was to get as drunk as possible. College students will drink no matter what. We might as well make it less taboo and have it out in the open where it's easier to monitor and promote moderation.

[Richard Larsen]

These college dean's should be ask to resign there positions and go and look for other work outside the realm of helping CHILDREN get educated. They obviously have been drinking WAY to much to understand what they have said. Hiding your head in sand is no way to take on the drinking and DUI problem that is severe enough already.

[melbits85]

Great things can happen when change is made. The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old. However, I don't think it should be easy for youngsters to purchase alcohol, unless they undergo some type of class where they are issued a certificate that states they understand the responsibility of drinking responsibly. Binge drinking among youngsters is out of control.

[Ed]

I straddle the fence with this issue; in Canada and Mexico, as well as many European countries, the drinking age is 18, and it doesn't seem to be a problem in those countries. However, I can't imagine going into a bar and having to deal with immature obnoxious 18 year-olds who would become more obnoxious if they get drunk.

[Tommy Keswick]

I'm glad the discussion is starting in this country. I've long believed that a lower drinking age will lead to less irresponsible behavior by college students. Friends of mine who live in Europe tell me how 19 and 20 year-olds seem much more mature than their American counterparts, especially when it comes to alcohol consumption. By being exposed to alcohol and being allowed to legally consume it at younger ages, young people do not see binge drinking in college as any kind of right of passage.

[D O]

The bottom line is if 18 to 20 year old can go die in Iraq, they should be able to drink. Our laws for alchol and other substances are out dated and not working. It is time to discuss out substance laws from a real un-predjudiced scientific view.

[GUY FROM LA]

If the drinking age is lowered to 18. Look for DUI's, hit and runs and teen traffice deaths involving alcohol to skyrocket.... and the new scandals of high school kids going to class drunk... hell in a handbasket

[jack]

It's about time that college board members took a stand on this issue. They are absoultely right. Lowering the drinking age is the right and proper thing to do. You can vote, join the military,enter into a legal contract, just about anything but drink. Why is that? If the Mothers Against Drunk Driving had spent more time with their children educating them about booze and how to drink responsibily they would not have to sit around in their support groups to overcome the pain of loosing a child, they would be out with those children having fun playing sports, watching a movie, going to a play or shopping for school clothes and supplies.
Alcohol is not the problem, being closed minded is. Have a glass of wine with the family meal on Sunday (all kids above age 15) this will help them understand what responsibility is when drinking. Then one day sit down with your kids and explain that you are both going to get drunk and video tape the whole thing. Later watch with them and show them how many drinks it took before they started to get tipsy and stumble around. Then after a few more shots how they started to vomit from excess drinking. They will remember that tipping point and stop short of sitting on the floor in the bathroom hugging the "white bus" heaving their guts out.

[American]

This is a great way to make young Americans better decision makers. I say make it 18, what harm can be done?

[A B]

I am British, and when I was 20, I studied in the US. Drinking wise, it was terrible. For 2 years, I could legally drink, yet when I got to my American University, I was treated as if I was 17 again, by people who I would have considered my own age. I feel like there is a massive maturity complex around the drinking age. In my experience, I was treated as a if I was a young teenager who'd never touched a drop of alcohol just because I was underage in their country, yet the irony was that I had actually been drinking long before they had. I also felt that the other 20 year olds that I was hanging out with acted as if they actually were 3 years younger than I was. I felt too old for them!
Also, it's safer if the age is lowered. It can be regulated. People can drink in bars where strict measurements are given, instead of teenagers drinking at home or in parties, with no idea how much they are actually consuming. I think most accidents happen to kids who drink insane amounts too quickly, where in bars, this just wouldn't happen. OK, well it happens, people drink too much still, but at least people are around who can stop them from going too far.
Basically, I feel that lowering the drinking age in America to 18 or 19 would actually benefit society on the whole, as people would become more mature 2 or 3 years earlier. 18-21's would know how much they are drinking. Binge drinking would be such a problem amongst this age group as people would drink socially and know their limits sooner.
When you go to college, at 18, this is the beginning of your new life, of being an adult, having your say in your life and your surrounding environment. Why shouldn't you be able to have a drink to celebrate and say "cheers"??

[P.L. Garrison]

in 1984 the drinking age went to 21 in most locales. 24 years later is long enough for us to forget how many people died with that many more people drinking legally on the road. Just before my high school graduation some guys in an early celebration got tanked up on gas and booze, hit a tree at 90 MPH and one of the passengers lost his head, literally, from the high-velocity incoming windshield. Those who survived have carried this burden with them their whole lives.

Keep the age at 21. More lives will be saved that way.

[Tom]

Let em drink...weed out the idiots

[NE]

Driving age to 21? No way, the car/gas companies have far to much power.

[S. M. Hasson]

I support reducing the drinking age to 18. At that age, you are legal in the eyes of the country, and you should be able to drink.

[Kent]

Someone wrote this "These college dean's should be ask to resign there positions and go and look for other work outside the realm of helping CHILDREN get educated. " Please, these are colleges and the people who go to colleges are not CHILDREN anymore. They are in the eyes of the law, adults who make adult decisions. These deans are there to make sure that the college can continue to provide education and not teach your "children" good moral, responsible behavior. Do not put the responsibility of good parenting into the hands of academia.

[Oregon Guy]

If you're old enough to go die for your country, you're old enough to toast to your decision to put on the uniform...

I think it's just as ridiculous as allowing people to work and thus pay taxes before they are 18, but they can't vote until age 18. Taxation without representation?

[slimjim66]

Who really cares at what age they drink , coffin boxes come in all sizes
irresponsibility is the new American way .

[Bill Weber]

I support removing the drinking age and leaving it to the parents and bartenders to monitor. Kids get all the alcohol and drugs they wish to have. Making a law against it serves no useful purpose. It is better to educate society and young adults on the hazards and benefits of drugs (including alcohol) than to criminalize it. There will always be drug addicts and alcoholics, but most people, armed with knowledge will moderate their usage, and actually derive benefit from social usage. We should focus our energy, money and attention to understanding why some people are addicts and look for scientifically proven methods to thwart that tendency. I was in Switzerland recently and saw 16 year old kids drinking in a bar. There were not binging or otherwise acting immature. They were just socializing. On the other hand, at a hostel where nearly all the kids drinking were Americans, they were wild and trashed. They do not know how to social drink and feel the need to cut loose while they have the chance. This is the real problem to solve. As for drunk driving, that can be fixed by methods used in Europe:
- Have a room for designated drivers and serve free non-alcoholic drinks.
- Youths should not be served alcohol without a designated driver registered with the bar.
- No direct sales of alcohol to youths.
- Mandatory jail sentences for first offence (no exceptions).

[Mark]

Dear 18 year-old,

Welcome to the world of adults. You are now responsible for your actions just like any other adult.

You are also open to serving on a jury. While you are more likely to get a mundane case, you may just end up with one where you could actually decide the fate (and possibly even the death) of another individual.

You are free to purchase as many guns as you wish and are allowed to enter into any contract. Careful, you will be responsible for whatever you do. That's the adult way.

You are also now subjected to the draft. And while we don't have one yet, we do encourage you to enlist and head over to Iraq to fight (and possibly die) for your country.

Oh, and while we think you are ready to own a gun, ready determine the fate of a fellow human being, ready to enter into contracts, ready to fight for this country, ready to die for this country -- but we do NOT think you are ready to drink a beer.

Have a soda!

Sincerely,

America

P.S. I hope that all those opposed to lowering the drinking will go out and fight for raising the age at which you can be drafted to 21. I mean, if you're not old enough to drink, you surely can't be old enough to fight, kill, and possibly die for your country.

[dj]

At the age of 18 you can vote for president, smoke cigs, go to war, go to prison, pay taxes, get married, own property, and are legally considered an adult. Why can't you drink?

PL Garrison, Drinking and driving is illegal no matter what your age. Most high schools have a story similar to yours. By your own logic we should probably just raise the drinking age to 50 and make driving illegal all together and that would save even more lives!!!

[DRY]

I propose a new era of Prohibition in the USA.

Now that the jack-booted regime running this country is significantly more militaristic and powerful, and intelligence-gathering abilities are exponentially better, and they really don't give a rip about civil liberties - perhaps it's time to try banning alcohol again.

Just an opinion - but most of you won't like it...

[emilse castanon]

Well i think they should lower the age of drinking.
As for now... it does'nt really matter if they change the law. Teens do it anyway, and get it from older friends. And makes the experience more exiting because is prohibited.

[donny_the_DM]

I say either lower it to 18, or raise the legal age of adulthood (Contracts, prison time, military service, jury duty, etc.) to 21 as well. It is insulting, as well as yet another RELIC of our brainless religious roots.

[jim]

Why pick 18 or 21. Where did 21 even come from ? I believe you are considered an adult at 18. And when did being 21 eliminate drunk drivers on the road?
Why not ban alcohol altogether. Drunk drivers at every age kill people.

[kk]

If 16 is old enough to be sent into the battle field, then that is good enough for voting as well as drinking. Stop sending kids into the war. Or, treat them as adults in all respects.

[David]

Come on guys, be fair. I don't understand how people can approve of sending 18 year olds into a warzone, but when the same 18 year olds go to drink a beer its "no no, someone might get hurt". I don't care how you try to justify it, an 18 year old is no longer a "kid" or a "child".(and some of them know a lot more than you do).

[john]

Please just make it ok at the college campus. However that would make it a state issue then eh? IDK, fine at college not so good in highschool, except who are we all kidding? What do you think the kids do nowadays go to movies at 17? Nope they go out and get their tolerance up for alcohol so when they go to college they do not look like light weights.

[Mellon]

I have a solution to this problem that will make everyone happy. If our oppressive government is not willing to change the drinking age due to "safety concerns", it stand to reason that we should have a law on the books to test these old farts for their ability to safely drive. Thus after the age of 50, ever 5 years these selfish bastards can pay the state to test their ability to drive. Over the last 20 years, when journalists bring the questions up regarding if the elderly can drive, I have noticed how these old farts are suddenly against "safety" as it inconveniences them. My grandfather was in several accidents after a certain age, but since there was no laws on the books, he would just insist on driving and pay the higher premiums. Thats fine, but when someone is permanently hurt, money doesnt solve everything. Take that you losers. My logic is perfect. Further ever notice how babies are never included in those "studies" about so called driving distractions? There was actually a study down in Sweden about 10 years ago where they finally didnt bias the study and included babies. Guess what? Babies are more distracting them cell phones. Of course your vagina wiped politicians in the US are going to cite that study when pushing their agenda. Ban cell phones? Fine! Ban babies.

[George]

Those guys at MADD look at decreases in drinking deaths over the last 30 years (when the drinking age was raised) and see that as signs that it works, but what they don't take into consideration is the fact that since then, the government has invested millions of dollars into responsible drinking education and advertisements.

[Jordan]

I sure hope they don't lower it -- I've been waiting 20 years and only have 3 weeks to go! I'd be bummed if both my sisters can start drinking legally, now, too.

[Jim Morrison (not really)]

To kk:

I don't know who told you that you can go to war at 16, but you can't. It's 18, just like voting.

[Billy]

I'm a hospital corpsman in the navy, and I hate seeing my shipmates and marines not able to go out and have a pint with me because they are too young. If they are old enough to sign the dotted line, they are old enough to drink. I have always thought that way.

Having said that, I would like to respectfully ask for you to consider possibly writing a piece on how this issue is perceived throughout our military ranks. I think it would make for an interesting story as well as bring out a point of view that we haven't heard yet. We've heard the college deans and the MADD's side of view. Let's see what everyone else thinks.

I can see where this could be a pivotal move not on how our country operates, but how our culture operates. We, like most European countries have a whole culture that revolves around alcohol. INFACT, did you know that in England, it is ok for a parent to provide beer to a child at the age of 5? Did you know that in France you can drink at ANY age? However you have to be 18 to purchase. Did you know alcohol is ILLIGAL in places like iran and other muslum states? If you’re a foreigner its ok. Its all about how the culture operates. Our culture as Americans is the backyard barbecue and a cold one straight from the cooler. So, lets not restrict it!

People will always say "no we cant do that" those people are out of touch with reality...the more you restrict something the more people are going to do it and to a greater degree.

But no matter what happens, there will ALWAYS be drunk driving.
There will ALWAYS be irresponsible people.
And there will always be accidents of some kind.
For everything good, there will be something bad. That’s not just with drinking either. I've found that is simply a fact of life.

[carl]

ok. so everybody listen up. IT DOESNT MATTER what the age is. there will ALWAYS be idiots on the road at any age. the only reason alcohol related traffic deaths has gone down is because we are becoming more educated. there are signs EVERYWHERE there are commercials there are classes...back in 1984, it wasnt like this.

i say if your old enough to vote, drive, go to jail, go to war, buy a house, and essentially be an adult, you should be able to drink.

ALSO...
and i think this is the most important part...
PARENTS NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR KIDS!
the reason for all of this underage drinking across america is largly due to the fact that parents are more concerned about being liked by their children than being a good parent. so they let them drink and they dont punnish them sufficiently when they get in trouble. THEN when they die in a firey crash, they wonder "why did johnny act that way?" and they assume its johnnys fault. (wich it is.) and they join groups (like MADD) but if they wanted to find the real reason why their son is dead, they need not look any further than into a mirror.

and if you have someone who died "underage" in a car accident, im sorry for being insensitive, but its their own damn fault. just like it would be their own damn fault if they went out the same way at 25. drinking and driving is drinking and driving. age has no issue here.

[don]

Monitor Drinking to Teach Moderate Drinking

I have commented on this subject a few times on NPR radio when the Dean from a Vermont college (I believe he was from Middlebury College) approached this subject a few years ago.

I believe that the best way to handle the lowering of the drinking age would be to place some restrictions on the young adults starting at the age of 18 to to perhaps 24 years of age. Perhaps limiting consumption of a 1 liter bottle of either beer or wine, not both, on a daily basis via use of a monthly issued punch card at a state or local government agency or by a liquor store itself could be a possibility. It may sound a little complicated and/or unnecessary but protection to abuse is important. Other means of monitoring are open but a method to limit access and stress its importance can be a teaching aid to young adults. Kegs of beer and hard liquor would not be accessible to age group that venerable to abuse. the daily limit to beer and wine could be change to perhaps a daily six pack of beer and/or daily bottle of wine at the age of 20 or 21 while maintaining a restriction to kegs and hard liquor until the age of 23, 24 or 25. Most people of this age are out of the colleges and/or of an age where they are more mature thus limiting the contact with the younger less mature college students and being more mature, would understand the perils of over indulgence better than an 18, 19 or 20 year old.

A young person joining the military and willing to lay down their lives for our freedom and security should be exempt from all restrictions and able to drink at their peril!

[Jason]

Love how people at 18 are old enuff to sign up for war and die fighting for their country... but God forbid they should be legally able to drink a beer.

[Christopher Lo]

This is really a disaster in the making if the age is lowered to 18. It doesn't help moderate the whole binge drinking issue and imagine all the changes that would come with this. Of course there's the saying about, "if your old enough to hold a rifle you should be old enough to buy alcohol." Placing restricitions also is a kick in the head because there is no possible way that it could be monitored. Minors who try to purchase alcohol is already a restriction but look at how many still manage to get their hands on it. The age limit should be kept where it is. There is enough havoc with people who are 21 purchasing alcohol, 18 would only make the situation worse. I know for a fact that whether or not this passes there will still be occurrences of underage drinking. But passing it would only be opening up a Pandoras box for more chaos.

[grr]

In 1997, my parents were hit and my mother killed by a 21-year-old driver whose blood -alcohol level was .026 more than an hour after the collision. This man had accumulated 5 DUI convictions in three states between the ages of 18 and 21, and he had still managed to get a legal driver’s license in my state - Tennessee — on his 21st birthday, six days before he hit my parents. Those 5 convictions did not include others that had disappeared from his juvenile record.
The young man who hit my parents was mentally ill, so our case isn’t as relevant to the drinking age discussion here. However, I learned some things about the way different policy decisions need to work together and don’t, because I had to help the prosecutor with the criminal case against the driver who killed my parents, and here are my suggestions:
- One person’s solution - making beer and wine legal at 18 and hard liquor at 21 - sounds sensible to me. Wine, especially, is something you sip rather than chug.
- Penalties from drunken driving need to be strict and firm - for example, if you get a DUI before age 21, you should lose your driving privileges for a year and be required to take some sort of “responsibility” course at your own expense before you can get another driver’s license - no exceptions
- Anyone of any age with more than two or three DUIs should lose their driving privileges permanently, no exceptions. It still galls me that a guy with 5 DUI convictions in three years could was issued a legal driver’s license by my state 6 days before he killed my parents.
- I don’t know that it’s possible to eliminate risky behavior on the part of teenagers and young adults, but it is possible to make sure the consequences of risky behavior that endangers anyone other than yourself are serious and non-negotiable, and we should do that.
- Mothers Against Drunk Driving has done a good job of raising awareness of a problem that was underprosecuted and for which the laws and penalties were - and are still — too lenient. However, they also do something I consider manipulative and unhealthy — encourage people to wallow in, relive and exploit their personal tragedies in support groups that keep wounds open rather than helping people move on in constructive ways. I wish they’d stick to a sensible legislative agenda, and by not doing so, I think they are becoming less effective.

Comment by grr - August 22, 2008 at 2:35 pm

[Uli Kuenzel]

Being from Germany I've recently been in the U.S. and experienced the way drinking is dealed with here. I noticed two things I wasn't used to from home: Starting to drink around noon is much more common than it is in Germany. I experience drinking around me in the evening or on a special day-long event, usually held at the weekend.
There is a huge cultural gap here between those who drink and those who don't, and the decision apparently is a big deal - be it because of religious reasons or because of health concerns. For many the drinking issue, especially regarding student life, seems to have a "bad" connotation - it's kind of a right/wrong good/bad white/black thing with no shades of grey in between: Good people stay away from it, bad people do it.
Looking at the laws regarding drinking there are some very strict but also one very generous aspect:
Alcohol is forbidden for everyone under 21, and depending on the enforcement even carrying it as a minor or being on a party where other minors drink can lead to nasty punishments - including jail. Alcohol is banned from public, in some states you get a fine for sitting with a beer in front of a bar on the street or have it at a bbq a public park or at the beach. What can't be seen doesn't exist, it seems. There are restrictions to purchasing alcohol at certain times (after 2 or 3 am, on sundays).
At the same time people are allowed to drive with up to .08 blood alcohol level, that is more than in any European country I am aware of. If you get pulled over with a DUI you can lose your license immediately and, from what I've heard, have to wait many years to be allowed to re-do it, that means: Prove that you've consulted a psychologist who states that you're ready to drive again and go to driving school again, take lessons and pass the test. Two friends of me just go through it, it's quite nasty.
I don't want to go in a direction, where I judge which country has the better approach and which one the worse. Germany has a lot of alcohol-related issues to deal with as well - flatrate parties targeted at minors, vandalism and youth binge drinking, just to name a few.
But if the association MADD wants to reduce traffic fatalities because of driving drunk, is a drinking age of 21 really solving the problem? Isn't the problem rather the alcohol limit for drivers who are of age (.08) that invites you to have a few beers even if you are the DD for the night? And, above all, the unavailability of public transportation? In Germany many accidents happen because of drunk drivers as well. I guess it would be many more if there weren't many people able to walk home from the bar or take a train/bus in urban areas.
So I suggest, the best means to go against drunk driving is lowering the permitted blood alcohol limit to .05 or .03 and the expansion of public transportation, regardless if the legal age stays at 21 or goes down to 18 or 16.

[kelli]

Look at it this way. I'm in the military. I've been overseas, and I've almost died [four times]. I'm voting for the LEADER of a COUNTRY. I'm old enough to smoke [CANCER], but I'm not old enough to sit down and enjoy a drink.
Teenagers under 18 these days are ALREADY drinking.. they find ways to. Parents buy drinks for them, they find people 21+ to hang out with behind their parent's backs. Granted I am not one of them, but I DD for them. Lowering the drinking age to 18 won't make more people drink. The same people will drink, just LEGALLY now. I say change the age. We are the country with the HIGHEST drinking age in the world, and we have the MOST problems with alcohol due to people trying [and succeeding] to drink it, and not know their limits. It won't change a thing. Lower the drinking age. Get it over with.

[Noah Tirevold]

Yes i am for lowering the drinking age to 18. Yes i drink. But i am always smart about it. I don't drink to get drunk. I just drink to relax watch a football game and have a beer. But the only real reason i think that the age limit should be lowered is because if you can sign up for the military and go overseas and risk your life for the freedom of our country. Then i believe that you should be able to come home and have a beer. I think anyone with a military I.D. Should be able to drink. And i agree with a previous Comment. When something is Illegal, It gives people to notion to want to do it. Because it's a thriller knowing that you can be caught at any moment. But when something is Legal it's apart of everyday life and it's normal to see people doing "Legal" Things. For Example. There are not to many adult over 18 who decide to start to smoke cigarettes. Because it's legal. Most people start to smoke when there in there teen years. And by then they already know that smoking is bad for you and can develop cancer. But the reason they do it is because it's fun to do something that is against the Law. It's fun to know that if you get caught you can get in serious trouble. But the adults never start smoking because it's already "Legal" so it's not fun anymore. but by the time that comes then there already addicted. By having an age restriction on drinking, and making it so high, I believe that is a major reason of developing alcoholics and developing all of the deaths and problems we have in America. So by making the Drinking Age 18 then i strongly believe that each year your would see a dramatic change in how many people drink and the death rates of people drinking.

Noah Tirevold
Voted Yes. Lower the Age