A group of college presidents is asking lawmakers to lower the legal drinking age to 18. Their group, the Amethyst Initiative, is concerned about widespread binge drinking on U.S. campuses and believes the evidence shows this will help remedy the problem. They say that "Twenty-one is not working: Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students. Adults under 21 are deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but are told they are not mature enough to have a beer."
Today NPR interviewed John McCardell, President Emeritus of Middlebury College. He makes an interesting argument. Let's look at the evidence. When I first viewed AmethystInitiative.org, I wasn't sure they were going to show us any evidence. The site appears to be targeting lawmakers and influencers. But on the page Why Sign? they list several documents under a heading Learn More About the Drinking Age Debate. Finally, we're getting somewhere. If you open the Choose Responsibility and Debating the Issues documents [pdf], you'll see page after page of analysis and data -- followed by dozens of references. So they get points for exposing the evidence they're using to make their case. However, their evidence should be easier to find and presented more clearly. And they could do a better job of using interactive tools that encourage people to blog about their organization, send info to a friend, etc.
But there's another side to the story. At least one interest group, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is opposed to lowering the drinking age.
- MADD's site offers resources to people who want to lead changes in their community. And they provide lots of research and statistics -- though their research page wouldn't really load properly for me (perhaps because I'm using Firefox?). In media interviews, the Amethyst group claims that alcohol-related deaths have *increased* since the legal age was raised to 21, but MADD disagrees. People on both sides seem are finding statistics to support their arguments: Some are focusing on data for traffic-related deaths, which is of course only one piece of the story.
- MADD has also established a site at Why21.org targeting young people. Why21 is more web-savvy, with an RSS feed, for example. But they don't include hard evidence or link to references on their Myths & Facts page, they mostly just present arguments.
So, who is right? Well, I am, of course -- isn't that the point of having my own blog? :-) Both sides make compelling arguments about this important (and emotional) issue -- they do a good job of encouraging people to sign pledges, take action, get involved, etc. If I had to decide based on what I've researched, I would side with the Amethyst folks and their comparison to Prohibition. But my opinion isn't based purely on evidence - I also believe it's silly to send young men to Iraq with guns in their hands if we don't believe they're responsible enough to buy beer. I'd like to see more consistency across our public policies.
Is your Greek mythology a bit rusty? (I probably knew this back in high school.) Here's where the Amethyst group got its name: "The word Amethyst is derived from the Ancient Greek words meaning 'not' (a-) and 'intoxicated' (methustos). According to mythology, Amethyst was a young girl who incurred the wrath of the God Dionysus after he became intoxicated with red wine. Amethyst cried to Goddess Diana for help. Diana immediately turned the girl into a white stone. Upon discovering what had happened Dionysus wept, and, as his tears fell into his goblet, the wine spilled over the white rock, turning it purple." I'll never look at my amethyst earrings the same way again.
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