<p>Binge drinking on college campuses is a direct result of the 21 year old drinking limit. Too many college students today are obsessed with drinking because it is the forbidden fruit. The law should be amended to prevent colleges to hold college sponsored events were students could consume alcohol at those events only. The effect would be to remove the aura of alcohol without increasing drunk driving.</p>
<p>Part of that seed money is probably going toward funding this initiative. And Idad, a 15-year-old kid could spend two hours creating a better website than the one you’re obsessing over. I’d be surprised if the development of that website cost more than $1,000. Have you ever heard of stock photography?</p>
<p>“Binge drinking on college campuses is a direct result of the 21 year old drinking limit.”</p>
<p>Evidence, please? (not meant rhetorically - I’d really like to see it.) I can say, with absolute certitude, that campuses where the 21-year-old drinking age is strictly enforced (not something I particularly favor), binge drinking rates are MUCH lower.</p>
<p>Well, at least he’s trying to do something about it now. Better late than never. I don’t see the president of your alma mater doing anything about it, despite a scathing internal report on drinking at Williams.</p>
<p>The evidence I have seen is about as conclusive as you can get regarding the link between legal drinking age and drunk driving deaths. That alone is not a striking reason to keep the age at 21. Heck, I’ll bet we get lower that rate by continuing to raise that legal age. </p>
<p>For consistency sake, and because I believe a law needs the support of the public, I would lower the drinking age. It is also my opinion that the college presidents want the age lowered because it is a pain in their collective necks (among other places) to try to support this law. A tour of most any campus shows a blatant disregard for it. The age 21 law puts a lot of pressure on colleges and additional responsibility, not to mention more risk. I wish it were for other reasons that so many college presidents want the law repealed, but I cynically believe it is a self interes, CYA reason involved.</p>
<p>^Actually, at my school they have very few alcohol problems. Why? Because they’re very strict about it. If you even throw a party where alcohol is being served to people under 21, even if you didn’t invite them, you can have your housing revoked, and are not allowed to even set foot in the residential community for a year. Should you enter the residential area, the school police escort you out.</p>
<p>So our troops are mature enough to kill a man, but not mature enough to have a beer? They’re mature enough to buy cancer sticks but not mature enough to have a shot of vodka? I am absolutely suggesting that bringing down the drinking age will not lead to an increase in deaths from drunk driving. For that to be true we’d have to assume that there are a big portion of people who refrain from underage drinking because it’s illegal, which isn’t true. Stupid 18 year olds will kill themselves regardless of whether or not it’s legal-it’s already been proven. Colleges can still discourage drinking but the drinking laws in this country are arcane and need to be changed. An 18 year old is legally considered an adult and they should therefore have all of the rights of adults.</p>
<p>And interesteddad, I have a feeling you go around telling people how marijuana is evil and how it’s a gateway drug, right?</p>
<p>Anyone know if 18-20 year old soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are allowed to drink? I find it hard to imagine those kids aren’t getting trashed all of the time. How else is someone supposed to deal with war?</p>
<p>Of course. These college presidents are desperate to find somebody, anybody who can serve their students legally and, therefore, assume the liability risk that the colleges now bear for allowing underage drinking.</p>
<p>And Arcadia took a cheap shot saying that the President of Williams College had done nothing. Morty Schapiro has done somethng. He closed the health center nights and weekends.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school doesn’t allow fraternities to supply alcohol, but it’s ok for people to bring alcohol to their parties, so fraternities would go and buy various 6 packs to make it look like people brought them. Are kids drinking less? No. Kids pre-game now, which we never did because we knew we could get as much or as less alcohol as we wanted at parties. Kids spend more effort to follow school’s guide lines in pretending there is no under age drinking. Schools are spending more time keeping one eye closed to under aged drinking.</p>
<p>I find that hard to believe. Even if it’s forbidden obviously the troops are still drinking:</p>
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<p>Anyway, do you know who Dr. Drew Pinsky is? He’s a popular psychiatrist who specializes in treating addiction. Anyway, he talks about how frequently he has to deal with treating troops who developed substance abuse problems while serving in Iraq especially.</p>
<p>Thanks mini for posting a summary of the detailed research. So it really comes down to a philosophical question. Should an 18 year old have the right to legally drink. Unless we “reset” the age to be considered an adult to 21, I still think the answer is yes. Why do we allow kids to drive at 16 if there brains are not yet mature? We all know why 16 year old males have the highest insurance rates…you don’t need to be an actuary to figure that out. Why do we “allow” 18 year old "kid"s to become parents? If we raised the age, there would likely be less abused children out there.<br>
I grew up in a state where the legal drinking age was 18. We all drank in college and from what I see, it’s not much different now. Just that it’s illegal. I have watched friends of my son get citations for walking around after having a few beers - these kids then lose their license in PA. I stay stop wasting time nabbing under aged drinkers and redirect it to finding those drunk drivers. And then crack down on them. Hard.</p>
<p>I see absolutely no reason why my 20 year old A student at an Ivy League school cannot get a beer with his friends who are older than he. I think the 21 year old age limit is ridiculous. The focus needs to be on why 13 and 14 year olds are starting to drink, not on keeping responsible 19 and 20 year olds from a beer.</p>
<p>As a societal impact factor, if we are going to legislate bad choices we should also focus on 15 year olds having sex and making babies. Again, we need to focus on why because it is completely absurd (in that case as well) to focus on a punitive approach.</p>
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