Opinion: Lower the Drinking Age

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Sabra Hayes

The drinking age in this country is one of the oldest in the world and needs to be changed. The current U.S. legal drinking age is 21. Many of our citizens disagree with this age and believe that the age to legally be able to purchase, consume or possess alcohol should be 18.

When a citizen in the U.S. reaches the age of 18, he or she has gained access to new levels of responsibility, such as being able to vote, join the military and go to war. He or she can receive a notice for jury duty and can drive. An 18-year-old citizen is given all of these responsibilities, but still cannot drink in our country. The United States trusts the 18-year-olds enough to let them elect their leader and to serve their country in wars, but not enough to allow them to purchase, consume or possess alcohol until they are 21-years-old.

The stereotypical view of college is that it is filled with over-drinking and wild alcohol parties. However, the restriction on the age of which alcohol can be consumed is only facilitating this stereotype. The drinking age needs to be changed to 18 so that colleges can create a system that helps regulate alcohol use. Students who are drinking under the age of 21 do not have the appropriate experiences when learning to deal with alcohol, strictly because of this age restriction.

When the U.S. government increased the drinking age in 1986 as a result of drunk driving, it took away the security involved with drinking. When most people drink, it is in a public place, whether it is a bar or a restaurant. However, the shift in age has eliminated this atmosphere that was presided over by licensed adults and moved it to a much more dangerous place. Now people are drinking in secret, nervous that they will get caught for drinking under age.

“The 21-year drinking age has not reduced drinking on campuses, it has probably increased it,” said Middlebury College President John McCardell. “Society expects us to graduate students who have been educated to drink responsibly. But society has severely circumscribed our ability to do that.”

When a student leaves home and goes to college, a new sense of freedom is born. This freedom breeds the excuse to try alcohol before most people’s 21st birthday. Alcohol is a substance that needs to be taught how to use and due to people finding out on their own instead of with their parents, many lives have been lost.

Alcohol needs to return to being that substance that one learns to control from his or her parents. It is currently being viewed as this symbol, this forbidden fruit of the adult world. This law is not encouraging people not to drink because they are not of age. It is in fact causing many to learn to drink underground, which is a crime in itself. Many have never learned their limits in a safe and controlled environment, which is a danger to their health and the safety of people around them.

The time has come for a change in this policy that is prejudiced against this country’s younger voting generation. The importance of picking our political official holds less precedence over being able to drink alcohol. After reaching the age of 18, someone can join the military, go off to war and die without ever experiencing the freedom we are denying those under 21.

As with driving a car, that duty should be left to the parents or guardians to teach responsible drinking habits. It is time to return control to us and put an end to these times, where students and voting citizens are learning to drink in this dangerous fashion. The government needs to return the rights of the younger voting citizens to their full extent and lower the drinking age back to 18.