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I don’t want to act too excited lest it all be a cruel, cruel joke, but it appears as if some college presidents may actually support lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18.
College leaders from such well-respected universities as Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State have joined the Amethyst Initiative movement which seeks to provoke a national debate about the drinking age.
Although they don’t come right out and say the legal age should be 18, the presidents do state that the current law encourages a “culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking.” Plus there’s always the popular argument that people under the age of 21 can vote and enlist in the military but can’t responsibly enjoy a beer.
Of course, not everyone agrees with the movement and some people are downright MADD.
The Associated Press explains that a certain group is none too pleased with the proposal:
But even before the presidents begin the public phase of their efforts, which may include publishing newspaper ads in the coming weeks, they are already facing sharp criticism.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.
"It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses," said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.
I’m not sure I buy the argument that drinking will be more prevalent and life more dangerous at the college these presidents come from. But then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a spike in applications at Duke.
Kegs getting the presidential seal of approval is a movement most students can get behind.
What do you think? Is a lower drinking age the way to go, or will it only increase our out-of-control boozing on college campuses? Are there people out there brave enough to defend the 21-year-old law?
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once many of them reach college, or university as they call it, they've already learned how to drink responsibly - unlike here in the US where kids go wild once they're unleashed in college, without parental units monitoring their drinking habits. Posted 08/19/2008 12:02 PMReply
I am a Volunteer with The DAMM Organization, a Government Watchdog group that is primarily focused on the growth of the DUI Industry. The goal of the DAMM Organization is to alert and advise citizens about employing the Constitutional Rights that regularly reduce drivers exposure to a DUI â??Conviction.â??
Tax Revenues are falling drastically in the current economy and Governmental Bodies have no intention of going quietly into the night. While, virtually no Tax-Payer will stand still for higher taxes, Politicians can always find some Special Interest Group to place on a soap-box to demand increased Police Enforcement, which of course will provide increased fine revenues.
Lower and lower drinking ages coupled with lower and lower Blood Alcohol Concentration limits increase revenues. Speed radar cameras increase revenues. Traffic intersection cameras increase revenues.
All of these issues have better means of resolving these problems. E.g., Traffic-Light Cameras have not been shown to decrease fatalities in intersections. However, simply re-timing traffic lights so that all directions of traffic have a red light for three seconds would virtually eliminate intersection collisions.
By the way, The DAMM Organization has tested and found a spray-on photo-blocker to be very effective for protecting a citizenâ??s license plates from being photographed by government cameras. You can find more information about this simple, spray-on photo-blocking solution at http://damm-madd.com/DAMM_benefits.shtml.
Drivers may also register for our developing â??T-MANâ?? (Text Message Alert Network.) As the name implies T-MAN is being developed to provide Text Messages' about Seatbelt (actually DUI) Checkpoint/Roadblocks.
The DAMM Organizationâ??s strategy for combating the DUI Industry is eliminating its profitability by educating the public about the Government revenue objectives and tactics of the DUI Industry.
Jaret Hall
Volunteer Member since 2003
The DAMM Organization
www.DAMM-MADD.com Posted 08/20/2008 02:00 AMReply
I think groups like MADD need to look at all the facts, just because the people that run MADD were almost killed by drunk drivers doesn't mean that it was some teenager, they need to accept that there is a very small difference in maturity between 18 and 21 year olds. Posted 08/21/2008 7:32 PMReply
Look at Mexico, Jamaica, and Russia. Posted 09/14/2008 9:13 PMReply