thedrifter
04-11-07, 03:47 PM
Former college pres. says 18 OK for alcohol (lower drinking age)
The Daily Free Press (Boston University) ^ | April 10, 2007 | Andrew FitzGerald
To combat underage binge drinking, the national legal drinking age should be lowered to 18, a former college president is saying.
Since releasing a 250-page study on the societal effects of modern drinking laws, Middlebury College President emeritus John McCardell has campaigned across the country calling for states to lower the legal drinking age to 18 because he observed fewer alcohol-related problems 30 years ago, when 18-year-olds could legally drink.
"Before the law changed, it wasn't perfect," McCardell said. "But what you had then was out-in-the-open, intergenerational [drinking]."
Since then, McCardell, who is launching the nonprofit group Choose Responsibility this spring to support his cause, said the law has forced minors to drink excessively in uncontrolled settings.
"That simply transplants the problem to some darker corner where it can't be managed," he said. "Underage drinking is worse than it's ever been, and binge drinking is worse than it's ever been."
Already earning interviews with the Chronicle of Higher Education, U.S. News and World Report, Fox News, syndicated columnist George Will and many college newspapers, McCardell said his proposal has gained support.
"Considering how new we are, I'm very heartened by it," he said. "I think it's timing - people are ready for a debate."
McCardell said several college presidents and deans of students are responding favorably to the idea, but he said the high-profile positions in some institutions prevents them from openly supporting him. Now that he no longer heads Middlebury, McCardell said he is in a unique position to voice the concerns he says many administrators share.
Despite the attention his proposal is gaining, youth drinking experts have attacked it as irresponsible. Boston University School of Public Health professor William DeJong, who specializes in youth drinking habits, slammed McCardell's report as inaccurate.
"It's one of the most badly done reports that I've seen in a long time," DeJong said. "We can have a debate about the law, but he's not entitled to his own facts."
DeJong said he found the report's assertions irresponsible because it has not been peer-reviewed and relies on the work of two Middlebury undergraduate students who did not specialize in either epidemiology -- the study of factors affecting a population's health -- or public health.
Though McCardell said his study collected no original data but compiled secondary sources that were all peer-edited, and he challenged critics to point out specific corrections to the report, DeJong said the study relies on opinion rather than science.
"He will observe an increase in extreme drinking, and he'll talk to students who say, 'You should lower the drinking age' and takes that at face value, but that's talking - not research," DeJong said.
The decline in drunk-driving incidents since the drinking age was raised to 21 shows the law's effectiveness in saving lives, DeJong said."
"The age-21 law is the most defensible public policy that we have in reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities," he said. "Virtually every single study shows the positive effect of the law."
Choose Responsibility faces an uphill battle in persuading states to change their laws as long as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 forces them to maintain a minimum drinking age of 21 or lose federal highway funding. President Ronald Reagan signed the act in 1984 after groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed for the law.
For now, the campaign consists of McCardell and the two research assistants who helped him compile the report last year.
When the Middlebury's student affairs department first tapped now-graduate Scott Guenther as a potential aide, he said the opportunity to conduct research in a field related to both his political science and psychology majors piqued his interest.
"My interest in alcohol policy wasn't profound," Guenther said.
The more he studied the issue, the more he thought the current drinking age "doesn't make sense," he said. Now, he actively advocates lowering the drinking age as a potential solution to a binge culture that pervades campuses nationwide.
"It's a gamble," he said. "I really think, having looked at the evidence of studies and peer-reviewed journals, that there's a good chance it will succee
Yes...If they are in the military;)
Ellie
The Daily Free Press (Boston University) ^ | April 10, 2007 | Andrew FitzGerald
To combat underage binge drinking, the national legal drinking age should be lowered to 18, a former college president is saying.
Since releasing a 250-page study on the societal effects of modern drinking laws, Middlebury College President emeritus John McCardell has campaigned across the country calling for states to lower the legal drinking age to 18 because he observed fewer alcohol-related problems 30 years ago, when 18-year-olds could legally drink.
"Before the law changed, it wasn't perfect," McCardell said. "But what you had then was out-in-the-open, intergenerational [drinking]."
Since then, McCardell, who is launching the nonprofit group Choose Responsibility this spring to support his cause, said the law has forced minors to drink excessively in uncontrolled settings.
"That simply transplants the problem to some darker corner where it can't be managed," he said. "Underage drinking is worse than it's ever been, and binge drinking is worse than it's ever been."
Already earning interviews with the Chronicle of Higher Education, U.S. News and World Report, Fox News, syndicated columnist George Will and many college newspapers, McCardell said his proposal has gained support.
"Considering how new we are, I'm very heartened by it," he said. "I think it's timing - people are ready for a debate."
McCardell said several college presidents and deans of students are responding favorably to the idea, but he said the high-profile positions in some institutions prevents them from openly supporting him. Now that he no longer heads Middlebury, McCardell said he is in a unique position to voice the concerns he says many administrators share.
Despite the attention his proposal is gaining, youth drinking experts have attacked it as irresponsible. Boston University School of Public Health professor William DeJong, who specializes in youth drinking habits, slammed McCardell's report as inaccurate.
"It's one of the most badly done reports that I've seen in a long time," DeJong said. "We can have a debate about the law, but he's not entitled to his own facts."
DeJong said he found the report's assertions irresponsible because it has not been peer-reviewed and relies on the work of two Middlebury undergraduate students who did not specialize in either epidemiology -- the study of factors affecting a population's health -- or public health.
Though McCardell said his study collected no original data but compiled secondary sources that were all peer-edited, and he challenged critics to point out specific corrections to the report, DeJong said the study relies on opinion rather than science.
"He will observe an increase in extreme drinking, and he'll talk to students who say, 'You should lower the drinking age' and takes that at face value, but that's talking - not research," DeJong said.
The decline in drunk-driving incidents since the drinking age was raised to 21 shows the law's effectiveness in saving lives, DeJong said."
"The age-21 law is the most defensible public policy that we have in reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities," he said. "Virtually every single study shows the positive effect of the law."
Choose Responsibility faces an uphill battle in persuading states to change their laws as long as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 forces them to maintain a minimum drinking age of 21 or lose federal highway funding. President Ronald Reagan signed the act in 1984 after groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed for the law.
For now, the campaign consists of McCardell and the two research assistants who helped him compile the report last year.
When the Middlebury's student affairs department first tapped now-graduate Scott Guenther as a potential aide, he said the opportunity to conduct research in a field related to both his political science and psychology majors piqued his interest.
"My interest in alcohol policy wasn't profound," Guenther said.
The more he studied the issue, the more he thought the current drinking age "doesn't make sense," he said. Now, he actively advocates lowering the drinking age as a potential solution to a binge culture that pervades campuses nationwide.
"It's a gamble," he said. "I really think, having looked at the evidence of studies and peer-reviewed journals, that there's a good chance it will succee
Yes...If they are in the military;)
Ellie