Slog

News & Arts

Monday, July 27, 2009

Drugs / Drunk Soft Prohibition

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Raising the drinking age from 18 to 21—which happened under the Reagan administration—was a stupid, stupid idea.

The rule is nonsense from a civics 'n' ethics perspective. (Eighteen-year-olds are full-grown, adult citizens who can vote, drive, gamble, serve in the military, and serve full-grown, adult jail sentences for their crimes. But they can't drink?)

It's also counterproductive, a soft prohibition for people under 21 with all the bad behavior that comes with prohibitions—clandestine use, binging, violence, etc.

And now the man largely responsible for raising the drinking age, Dr. Morris Chafetz, says he's sorry:

One of the people who was instrumental in pushing for laws to increase the legal drinking age to 21 now calls his actions "the single most regrettable decision" of his career...

"Legal Age 21 has not worked," Chafetz said... "To be sure, drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982. But they are lower in all age groups. And they have declined just as much in Canada, where the age is 18 or 19, as they have in the United States."

Chafetz said the law instead has resulted in "collateral, off-road damage" such as binge drinking that occurs in underage youth and crimes like date rape, assaults and property damage.

Once again: Prohibitions don't work.

Comments (16) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Better a ban on underage driving than underage drinking.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 27, 2009 at 4:30 PM

I started drinking when I was 16. I was away with the debate team, somewhere at a hotel in New Jersey, and my friends and I snuck down to the bar. Tequila Sunrises all around. Somehow 16 looks more like 18 than 19 looks like 21...

Posted by Catholic High on July 27, 2009 at 4:31 PM

The Stranger is proof that the legal voting age should be raised to 27, not 25 as I originally suggested on the comment that was deleted.

Posted by 254 days until The Stranger files for bankruptcy on July 27, 2009 at 4:34 PM

and IIRC, the hammer forcing adoption of blanket-21 was a threat to cut off federal funds for road construction. simply de-link that requirement and let the states set the drinking age again. 3.2% beer! wooo!

which is easier said than done. who's going to end their career in congress introducing that bill? maybe jim mcdermott could do it - he's safe.

Posted by Max Solomon on July 27, 2009 at 4:49 PM

The 18-21 split also had a detrimental impact on university student morale.. since the 'underage' cannot join their compatriots in normal bonding activities, most particularly when everyone goes to have a drink with the professor, a very civilized and civilizing activity.
I can hardly wait until they ditch this stupid rule.

Posted by treacle on July 27, 2009 at 5:34 PM

The 21 age limit is so stupid, because it just creates a culture of craziness and binge drinking among <21ers. Kids should have a period in which they learn how to appropriately consume alcohol in an environment that doesn't condemn them for experimenting.

Posted by Carollani

on July 27, 2009 at 5:56 PM

Washington's drinking age was 21 all along. Which was annoying.

Posted by litlnemo

on July 27, 2009 at 6:22 PM

The data says otherwise. and shoots down each argument.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT…

Posted by MR. Language Person on July 27, 2009 at 6:56 PM

Alternatively, we could raise the age for driving and voting to 21.

Posted by David Wright on July 27, 2009 at 9:19 PM

When Brendan says "Prohibitions Don't Work", I wonder if he was talking about plastic bags.

Posted by AR on July 27, 2009 at 9:25 PM

I believe our repressive attitudes about drinking create the problems that seem to come with youth drinking. What if kids had examples of responsible drinking, saw that you don't have to act like a sloppy idiot when you're drunk, and that drinking should not be approached as a competition.

Posted by Tingleyfeeln on July 27, 2009 at 11:32 PM

A group of university presidents has proposed a "license to drink". Much like a driver's license, training would be required. People age 18-21 would be trained in how to recognize symptoms of alcohol poisoning, among other things. After training, they have a license to drink. Then, if they do something stupid while intoxicated, they would lose their license to drink.

I am the mother of college age kids, and I think it's a great idea.

Posted by Barbara on July 28, 2009 at 5:59 AM

What? Prohibitions work great! I mean, just look at the prohibition against marijuana... that's been illegal for years and we never have any problems with it at all.

Nope. No problems at all.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on July 28, 2009 at 8:14 AM

I guess at some point my home state switched from 21 to 18 for four years. I had a teacher who would tell us all these crazy stories of the trickle down effect of legal seniors. People were drunk in the halls and got wasted in their cars at lunch. Immaturity plus a taboo culture of booze made the whole thing a giant, drunken mess.

Something to think about.

Posted by kersy on July 28, 2009 at 9:50 AM

When I was in college at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana('81-85) the drinking age had been raised to 21, but we had a local ordinance that allowed people to go into the bars at 18 in Urbana, 19 in Champaign, but not legally buy alcohol. So the one bar on campus on the Urbana side of the line was the freshman bar. And we all drank. But we didn't drive, because the bars were right there on campus. 19 might be the best legal age, because it makes it unlikely that high school kids would be old enough to buy booze.

Posted by angel in indy on July 28, 2009 at 11:13 AM

If you are a legal adult, can be drafted, and can vote, it is ridiculous to take certain rights granted to older adults away.

Why not make the miminum smoking age 65? If we raise to 65, people will die of old age before they die of lung cancer.

And why not just ban consumption of all alcoholic beverages at all ages? Highway deaths would further decrease and lifespan would increase.

Why don't we close down all the fast food restaurants? Hell, why not close all non-health food restaurants? Tofu, sprouts, and wheat grass for everyone.

OR

We could consider returning to a nation of self-reliance and put the drunken, drug-abusing, philandering, pederast politicians out of work being our babysitters...

Posted by Truff on July 28, 2009 at 4:05 PM