Sole Morality

The Drinking Age and The Lessons of Prohibition

Back in November of 2007, I wrote an entry that talked about possible beneifical aspects of lowering the drinking age. A year and a half later, the idea is popping up elsewhere.

CBS Evening News did a story[1] on it a couple of nights ago and note that some experts believe, like I theorized in my entry, that the higher drinking age of 21 is "actually contributing to an increase in extreme drinking."

In the story they talked with Mark Bckner, the chief of police in Boulder, Colo., a college town. "We'd find a party where we know there's underage drinking. We would seal the house. Surround the house with officers and we would write every single underage person coming out of that house. We wrote hundreds and hundreds of tickets those years. All we did is we pushed it further underground," said Beckner.

Beckner commented about lowering the drinking age to 18, something he is in favor of, "The overall advantage is we're not trying to enforce a law that's unenforceable. The abuse of alcohol and the over-consumption of alcohol and DUI driving. Those are the areas we've gotta focus our efforts. Not on chasing kids around trying to give 'em a ticket for having a cup of beer in their hand."

The story also comments about a college freshman, Gordie Bailey, who died of alcohol poisoning during a fraternity initiation. The fraternity members left him on a couch for 9 hours before someone called 911. He died because, according to Gordie's parents, the other college kids were too scared to call for help because the drinking was illegal.

It isn't just some police chiefs that feel a lower drinking age would be better. Minnesota legislators are also looking at the issue, considering a bill that would lower the drinking age to 18 in their state. They also are proposing allowing 16 and 17 year olds to drink at bars when accompanied by parents.

Both stories highlight something that escapes a lot of supposedly "enlightened" people in this day and age: banning something doesn't eliminate it. It is illegal for someone under the age of 21 to consume alcohol, right? But yet, from the SADD website:

In 2005, about 10.8 million persons ages 12-20 (28.2% of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Nearly 7.2 million (18.8%) were binge drinkers, and 2.3 million (6.0%) were heavy drinkers.
2005 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Three out of every four students (75%) have consumed alcohol (more than just a few sips) by the end of high school.
2005 Monitoring the Future

About two fifths of students (41%) have consumed alcohol (more than just a few sips) by 8th grade.
2005 Monitoring the Future

To all the people out there that don't want to lower the drinking age because they don't want teenager drinking, BREAKING NEWS: they already are.

Prohibition should have taught us that telling people who want to drink that they can't won't stop them. The war on drugs should be teaching us right now that making something illegal doesn't stop it. All it does is drive it underground, create a mistique around it, and put it in the same realm as other much more harmful things.

I recently read about, though I can't remember exactly where, the idea that by eliminating things from being illegal and underground, you remove the connection to worse items. For example, a party at which significant underage drinking is taking place would also be more likely to have drugs at them.

If teens don't have to find a less than reputable "source" for their alcohol, they may be less likely to get involved in major drugs. After all, "more than 67% of young people who start drinking before the age of 15 will try an illicit drug. Children who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, more than 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than children who never drank."[3] You can argue that drinking itself makes them more likely to abuse other substances but I am more inclined to believe it is the atmosphere into which they immerse themselves in order to consume alcohol underage.

I have my opinions on this topic. I'd love to hear yours.

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[1] H/T http://www.thelibertypapers.org/
[2] H/T http://hotair.com/
[3] Cigarettes, Alcohol, Marijuana: Gateways to Illicit Drug Use, Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, 1994 as referenced at http://www.drug-rehabs.org/articles.php?aid=318