College students of all ages have no trouble getting alcohol.
We should just get that out of the way right now.
But if you need more evidence, you can walk by an apartment complex’s dumpster on a Saturday morning and marvel at the number of cans.
There is a movement, called the Amethyst Initiative, asking the presidents of universities to enter into a debate about the effects of the current legal drinking age of 21.
The Amethyst Initiative is tied to the organization Choose Responsibility, which is lobbying to lower the drinking age to 18, with several restrictions.
Parents does not give their child a car at 15 and send them on their way, but that is essentially what we, as a society, do on the very serious subject of alcohol.
“You couldn’t go in there and drink that yesterday, but have at it now, and try not to kill anyone. Good luck!”
Choose Responsibility’s Web site states that its proposal is “similar to Drivers’ Education in that it will be taught by a certified alcohol educator, trained specifically to cover the legal, ethical, health and safety issues of the curriculum and skilled in dealing with young adults, consist of at least 40 hours of instruction, with the most time spent in the classroom setting, supplemented by sessions of community involvement—DWI court hearings, safe ride taxi programs, community forums, require a partnership between home and school, entail a final examination that subjects must pass for licensing and provide accurate and unbiased alcohol education for both drinkers and abstainers.”
Choose Responsibility’s message is not “Let them drink beer,” but “Let’s teach them how,” and we like this.
Several of the old cliche’s apply here, and even though the statements are old and tired, there is still a ring of truth to them.
If a person is old enough to decide who they want to be the president of their country, or even die for said country, why would they not be allowed the same rights as someone three years their elder?
Surely those decisions, which will have chapters in history textbooks dedicated to them, will have a heavier toll than what liquids we ingest.
Also, part of the allure of alcohol has always been the underage drinker thinking they are doing something bad.
If we take away an activity’s stigma, it becomes as dull as chewing gum.
There would be less sneaking around and less binge drinking to get rid of the alcohol quickly before the police arrive.
It is not cool and dangerous if everybody is doing it.
But Choose Responsibility’s plan is not even the first step to a reformed societal view on alcohol and a person’s first forays into the substance.
First, we have to be willing to talk about it, which is what the Amethyst Initiative is about.
There is no harm in an exchange of information in an effort to possibly come to a new conclusion.
Even if after the dialogues that will follow, we settle back into the same system we are in now, at least we can say we were open minded enough to entertain an alternative plan.
Underage students are already drinking illegally, so to add some alcohol safety courses and licensing to an activity that has not been curbed by the current policy appears to be a no-brainer.
We support the Amethyst Initiative.
Our Policy
The opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages. These unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the eight-member editorial board and are the official opinion of the newspaper. The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.
