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Lower Minimum the Legal Drinking Age to 18, Says College President Emeritus

Dr. John McCardell, President Emeritus of Middlebury College, believes that  the minimum legal drinking age of 21 is undesirable. He says it creates more problems than it solves.  It doesn’t stop drinking by young adults but drivers it underground where it can’t be controlled and creates problems such as rapid heavy drinking (so-called “binge drinking”).  He says that “drinking that is not out in the open, drinking that is unsupervised, drinking that we can pretend isn’t taking place,  is drinking that is drinking that is dangerous, drinking that is putting both young adults and other innocent people at greater risk.”

McCardell says we need to “take our heads out of the sand and open our eyes to the reality” and ask ourselves “aren’t we better off trying to educate young people about alcohol and trusting them to exercise adult responsibility in the same way we trust them when they are appointed to juries or sent to Iraq.” He advocates drinker learner permits analogous to driver learner’s permits.

In the New York Times, Dr. McCardell wrote that “the 21-year-old drinking age is bad social policy and terrible law.”

McCardell has formed an organization, “Choose Responsibility,” to raise the issue  of the drinking age and provide the public information on both sides of the issue. Dr. McCardell says that “legal age 21 has had unintended consequences and the public needs to know about what those are.”

“Choose Responsibility” is not affiliated with Middlebury College. Many college presidents and college student affairs administrators privately express the same frustration with the counterproductive consequences of the age 21 minimum drinking age law. However, they cannot publicly state their opposition to the law for fear their institutions will suffer negative repercussions.

 

Source:
  • Former Middlebury College president wants to lower drinking age. WCAX TV News, February 15, 2007;
  • Call to lower drinking age. WCAX-TV Channel 3 News, Burlington, VT, January 25, 2005;
  • Lower drinking age, says legislator. Times Argus, January 26, 2005;
  • Tejera, Dax. Adm. view: Wright speaks on drinking, diversity. The Dartmouth, October 13, 2004;
  • McCardell, Jr., John. What your college president didn’t tell you. New York Times, (September 13, 2004).

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