Throughout the collegiate world, faculty and staff recognize federal alcohol policy as impossible to enforce. Attempts to support the current policy show it to be ineffective and troublesome? Just across the pond, children reach for a glass of wine or a cold beer while at mealtime unlike older Americans whom are expected not to consume any alcoholic beverages until 21. European culture dictates a much different attitude towards alcohol as it is used in moderation, unlike in America where teens are much more likely to binge.
Rather then reconsidering a law that continues to invite disaster, a blind eye is taken to drinking age reform. Now those closest to the problem are taking action to change this flawed formed policy from their desks around campuses.
As of August 21st, 123 college presidents from around the country joined the Amethyst Initiative, including Tufts University, Syracuse University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, and Ohio State University. They are showing support for a petition to lower the drinking age from 21. To understand this debate best, it is important to return to when alcohol was the forbidden fruit that America would briefly deny fermentation.
On January 16, 1919, the 18th amendment, Prohibition was ratified disrupting saloons across America. Passing over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, intoxicating beverages became illegal, and predictably, withdrawal was swift. Many found innovative and even dangerous ways of obtaining alcohol. Speakeasies popped in where saloons had formerly stood. Organized crime expanded under the undying demand of the public thirst.
Sound familiar? Young students have been forced to develop their older classmates into the modern day speakeasies. For taking the same risk as those of organized crime, an extra fee is expected, a toll of sorts, but for the added inconvenience college students have successfully circumvented the government that has attempted to regulate their hydration.
The government has taken on an unneeded burden in regulating the sale of alcohol, which 123 pro-active college presidents have recognized as unnecessary for the paws of the government to delve into. The people of Washington in their stuffy offices lack the experience to claim expertise over men and women of the academic world who are surrounded by students regularly. Despite their opinions, the burden on the states that would be taken on of highway funding for disobeying their orders would be catastrophic. It is paramount that alcohol policy changes, as a drinking age of 21 has not solved any problems and instead created more. The longer it takes for change, the greater the side effects. Americans need to make their own decisions, not the government. The government is not the keeper of the people, but has a duty is to protect, not forbid. Why must the men and women of Washington D.C. continue to grasp on for dear life to a policy that can’t be enforced? The best way to learn a lesson is to learn by one self, so why delay the inevitable?