2008 Woodie Awards
Vermont group promotes alternative drinking laws
Caitlin Wolters
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News
|
John McCardell, former president of Middlebury and current history professor, promotes the right of teenagers considered legal adults to make their own decisions about the consumption of alcohol.
"Youths don't like being patronized for this," McCardell said. "It's OK to serve on a jury, in the military and to sign a contract. It's condescending to young adults."
He said he researched the current drinking-age law over the past two years and founded Choose Responsibility last December.
Many organizations do not support the ideals of Choose Responsibility. It has faced opposition from national groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the National Transit Safety Board and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which all believe the legal age should remain 21.
Russ Rader, spokesman of media relations for IIHS, said he is in opposition to McCardell's group.
"Research is clear that the higher drinking age has saved lives," Rader said. "When the drinking age is lower, the number of fatal crashes is up. When the drinking age is raised, the number of accidents is lower."
Nancy Nutt, program director of Wellspring, stated in an e-mail message that she supports Rader on this issue.
Nutt said keeping the drinking age at 21 saves lives and returning it to 18 would cause more drunken-driving accidents for teenagers.
Inexperienced drinkers could put their life in jeopardy, she said. Having an older drinking age gives young people time to mature before they begin to use alcohol.
McCardell said Choose Responsibilty is based on the idea that teenagers would take an alcohol-education class, similar to the driver's education class they must take to obtain a driver's license. Students would then receive a license to consume alcohol.
"It's really difficult because we're not saying it's OK to go out and break the law," he said. "We want young adults to engage their officials to change the law."
Rader said he does not believe any sort of education is going to help reduce the dangers of drinking before age 21.
"People involved in Choose Responsibility say what we need is education, and that will cause them to do it responsibly," he said. "There is no evidence that education does anything to change behavior. By lowering the drinking age, we're denying the existence of years of research that show it works.
Be the first to comment on this story