It's Not About the Drinking Age

It's not really about a mandated age, or designated drivers or MADD or the disingenuous Please Drink Responsibly message at the end of beer and liquor commercials. It's much more fundamental than that.

It's really about teaching children what responsible drinking behavior looks and feels like. I am sure that there have been people injured or killed driving after drinking too much wine, but I would be willing to bet that the number is incredibly low compared to those killed after binging on hard alcohol. Wine is the perfect beverage with which to instill the idea of healthy moderation.
It stands to reason that a thoughtful introduction to children of wine, its affinity to food, and its role at the family table will result in more knowledge and understanding of wine's beauty, uses and effects. It also will go a long way to putting the drinking of alcohol into a context that is healthy, respectful, and effective.

Recently a group of College Presidents, called the Amethyst Group have questioned the reasonableness and efficacy of the current drinking age. They contend that prohibiting 18 and 19-year old college students from buying alcohol legally results in significantly more dangerous behavior than would ensue if the drinking age were lower. This group has its agenda...one that is of a piece with ameliorating the EFFECTS of alcohol abuse on campus and not necessarily with creating the right context for alcohol. And of course, the prohibitionists just want to proscribe behavior regardless of the reality of the rationale for their arguments (subscription required).


Tom Wark at the Fermentation blog has posted passionately about this issue. And I agree generally with his points; for me, however, it fundamentally comes down to this: when Americans can regard their daily glass of wine as a natural part of a moderate and healthy life, the drinking age question will have answered itself.

PS: Here are some other links of interest: A researcher at Indiana University has this take on the debate. A FoxNews writer opines.