State legislatures consider lower drinking age

University of Cincinnati students between the ages of 18 and 21 may be able to drink alcohol legally within just a few years if a movement currently taking hold across the United States continues to gain support.

Fueled by concerns for "youth rights," and for the rights of young men and women serving in the armed forces in particular, several states are considering their options when it comes to lowering the legal drinking age.

Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin legislatures are considering lowering the drinking age for military personnel only, while Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota are looking at a variety of options that would lower the legal drinking age across the board. Vermont is assembling a task force to study the issue.

The subject of lowering the drinking age began garnering media attention last fall when Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich spoke of his support for the issue during a Democratic presidential debate held at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on Sept. 26, 2007.

"We have to have confidence in young Americans," Kucinich said. "And a president who reaches out to them and talks to them about drinking responsibly is much better than a president who tells them 'thou shalt not.' Of course, they should be able to drink at age 18."

Choose Responsibility, a non-profit group aiming to empower young adults to make mature decisions about alcohol consumption, is headed by John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont and one of the most vocal supporters of lowering the

drinking age.

The legal drinking age of 21 is an infringement of the age of majority, according to McCardell.

In addition to this issue is whether underaged military personnel, who make life or death decisions daily, should have the legal right to drink at age 18. The dangers and causes of sometimes deadly binge drinking are also being cited as reasons why changes should be made.

McCardell believes the Legal Age 21 policy is directly responsible for the increase in binge drinking, which he said occurs in a "much more risky and much less safe environment."

"More lives are being lost each year to alcohol among 18 to 24 year olds than have been allegedly saved by Legal Age 21 since it's been on the books," McCardell said. "Lives lost to alcohol other than on the roadways are no less precious."

But there is plenty of opposition to lowering the drinking age. According to a 2007 Gallup poll, 77 percent of Americans oppose lowering the drinking age.

Among them is Andrea Rehkamp, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Southwestern Ohio.

"Legal Age 21 is probably the most widely researched and studied piece of legislation," Rehkamp said. "It saves lives."

Nationally, MADD takes the position that lowering the drinking age will result in increased binge drinking.

Rehkamp also said the age group in question is not mature enough to handle drinking, and the brain continues to develop into the early '20s.

"It's our position that people under 21 aren't developed enough to make informed decisions," Rehkamp said

It seems most Ohioans agree with Rehkamp.

Less than 100 people have signed an online petition to lower Ohio's drinking age to 18 years of age since it was created in March 2007.