Drinking Age

CHICAGO - We all know that well-intended laws can have unintended consequences. When the federal government capped the price of oil, gas got more expensive. When it raises the minimum wage, people who used to get a lousy wage often find themselves out of a job, making a wage of zero. As economist Milton Friedman once said, if you put the government in charge of the Sahara, there would soon be a shortage of sand. So it's not hard to believe an argument that has gained currency lately: When we raised the drinking age from 18 to 21, we didn't solve the problem of irresponsible alcohol consumption by young people - we made it worse.

Earlier this month, a spirited crowd of Baltimore County officials and others gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in Towson to participate with owners Rick Bielski and Eric and Melanie Wagner in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Charles Village Pub, which will replace the original popular watering hole that burned in January. Its rebirth is good news for its clientele, made up of the college-age crowd, businessmen and other hangers-on in search of some refreshment at the end of the working day. The Towson bar scene was pretty stable for years with reliable places like Souris, rumored to have been the first establishment in Baltimore County to receive a liquor license after the repeal of Prohibition.

Top university officials in Maryland - including the chancellor of the state university system and the president of the Johns Hopkins University - say the current drinking age of 21 "is not working" and has led to dangerous binges in which students have harmed themselves and others. Six college and university presidents in Maryland are among more than 100 nationwide who have signed a statement calling for a public debate on rethinking the drinking age. It is a rare joint effort by the leaders of religious, liberal arts and large research universities to curb what they see as the top student-life issue on their campuses.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National • Obama gains favor with young voters . (Politico)  • Bruce Springsteen writes a letter to the editor of his hometown newspape r. (Asbury Park Press)  • Why Michele Bachmann needs a photo-op manager . (Liberaland)  • Schwarzenegger gets a comic book . (EW)

Health, safety and transportation advocates denounced yesterday a proposal by more than 100 university administrators to reconsider the legal drinking age of 21 - contending that any reduction would lead to thousands of additional drunken-driving deaths and other harm to the public health. A letter released by the college administrators did not specifically endorse a lowering of the drinking age, though many who signed it said they thought it should be reduced to age 18. Opponents nationwide as well as in Maryland unleashed a barrage of e-mails and news releases scoffing at the notion that the current drinking age is "not working" and needs to be re-examined.

A number of respected academic leaders in Maryland believe the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18, to help confront what they describe as a hidden crisis in binge drinking among students. But they offer no convincing evidence that lowering the drinking age would reduce excessive alcohol use by college students. What we do know is that since 1984, when Congress effectively raised the national drinking age to 21, the number of young drivers charged with drunken driving has declined significantly, as has the number of alcohol-related highway deaths.

MONTPELIER, Vt. - In fall, Richard C. Marron, a Republican state representative, was reading a newspaper column by the recently retired president of Middlebury College, John M. McCardell Jr. One of McCardell's targets was the drinking age, which in Vermont, and every other state, is 21. "The 21-year-old drinking age is bad social policy and terrible law," McCardell wrote, saying it had led to binge drinking by teenagers. "Our latter-day prohibitionists have driven drinking behind closed doors and underground."

WASHINGTON - A college freshman drinks a beer. It is a common scene, but an illegal one: the National Minimum Drinking Age Act - which withholds federal highway funds from states that do not set their legal drinking age at 21 - turns 20 today. By some measures, not much has changed in the past 20 years. Teenagers, college students in particular, still have easy access to alcohol. "There is this very deeply entrenched, 150-year-old tradition of students having a beer and enjoying themselves," says University of Wisconsin folklore professor James P. Leary, who specializes in bar and tavern tales.

Earlier this month, a spirited crowd of Baltimore County officials and others gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in Towson to participate with owners Rick Bielski and Eric and Melanie Wagner in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Charles Village Pub, which will replace the original popular watering hole that burned in January. Its rebirth is good news for its clientele, made up of the college-age crowd, businessmen and other hangers-on in search of some refreshment at the end of the working day. The Towson bar scene was pretty stable for years with reliable places like Souris, rumored to have been the first establishment in Baltimore County to receive a liquor license after the repeal of Prohibition.

Lowering drinking age bad for public health The Baltimore Sun has it right, and I had it wrong. The Baltimore Sun editorialized on Wednesday that "the legal drinking age of 21 should remain" ("Binge drinking challenge," Aug. 20). As a legislator in the 1970s and 1980s, I supported the drinking age of 18. In the 1970s, the argument persuading legislators to lower the drinking age to 18 was the slaughter in Vietnam. Children were being drafted to fight for their country. How could you tell them they are old enough to die but not old enough to drink?

Age doesn't define maturity Shannon Ryan Chicago Tribune Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's heart was in the right place when he urged the NBA to raise its age minimum to 21. It is good advice for many players — who are often ill advised — to wait to take the professional leap. But by no means should it be mandated. Maturity and talent can't be defined by age. Waiting for Kobe Bryant to turn 21 would have meant missing out on his first championship while he toiled away on a developmental league team.

Five bars are clustered on Route 1 just south of the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Three liquor stores are just north of the university. No wonder, students say, that drinking is a problem. "Pretty much the only thing you have to do in College Park is go to the bar," said Alex Beuchler, a UM student and president of the Resident Hall Association. "You're going to sneak a drink in the residence hall and binge drink quickly because you don't want to get caught, or go to one of the bars."

Offer young adults a license to drink? Wednesday's Baltimore Sun covered a new report calling for raising the driving age to 17 or 18 ("Group calls for higher driving age," Sept. 10). The article fairly covers the pros and cons of that idea and presents interesting statistics on injuries and deaths involving young drivers. Recently, The Baltimore Sun and other media outlets reported on the proposal by a coterie of university presidents to debate lowering the legal drinking age to 18 ("Colleges: Drinking age 'not working,'" Aug. 19)

Somewhere in Maryland, there's a state employee who owns a piece of the gold Michael Phelps will bring home from Beijing. This fellow was never part of MP's training team, and neither mentor nor boyhood friend. In fact, he's someone Phelps probably doesn't like to think about - the state trooper on duty when the great athlete did something foolish and dangerous. The trooper stopped Phelps from driving out of Salisbury under the influence of alcohol, saving not only the Olympian's life but possibly someone else's.

Is 18 too young to drink alcohol? As a 20-year-old college student who does not drink alcohol and has no desire to do so, I want to express my gratitude to William E. Kirwan, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and to the university presidents speaking out against, and encouraging others to reconsider, the insanity of the current drinking age of 21 ("Colleges: Drinking age 'not working,'" Aug. 19). I am offended and appalled that at the age of 18, I am considered competent enough to vote for my elected officials, sign legally binding contracts and serve in the military, yet if I were to be found drinking a beer, I could be treated as a criminal.

A number of respected academic leaders in Maryland believe the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18, to help confront what they describe as a hidden crisis in binge drinking among students. But they offer no convincing evidence that lowering the drinking age would reduce excessive alcohol use by college students. What we do know is that since 1984, when Congress effectively raised the national drinking age to 21, the number of young drivers charged with drunken driving has declined significantly, as has the number of alcohol-related highway deaths.

Five bars are clustered on Route 1 just south of the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Three liquor stores are just north of the university. No wonder, students say, that drinking is a problem. "Pretty much the only thing you have to do in College Park is go to the bar," said Alex Beuchler, a UM student and president of the Resident Hall Association. "You're going to sneak a drink in the residence hall and binge drink quickly because you don't want to get caught, or go to one of the bars."

Health, safety and transportation advocates denounced yesterday a proposal by more than 100 university administrators to reconsider the legal drinking age of 21 - contending that any reduction would lead to thousands of additional drunken-driving deaths and other harm to the public health. A letter released by the college administrators did not specifically endorse a lowering of the drinking age, though many who signed it said they thought it should be reduced to age 18. Opponents nationwide as well as in Maryland unleashed a barrage of e-mails and news releases scoffing at the notion that the current drinking age is "not working" and needs to be re-examined.