Lowering The Drinking Age Won't Solve Binging Problem

Samantha Spady was an All-American girl: homecoming queen, class president, captain of the cheerleading squad and volunteer in a drug-education program. On Labor Day weekend 2004, the 19-year-old threw herself into the drinking fun that surrounds a big football weekend at Colorado State University.

She consumed 30 to 40 beers in less than 12 hours.

She knew better.

But she died anyway.

Spady's story is not unique. Alcohol plays a role in the deaths of 1,400 college students a year. At the University of Florida, five students died from excessive drinking between 2003 and 2005.

Yet last week, more than 100 presidents of prestigious colleges and universities urged the nation to consider lowering the drinking age. As long as alcohol remains a forbidden fruit, they say, underage drinkers are prone to excess. They suggest that students be able to drink at 18, so long as they first attend an alcohol-education class.

Imagine the homework.

Lowering the drinking age won't help remedy binge drinking among young people. What it will do is put alcohol in the hands of teens even younger, and grow the problem.

The drinking age should stay at 21 because it saves lives.

Most people accept that those under 21 will have an illegal drink or two at some point. But the nation also knows what happens when people can legally drink at 18, as the law allowed in many states during the 1970s.

Young people drive drunk. And people die.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving changed attitudes in the 1980s, and Congress threatened the loss of highway funds for states that refused to raise the drinking age to 21 - a heavy-handed approach that violated states rights.

Yet raising the drinking age reduced deaths on our highways.

Consider the evidence compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: After the nation lowered the drinking age in the 1970s, the number of alcohol-related crashes involving young people increased 10 percent. When the age was raised in the 1980s, the rate dropped by 16 percent.

All told, between 1982 and 2006, MADD statistics show that alcohol-related fatalities among 16- to 20-year-olds dropped 60 percent.

In suggesting the age change, the university presidents ignore that binge drinking often begins in high school. Thirty percent of Florida high-school seniors surveyed last year admitted to binge drinking - defined as having five or more drinks in a row. Imagine the increase if seniors who are 18 years old - or have friends who are 18 years old - could legally buy alcohol.

Binge drinking on college campuses is a product of immaturity and a culture of excessive behavior. It is no coincidence that campuses also see large numbers of students illegally using prescription drugs along with their booze.

They do it because among their peers, there is a social cachet to getting wasted.

A few campuses, like the University of Florida, have worked to change the culture so that getting falling-down drunk is not considered cool. As a result, alcohol violations are on the decline, along with the number of students who admit to high-risk drinking.

In raising this ruckus, the presidents sadly missed the point of their message. If we want to teach responsibility, giving in is hardly responsible behavior.

After Spady's death, Colorado State expanded its alcohol-education programs, and the fraternity house where she was found was closed. A local church has since renovated the house into a student living center dedicated to preventing alcohol abuse.

And Spady's parents have traveled the nation speaking to students on the dangers of binge drinking and how to spot alcohol poisoning when friends overdo it.

One-on-one education that starts at home is the best way to save lives - not throwing in the towel on underage drinking.