For the past two years, I have been going to Puerto Rico for vacation, and it is always an interesting experience. Unlike Florida, I can go into any bar and order a beer. Nobody thinks twice about it.Puerto Rico is one of the only American Territories where the drinking age is 18. Many western European countries have drinking ages of 16 or 18, and the laws are very lax.
The United States has one of the highest drinking ages in the world. In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was signed into law. With it came a unified drinking age of 21. Prior to the passage of this law, the drinking age was selected by each individual state; often it was 18-years-old. While the law did not set an exact limit, it provided an incentive to states by threatening to withdraw ten percent of federal highway funding if the drinking age was not raised.
At the time, it was thought of as an effective tool to combat drunk driving and excessive alcohol consumption in teens. What time has shown is that it has been an unmitigated failure in both its goals and results.As the country with the highest drinking age in the developed world, we are still among the worst in terms of teenage deaths due to alcohol consumption. Higher drinking ages don’t solve the problem; they merely sweep it under the rug.Instead of older teens consuming alcohol in bars or in other controlled settings, they are often consuming alcohol in an unsafe and uncontrolled manner.
Instead of drinking at the club, students often chug massive amounts of liquor before leaving home to stay buzzed all night. If there was more transparency, and underage drinking was brought back into bars and restaurants, instead of dorm rooms, there would probably be less binge drinking. Teens would be exposed to alcohol at an earlier age, allowing them to gain experience and make better informed decisions when they are away at college or on their own. It’s not just students like me who are clamoring for a reform of our drinking laws.
College presidents are also on the bandwagon. In July of 2008, a letter signed by 135 college presidents, the Amethyst Initiative, pushed for a reform of the nation’s drinking laws, and was sent to Congress. The presidents realized that current laws encourage binge drinking in underage adults. The letter also raises the question of fairness. “Underage” adults can enlist in the military, sign contracts, vote and serve on juries, but cannot legally have a beer. It makes no sense and it creates two classes of citizens.
There is a clear need for reform, and as the calls for change become louder, they will be harder to ignore. If there was a reform of current laws, I believe that maybe the Tampa police department would be more zealous in protecting students around campus rather than busting them for underage drinking at a club.
Alex Caraballo can be reached at acaraballo21@gmail.com.