Lower Drinking Age Opposed by Experts
Some College Leaders Seek Change

By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

With some of the nation's most prominent college leaders suggesting that the nation's drinking age be lowered, a group of researchers and safety experts told Maryland lawmakers yesterday that younger drinkers would bring more accidents and deaths.

The experts told members of a special House of Delegates committee on drug and alcohol abuse holding a hearing on underage drinking that not only should the drinking age remain 21, but that legislators should consider even tougher penalties for teenagers who break the law.

"The risk of a fatal crash increases with the first drink, especially for drivers aged 16 to 20," said James Fell, a senior program director at Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Little U.S. data are available on the issue, because the drinking age has been 21 across the nation for more than two decades. Fell cited reports from New Zealand, where the drinking age was lowered from 20 to 18 in 1999 and where teenage crash injuries increased soon afterward.

Rather than lowering the drinking age, Maryland should adopt more stringent laws, Fell said.

The state, he pointed out, lacks a "use and lose" law in effect in 37 other states that penalizes teenage drinking by taking away driver's licenses. Similarly, he said, Maryland legislators could establish tougher penalties for people who use fake IDs to buy alcohol.

Underage drinking has gained attention in recent months after leaders of more than 100 universities proposed reopening the debate on the drinking age, saying that allowing people as young as 18 to drink legally might promote moderation.

The coalition -- which is called the Amethyst Initiative and includes the presidents of the University of Maryland, Towson University and Johns Hopkins University -- quickly drew sharp criticism from health experts, transportation officials and opponents of drunken driving.

Virtually all the researchers at yesterday's hearing criticized the college presidents' proposal, with several quoting a national study estimating that 900 lives are saved every year because of drinking-age laws.

Many emphasized the need for comprehensive, long-term programs to change society's view of drinking, especially on college campuses.

"We have to stop thinking of underage drinking as a rite of passage," said Vivian Faden, deputy director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The drinking age established by Congress in 1984 imposes a 10 percent penalty on highway appropriations for any state with a drinking age below 21. At yesterday's hearing, Del. Kathleen M. Dumais (D-Montgomery) said that because of that financial tie, Maryland is unlikely to change the age limit anytime soon.

"Should Maryland consider it, we would lose federal funding," Dumais said. "I sincerely doubt that would happen, given today's budget situation."

Other states have seriously weighed altering the age limit, and legislation has been considered in at least five during the past year.

Vermont has established a study committee to look into the issue, and South Dakota and Missouri are considering ballot initiatives that would lower the age to 18.

"Clearly underage drinking is a problem, but I've not seen any studies or research to suggest lowering the age would do anything to make youths safer," said Del. William A. Bronrott (D-Montgomery), who chairs the committee. "All it will do is give young people more access to alcohol."