Drinking Age: 18 or 21?
Debate at UK Underscores Dangers of Lowering Limit

Prominent national figures in the debate over whether the legal drinking age of 21 in the U.S. should be lowered squared off at the University of Kentucky last month.

Advocating the limit be lowered to 18 was John McCardell, founder of the non-profit organization Choose Responsibility and the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont.

Opposing that position was James Fell, senior program director with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Fell previously worked for 20 years for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is a board member of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

McCardell argued that stakeholders should consider policies that will effectively empower young adults, age 18 to 20, to make mature decisions about the place of alcohol in their lives.

Fell countered with statistics, particularly traffic figures that showed that the 21 age limit saves lives.

Andrew Smith, director of Alcohol and Health Education Office at UK, attended the debate and sides with Fell, citing the latest brain research that shows that alcohol damages an adolescent’s developing brain.

“Biologically, to keep people safe and to allow brains to fully develop the drinking age should be raised to 24 or 25,” Smith said.

Smith did agree in part with one of McCardell’s idea -- mandatory education to obtain a drinking license at age 18.

That’s an excellent idea, Smith said, but the age should be 21, not 18.

Also attending the debate was Lynsey Sugarman of the Keep It Real-Don’t Drink campaign, a community-wide effort to raise awareness of the dangers of underage drinking.

Both speakers addressed the dangers of binge drinking, but Sugarman said McCardell tried to make connections without research to back his statements.

 “Fell pointed out that this is one of the best studied health policies in U.S. history, and that all research supports the fact that the 21 drinking age saves lives,” Sugarman said.

Fell said after the Uniform Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984, the U.S. saw a 13% decline in 30-day alcohol consumption. Between 1982 and 2004, alcohol-related automobile fatalities decreased by 33% for persons over 21 and decreased by 62% for persons under 21.

For Sugarman that was the most compelling statistic.

 “As a parent, I am convinced that we need to keep the laws as they now stand.”

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Video Contest Deadline Is Dec. 11

The deadline for the sixth annual Keep It Real-Don’t Drink Internet/video contest is Dec. 11.

This popular regional contest gives youth the opportunity to compete for cash prizes by producing 30-second commercials showing the dangers of underage drinking in keeping with the message of the Keep It Real campaign.

All entries are posted on the Keep It Real web site (www.keep-it-real.us),  and community members help select the winners.

A new feature this year is a curriculum support package for teachers.

The Northside Branch of the Lexington Public Library has a digital studio available for students to use as they create their video entries. Info: 231-5590.

The Internet voting takes place Jan. 11-22. Winners, who will receive up to $200 in cash prizes, will be announced at an Awards Celebration at the Kentucky Theatre on Feb. 2.

The winning videos will appear on regional television and will run in the pre-show ads at local cinemas.