drinking age news stories on Newser

Hey, GOP, It's Time to Lower the Drinking Age

Kevin Spak — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:49:01 CDT

Alaska lawmaker Bob Lynn wants to lower the drinking age to 18 for active duty soldiers. “If you get shot at, you can have a shot,” he reasons. It's time to bring down our absurd drinking age as mandated in the 1984 Federal Uniform Drinking Act, argues Glenn Harlan Reynolds...

Alaska May Let Troops Drink at 18

Rob Quinn — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:26:41 CDT

"Any soldier who braves military combat and risks their life for our country should be treated like an adult—in every sense of the word," says Alaska lawmaker Bob Lynn. The Republican has revived an old controversy with a bill that would allow members of the military under 21 years...

Raising Drinking Age to 21 'Regrettable': Key Doctor

Will McCahill — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:03:24 CDT

A psychiatrist who was part of a presidential committee that recommended raising the US drinking age to 21 now calls those efforts “the single most regrettable decision,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Morris Chafetz, in an opinion piece being shopped for publication, says seeing the “collateral, off-road damage”—binge drinking,...

Let's Teach Teens How to Drink (Wisely)

John Johnson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:20:03 CDT

It's time to stop treating underage drinking like a joke—5,000 deaths and 100,000 sexual assaults a year should make that clear—and give states the freedom to get creative with their laws, writes John McCardell in the Atlantic . The federal age-21 restriction only pushes the drinking underground...

Backlash Greets College Chiefs' Move to Lower Drinking Age

Rob Quinn — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:15:54 CDT

A chorus of criticism has greeted proposals from college chiefs to consider lowering the drinking age to 18, the Washington Post reports, as everyone from health experts, lawmakers, high school principals, and groups like MADD have been quick to slam the idea. The academic leaders say their theory that lowering...

College Presidents Push to Lower Drinking Age

Peter Fearon — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:18:38 CDT

Presidents of 100 prominent colleges are behind an effort to have the drinking age lowered, from 21 to 18, claiming that earlier experience of drinking younger will reduce students' binge drinking in college. Presidents of Duke, Dartmouth, Ohio State, Syracuse, Tufts and Colgate are among the campaign's supporters, AP reports.

States Weigh Lowering Drinking Age

Matt Cantor — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:45:00 CDT

Several states are considering lowering the drinking age, spurred in part by concerns that teenage service members can fight overseas but can’t drink at home, USA Today reports. Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina are weighing a military-only change to alcohol laws, while other states may lower the legal age for...