Michigan State?s Thoughts of Lowering the Drinking Age

By?Shanin Thomas, Michigan State University

Colleges all over the world are debating about the idea of lowering the drinking age to 18.

Recently, college presidents are asking lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age to 18 specifically on college campuses to decrease the dangers of binge drinking, according to multiple newspaper reports.

The reports showed that some colleges pushing the idea include Syracuse, Ohio State, and Duke.

Photo?by?Gamma Man?on flickr.com

But what is Michigan State University thinking?

Sally Nogle, Head Athletic Director at MSU, goes back and forth with this issue. ?I’m not sure it would change the binge drinking, I would hope it would, but I think right now that seems to be a college thing no matter what your age is,? she said.

About 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 in the United States is in the form of binge drinks, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention said.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings people?s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 grams. Usually happening when men consume five or more drinks and women four or more drinks within two hours.

After a NIAAA survey, of American adults (age 18 and up) women who have participated in binge drinking is 28 percent while men are at 43 percent.

This proves that young adults may not drink as often as adults do, but drink a lot more alcohol when they do drink.

Rebecca Allen, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Health Educator of the Olin Health Center at Michigan State University, said, ?A lot of students have the misperception that drinking in college is the norm.?

Allen and others at the MSU Olin Health Center created a Social Norms Campaign commonly known as the ?duck? campaign.

This campaign allows for students to become aware of the common misperception college brings to alcohol and drugs. It can help educate students and create protective strategies in cases of binge drinking, Allen said.

An MSU student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said ?a lot of times we don’t have time to drink every day, or just a couple, so a lot of times we say, ?let?s just go hard today,?? when regarding binge drinking among college students.

Information from ProCon.org, a nonprofit public charity website that provides research and insight on controversial topics, said that in the 1970?s, some states experimented with lowering the drinking age to 18. Michigan was the first state to push the age limit back up to 21.

?We?ve tried that before. It didn?t help,? Mona Davis, Associate Director of Prevention and Training Services (PATS), an organization established to create programs to reduce various criminal behaviors, said.

Daune Rensing, Academic Coordinator of Student-Athlete Support Services at Michigan State University, believes that this time around will be unsuccessful as well. ?So many people can?t handle everything else that?s going on let alone the social side of things, they can?t handle the drinking responsibly,? she said.

One thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, while 25 percent of academic problems relate to drinking and alcohol, the NIAAA said.

Sue Carter, a professor at MSU, said, ?I think opening the doors wider, making it more positive experience, would not help the academic environment.?

Carter also said she believes Michigan will not be lowering the drinking age in the near future.

Alcohol effects on the body consist of brain, heart, liver, and pancreas problems. Alcohol also has the ability to cause cancer and troubles with the immune system, according to the NIAAA.

The dangers of drunk driving and harming school work will ?ripple down to younger ages,? Davis said.

Only 1 to 2 young adults come into PATS counseling office a year for self-referred drinking problems, according to Davis.

And only a handful of students come in for alcohol help at the Olin Health Center at MSU, according to Allen.

On the other hand, some believe that by lowering the drinking age to 18 there will be a positive impact according to some MSU faculty, the MSU counseling center and various debate websites.

For example, Allen, thinks the drinking age right now is ?artificially set too high? because she said that if an 18-year-old can make the decision to fight for our country, they can handle other responsibilities.

Sources say lowering the drinking age may be helpful among college campuses because the age 18 is the introduction to adulthood.

Nogle even agrees that young adults should be able to make a mature decision. ?Research shows that we have more problems if you lower the age, but I feel like in college if you can go to war at 18 and vote at 18 I?d rather have you start drinking early and it not be a penalty,? she said.

According to the NIAAA Website, benefits of lowering the drinking age to 18 also include safer environments to drink alcohol, for example drinking at controlled bars rather than raging parties.

Allen said that if she had the opportunity to set the laws of drinking, she would make all young adults (18 and up) take and pass a safety course in order to get a ?license to drink?.

It is normal for 18-year-olds to consume alcohol and studies show that 50 to 75 percent have already consumed any type of alcohol before college, she said.

So, will Michigan give the 18-year-olds another shot?