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Time to Lower the Drinking Age

By Jeralyn

Law Prof Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has a policy proposal for President Obama in the Wall St. Journal: lowering the drinking age to 18.

I will make one policy proposal. Some of my fellow libertarians hope that the Obama administration will put an end to the drug war. I hope so too, but I'm not too optimistic. Instead, I propose a smaller step toward freedom -- eliminating the federally mandated drinking age of 21. This mandate was a creature of Elizabeth Dole (who is no longer in the Senate to complain at its abolition), and it has unnecessarily limited the freedom of legal adults, old enough to fight for their country, to drink adult beverages.

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What's more, as the 130 college presidents of the Amethyst Initiative have noted, rather than promoting safety, it has largely created furtive and less-safe drinking on campus. As a former professor of constitutional law, President Obama knows that the Constitution gives the federal government no legitimate role in setting drinking ages. Returning this decision to the states would be a step for freedom, a step toward honoring the Constitution, and a step away from nannyism. It would also be a particularly fitting act for this administration. Barack Obama received enormous support from voters aged 18-21. Who better to treat people that age as full adults again?

J.D. Tucille makes a similar argument in the Examiner.

Unfortunately, Obama said last March he won't move for a lowering of the drinking age.

More states have been considering reducing the legal drinking age this past year.

Here's a graphic of where the states stood before the passage of the National Drinking Act in 1984 that raised the age to 21.

As I wrote in 2005, I'm all in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18.

Here's a site with some myths about underage drinking and binge drinking. And an argument for a policy of moderation over prohibition.

As for MADD, I haven't changed my thoughts on them since 2002. Everyone knows their real agenda. How about teaching responsibility and moderation instead?

The U.S. has the highest drinking age in the world (along with Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau.)

The vast majority of the rest of the world sets the minimum age at 17 or 16 or has no minimum age at all.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).