An Open Letter

Dear Amethyst Initiative Signatories,
You work hard to provide a safe and educational environment for all of your students. You make sure that there are plenty of different safety precautions taken for everything and you work hard to make sure students are in atmosphere full of learning. So, what problems could you really have? Oh yes, drinking. We all know it happens on college campuses, so what might be the problem? Well, those underage kids that are drinking could be it. So, how do you fix this? It’s easy. Just lower the drinking age to 18 and they won’t be committing illegal acts. This will solve everything, right?
Well, let’s look closer at what all we are changing. Everyone (except the few freshmen who have late birthdays and are only 17) attending college would be legal to drink. This would help security out because they won’t have to check ID’s as much. The economy of the town would increase from the extra money the liquor stores and bars will be making. Game days will be full of many more happy tailgaters. It sounds like a great plan so far. This would most likely change the ways that dorm life is run also. Right now, there is no alcohol allowed in the dorms whether you are 21 years old or not. If everyone in the building was legal, why not let them have it in the dorms?
Yes, this is sounding better and better. So, let’s take a closer look at who would be legal to consume alcohol. What is the typical 18 year old like? Well, most 18 year olds are freshmen in college. Freshmen are very immature and show it by annoyingly pretending to be older. For example, they will try smoking for the first time just to look cool. At least they are in college, though. They had to be smart enough to make it in. That has to mean that they are mature enough, right? They also have no idea how to manage their time. If given the right to legally drink, they would most likely spend the majority of their time out drinking and partying and not doing homework or attending class. Yes, 21 year olds do go out, but by that age, they have learned how to manage their time wisely. This is not sounding so good anymore, is it? Well, it’s about to get worse.
Most 18 year old are in college, but not all of them. Some are still in high school. This opens up a whole new can of worms. Well, the thought that they are at least smart enough to make it into college goes out the window. On top of that, that means that the number of high school students with access to someone old enough to get them alcohol is larger. Yes, it is illegal to buy alcohol for minors, but it doesn’t stop people now, so why would it then? Now, you are dealing with an issue that affects students as young as 14 or 15 possibly. Are you prepared to deal with that?
Are there any statistics to support not lowering the drinking age? Absolutely. "When the United States reduced its drinking age in the seventies it was a public health disaster. Death rates in the states that reduced their drinking age jumped 10 to 40 percent," said Chuck Hurley, the executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving or MADD. That seems pretty intense to me. Hurley was also quoted saying, "The inconvenient truth is that a drinking age at 18 would cause more funerals. Nine hundred families a year would have to bury a teenager." In an editorial by American news, the people of Watertown, South Dakota said, “State Transportation Secretary Darin Bergquist said $17.5 million in federal highway funds would have been forfeited this year if the state had chosen to ignore the federal drinking age mandate.” This is something that is true for many states, not just South Dakota. Now, lowering the drinking age is affecting everyone. It would affect the potential drivers on the roads, everyone involved in college campuses, and even high schools. Do you still want to lower the legal drinking age? I hope not.

Sincerely,
Jenny Goslin





If you want to visit the sites I did:

http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-us-federal-government/12706355-1.html

http://www.madd.org/