"Fueled by concerns for "youth rights," and for the rights of young men
and women serving in the armed forces in particular, several states are
considering their options when it comes to lowering the legal drinking
age.
Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin legislatures are
considering lowering the drinking age for military personnel only,
while Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota are looking at a variety of
options that would lower the legal drinking age across the board.
Vermont is assembling a task force to study the issue.
Choose Responsibility, a non-profit group aiming to empower young adults to make mature decisions about alcohol consumption, is headed by John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont and one of the most vocal supporters of lowering the drinking age.
In addition to this issue is whether underaged military personnel, who
make life or death decisions daily, should have the legal right to
drink at age 18. The dangers and causes of sometimes deadly binge
drinking are also being cited as reasons why changes should be made.
Nationally, MADD takes the position that lowering the drinking age will result in increased binge drinking.
Rehkamp
also said the age group in question is not mature enough to handle
drinking, and the brain continues to develop into the early '20s.
