I first commented (with appropriate sarcasm) on the absolute insanity of the Amethyst Initiative last summer."Now here's an idea -- Let's see if we can help reduce the terrible problems connected to excessive drinking among young adults (binge drinking, drunk driving, irresponsible sexual decisions, lowered performance at school and work, crime, and so on) by reducing the legal age at which you can purchase hard liquor."
Remarkably, however, that's just what the Amethyst Initiative was trying to do, lower the federal drinking age from 21 to 18. And it was wasn't spearheaded by tavern owners, brewers or frat boys, but by a hundred college presidents!
Say what?
No kidding. Check out that post again.
And then check out this piece from last week written by the editors of the New York Times. It takes note of recent studies that show binge drinking has indeed risen among college students -- but fallen dramatically among young adults of the same age who are not in college.
The Times common sense conclusion?
"Whatever the causes, the solutions almost certainly lie mostly within the colleges — perhaps with better counseling or stronger bans on under-age drinking — not by lowering the legal drinking age."
Perhaps those daffy college presidents (they'll read the Times, won't they?) will now do less whining about the drastically dumb idea of lowering the drinking age -- and maybe start earning some of their exorbitant government salaries by fixing their own doggone problems.
