Friday, August 22, 2008

Lower the Legal Drinking Age?


College presidents are asking lawmakers to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. This is being called the Amethyst Initiative.

What do you think about this? Is this a good idea? There have been numerous student deaths in many colleges, including MIT, from drinking too much alcohol. So far, MIT is not on the list of signatories for the Amethyst Initiative.

Will lowering the drinking age increase drinking problems or reduce them? In most European countries, the legal drinking/purchasing age averages between 16 to 18.

As a healthcare professional, I've seen my share of problems related to drinking. Hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver failure, etc. Plus, alcohol is strongly tied to many types of cancers - especially for Asians who are susceptible to gastric cancer.

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