Former College President Advocates Lower Drinking Age

Why Not Drink at 18?

A former college president has been very outspoken lately, advocating a change of the legal drinking age in the United States to 18.

John M. McCardell Jr., a former president at Middlebury College, established a group called Choose Responsibility. He and the group are behind the idea that a lower drinking age may make one of the most popular activities for college students a little safer.

"If binge drinking has never been worse, why do we think legal age 21 has been successful?" McCardell says. "Drinking is taking place in out-of-sight places and in settings that increase the risk of harm to the individuals who are consuming alcohol and anyone who finds themselves in their path. I think we can do better."

One of his ideas is for teenagers to complete a test to get a drinking license that would allow them to drink before turning 21.

Excessive Drinking May Lead to Health Problems

College Drinking May Hurt Health

Surprise, surprise - a new study has shown that excessive drinking may lead to health problems, and college-age students may be the most at risk because of their lifestyles and consistent partying habits.

ABC News reported that new research from the American Heart Association shows that students who drank excessively had twice the level of CRP, or C-Reactive Protein, compared to moderate drinkers.

CRP is a chemical in the blood believed to predict the risk of heart disease, ABC News said.

So far, no long-term studies have been conducted on college students through their middle-age years to see if any of the health problems may be connected.

Binge Drinking Study Results Mixed, More Testing Needed

Binge Drinking Highest Among Underage Students

Remember when drinking was you and a couple of friends pooling your money for a couple of cases of beer, and you drank until it was all gone? Oh, thats what you still do? Well apparently this is called binge drinking, and new scientific studies suggest it may not be good for you. They define binge drinking as having five or more drinks in a row.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that college students commonly binge drink and the proportion of current drinkers that binge is highest in the 18- to 20-year-old groups."

While the message of the study, published in Pediatrics, is mostly grim there is an unintentional silver lining for a weekend warrior who doesn't intend on giving up his beerpong title belts just yet;

"Most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent" and "The CDC highlighted that binge drinking is strongly associated with sexual activity".

They almost had me worried there. Now whose got next? I have a title to defend.