Age is but a Number

Alcohol, “a colorless, volatile, pungent liquid, it can be burned as fuel, is used in industry and medicine, and is the intoxicating element of whiskey, wine, beer, and other fermented or distilled liquors” has been a part of American culture and society since the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock (Websters New World College Dictionary). “Humankind has had a relationship with beverage alcohol for over 6,000 years” (Hanson, “In My Opinion – It’s Better to Teach Safe …

…Better to Teach Safe Use of Alcohol”). Instead of educating our youth at an early age, we choose to run from the problem, blaming the substance instead of our shameful shirking of the responsibility to inform and educate. The statute making drinking unlawful until the age of 21 is arbitrary and inherently counterproductive. If we seek to rectify the negative secondary effects associated with alcohol consumption we need to promote responsibility in our youth, not abstinence.