Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Verve

Originally Created: 10/9/07 at 11:22 PM CST
Last Updated: 10/9/07 at 11:21 PM CST

Media Credit: Jake Butzer [Click to enlarge]

At age 18 Cassidy Siedschlag was making her own car payments, car insurance payment, taking out student loans, working two jobs and going to school.

She could buy a pack of cigarettes, vote for the next president and sign a lease on an apartment. But she couldn't drink an alcoholic beverage.

Now, age 21 and a senior at USD, Siedschlag said she remembers feeling frustrated that she couldn't drink, despite feeling mature enough to handle consuming alcohol.

"I felt that it was unfair I couldn't drink because I felt mature at 18, but because I wasn't able to drink at 18, I feel I engaged in more risky activities and tried to hide that I was drinking," she said.

Many college students find themselves in similar situations, taking on the responsibilities that come with being an adult, but not gaining quite all of the privileges of being an adult.

According to Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization dedicated to starting a grass-roots movement to lower the drinking age and bring the debate to the public eye, 90 percent of people who drink began drinking before age 21.



History Behind 21

During the 1970s, during the Vietnam War, 29 states lowered the drinking age to 18, 19 or 20. Only a decade later, with drunk driving cases on the rise, states faced a difficult decision- raise the drinking age or lose federal highway funds.

By 1988, almost every state raised its drinking age to 21.

Now, with 40 years in between Vietnam and the War on Terror, the debate is resurfacing, but with new spokespeople: educators and researchers.

Grace Kronenberg, assistant to the director at Choose Responsibility in Middlebury, Vt., has been involved in research surrounding underage drinking since she was pursuing her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College in Vermont. Now working under the former president of Middlebury College, John McCardell, Kronenberg works every day to get the word out about their cause.

"Our central thinking is that what legal age 21 has done is really exacerbate the problem of excessive drinking and made it impossible for parents and educators to enforce," she said. "This policy has really been one that has lead to extremes in (behaviors) of 16- to 24-year-olds."

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