Re-Thinking the Drinking Age: A Debate
Is 21 Working?  Is 18 the Answer?

Thursday, April 23,  2009 7:30 - 9 pm
Room C234, New Trier Northfield Campus
7 Happ Road, Northfield, IL

(The event has already occurred.  This page summarizes the event and provides links to relevant resources, including the slides of the presenters.)

Representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Youth Rights Association square off in a debate of ideas format to cover the studies, the facts and the logical reasons pro and con for keeping the legal minimum drinking age at 21-years of age. The debate was inspired by the Amethyst Initiative - a call by 134 university presidents and chancellors to "weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies and to invite new ideas on how best to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol use." The debate of ideas will be moderated by a member of the League of Women Voters, and is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Glencoe, Glenview, Winnetka-Northfield-Kenilworth, and Wilmette. Parents, students and all members of the community are encouraged to attend to gain insight into all aspects of this important public policy issue. This is the fourth and last in the 2008-09 series of FAN presentations. CPDUs will be available for education and health professionals.   Map to location.

21: an imperfect success, Don Zeigler, PhD. (slides shared by Google Docs)

18 is the answer, Alex Koroknay-Palicz (slides shared by Google Docs)

(photo from the debate courtesy of makeitbetter.net )

Makeitbetter.net reports on the event

analysis of the issue by Speak Up Prevention Coalition of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff

Mothers Against Drunk Driving  references on underage drinking

National Youth Rights Association  position paper

FAN Flyer (2.5 MB pdf)

Press Release for this event

Re-Thinking the Drinking Age event program

Summary of data from pre-program survey

Summary of data from program evaluations

Center for Disease Control National Trends in Risk Behaviors (see PDF on Alcohol Use)

Amethyst Initiative  Launched in July 2008, the Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States. These higher education leaders have signed their names to a public statement that the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people continues despite the minimum legal drinking age of 21, and there is a culture of dangerous binge drinking on many campuses.  The Amethyst Initiative supports informed and unimpeded debate on the 21 year-old drinking age. Amethyst Initiative presidents and chancellors call upon elected officials to weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies and to invite new ideas on how best to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol use.

Choose Responsibility is a nonprofit organization founded to stimulate informed and dispassionate public discussion about the presence of alcohol in American culture and to consider policies that will effectively empower young adults age 18 to 20 to make mature decisions about the place of alcohol in their own lives.
Alcohol is a reality in the lives of young Americans. It cannot be denied, ignored, or legislated away.

Links to League of Women Voter sites (get informed and vote on April 7) :

Glencoe: http://glencoe.il.lwvnet.org/

Glenview:  http://www.glenview.il.lwvnet.org/

Wilmette:  http://www.lwvwilmette.org/

Winnetka, Northfield, Kenilworth: http://lwv-wnk.org/