Letter: Concerns exist with underage drinking

Regarding the Jan. 4 guest column 'Underage-drinking laws kill”:

When I was in college in the 60s, I was supportive of reducing the legal age to 18. The argument that 'if I'm old enough to die for my country, I'm old enough to drink” was a typical, hard to deny argument.

I was teaching when Iowa reduced the drinking age to 18 - an unmitigated disaster that caused the legislature to rethink a couple of years later. Alcohol was already far too easily available to younger teens, when seniors in high school were suddenly able to purchase alcohol legally, and many of them had no qualms supplying their younger friends.

The authors suggest that binge drinking is increased by the limited availability of alcohol to underage consumers. I contend that, based on the many articles published on the topic, many younger drinkers consume with the express intent of becoming intoxicated, making this the cause of binge drinking rather than the result of it. The authors' premise also does not square with the considerable amount of binge drinking by those who are of legal age, as documented in the literature.

They also suggest that accidents and fatalities will diminish if younger drinkers are allowed to consume in bars, but there is always the issue of transportation. In a college community, there will likely be safe transit options available, but in rural areas, that is not the case, and I would suggest that OWI offenses and deaths among younger drinkers would increase.

Art Johnson

Edgewood