Responsible drinking is the goal

Back to school, back to talking about alcohol.

This year, at least, there have been some interesting twists on the perennial issue.

First, we've got Morris Chafetz's second thoughts about the role he played in raising the legal drinking age to 21 in the 1980s.

Chafetz, a psychiatrist who founded the National Institute for Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, called his backing of 21 "the single-most regrettable decision" of his professional career.

It hasn't worked, he said, and recommended again lowering the minimum drinking age to 18.

You've heard the arguments from tipsy teenagers and some adults for years: Eighteen-year-olds can go to war, vote, serve on a jury, sign contracts. They drink anyway. They're grown-ups, for Pete's sake. Why can't they order a beer?

But those arguments have a little more heft when they come from the guy who co-authored the Encyclopedia of Alcoholism.

Depending on your perspective, Chafetz was either lost and now is found, or was found and now is lost.

Others disagree that there's a tie between dangerous drinking behaviors and the higher age limit. They say 21 saves lives.

But reasonable people on both sides of the age debate agree that young people need to learn to drink more responsibly. The question, is how do we make that happen?

We can't flip a switch and travel to some mythical time when young adults responsibly sipped beers as they talked about philosophy. We have to play the hand we have now, and that includes a bunch of young people whose attitudes about alcohol are dangerously misinformed.

Researchers say parents have a big influence over a young adult's drinking behavior. But we might have a problem there, too.

According to a recently released Duke University study, 22 percent of men and 9 percent of women ages 50 to 64 engage in binge drinking.

Maybe we should raise the drinking age to 75.

Or maybe we should look for a third way.

The non-profit group Choose Responsibility advocates this approach -- educating young adults and offering incentives that will encourage them to drink responsibly.

They propose "drinking licenses" that would allow 18-year-olds to buy and drink alcohol, but which could be revoked if they don't follow the law.

It might sound strange at first blush, but it's worth considering.

Anyone who lives in a college town, who has college-aged children or who has been on the wrong side of 21 can tell you, the law doesn't work. But the way forward can't simply be just going back.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com