College presidents from about 100 institutions are rethinking the idea of the drinking age.

They are beginning to believe that having the drinking age at 21 actually encourages dangerous binge drinking.
Local higher education leaders are more skeptical. University of Wisconsin-

La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow would like to see more research before endorsing a change in the drinking age.

But he did say something that is more pertinent.

“I think we need to do everything we can to help students make more responsible decisions about alcohol, and that may take some creative approaches,” Gow said.

The problem we face in La Crosse is not that young people are experimenting with alcohol, it’s that some are using alcohol in dangerous amounts.

If someone drinks to the point of having a 0.20 or even 0.30 blood alcohol level (0.08 is the limit at which a driver is considered intoxicated under the law), they are putting themselves in a dangerous situation.

At those high levels, young drinkers are vulnerable to accidents or injury. Police have reported picking up young people walking in the wrong direction, but thinking that they are headed back to campus.

Remember that all of the young men who drowned in the Mississippi River during the past decade had blood alcohol levels of 0.20 or more. Those are dangerous levels.

What do we need? The three campuses have been working to provide alternative programming — activities that don’t involve alcohol.

And we also need ways to talk about responsible drinking, and to encourage moderation. The problem isn’t so much that young people are drinking — it’s the level to which some are doing it.

The answer isn’t prohibition; it’s safety and responsibility.

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