Dr. Morris Chafetz, a psychiatrist who, in the early 1980s, sat on the presidential commission in that recommended raising the national drinking age from 18 to 21 now regrets his decision.
Dr. Chafetz now considers his role in pushing for the drinking age "the single most regrettable decision" of his career, reports the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Chafetz believes the 21 year-old drinking age has not worked, and, "To be sure, drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982. But they are lower in all age groups. And they have declined just as much in Canada, where the age is 18 or 19, as they have in the United States." Additionally, Dr. Chafetz recognizes the immense harm caused by the unintended consequences the drinking age has caused in American drinking culture, including the 1,800 deaths per year among college-aged youth in deaths related to alcohol.
Dr Chafetz is not in fact the first person (nor most likely the last) who has changed their mind being originally involved in supporting the drinking age, and now being outspoken against it.
Candice Lightner was the mother of 13 year-old Cari Lightner, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1980, the event which prompted Lightner to start Mothers Against Drunk Driving later that same year. The driver, Clarance William Busch, who killed young Cari, had 22 traffic citations on his record, including four for drunk driving (for which he had served at most 48 hour in jail). His fourth drunk driving accident, another hit and run, occurred just two days before killing Cari Lightner. Interesting, or ironically, for the drinking age argument, Busch was 46 years old at the time of the accident.
Busch had despicable track record that anyone would agree should be warrant enough to permanently revoke one’s driving privileges. After what happened to her daughter Lightner became concerned with the lack of severity for repeat offenders, and saw it as her duty to push for tougher drunk driving laws, especially for repeat offenders. However, Lightner soon left MADD and became one of the most outspoken critics of how purely “anti-alcohol” MADD has become. She stated that MADD “has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the
issue of drunk driving." Lightner left MADD in 1985, just one year after MADD lobbied the federal government to raise the drinking age to 21.
The issues surrounding youth alcohol abuse and drunk driving are serious, complicated and have historically convoluted explanations. As more people feel comfortable taking the political heat dished out by organizations like MADD (Who earlier this month criticized a New Jersey brewery for having New Jersey Turnpike exits themed microbrews) more academics, scientists and public officials will come out in support of a new solution. At a certain point, we will hit a tipping point and finally be able to move into an effective public policy discussion that will finally help keep both our roads and American youth safe.
Sources & Reading:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/07/underage-drinking.html
Dr. Chafetz now considers his role in pushing for the drinking age "the single most regrettable decision" of his career, reports the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Chafetz believes the 21 year-old drinking age has not worked, and, "To be sure, drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982. But they are lower in all age groups. And they have declined just as much in Canada, where the age is 18 or 19, as they have in the United States." Additionally, Dr. Chafetz recognizes the immense harm caused by the unintended consequences the drinking age has caused in American drinking culture, including the 1,800 deaths per year among college-aged youth in deaths related to alcohol.
Dr Chafetz is not in fact the first person (nor most likely the last) who has changed their mind being originally involved in supporting the drinking age, and now being outspoken against it.
Candice Lightner was the mother of 13 year-old Cari Lightner, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1980, the event which prompted Lightner to start Mothers Against Drunk Driving later that same year. The driver, Clarance William Busch, who killed young Cari, had 22 traffic citations on his record, including four for drunk driving (for which he had served at most 48 hour in jail). His fourth drunk driving accident, another hit and run, occurred just two days before killing Cari Lightner. Interesting, or ironically, for the drinking age argument, Busch was 46 years old at the time of the accident.
Busch had despicable track record that anyone would agree should be warrant enough to permanently revoke one’s driving privileges. After what happened to her daughter Lightner became concerned with the lack of severity for repeat offenders, and saw it as her duty to push for tougher drunk driving laws, especially for repeat offenders. However, Lightner soon left MADD and became one of the most outspoken critics of how purely “anti-alcohol” MADD has become. She stated that MADD “has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the
issue of drunk driving." Lightner left MADD in 1985, just one year after MADD lobbied the federal government to raise the drinking age to 21.
The issues surrounding youth alcohol abuse and drunk driving are serious, complicated and have historically convoluted explanations. As more people feel comfortable taking the political heat dished out by organizations like MADD (Who earlier this month criticized a New Jersey brewery for having New Jersey Turnpike exits themed microbrews) more academics, scientists and public officials will come out in support of a new solution. At a certain point, we will hit a tipping point and finally be able to move into an effective public policy discussion that will finally help keep both our roads and American youth safe.
Sources & Reading:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/07/underage-drinking.html
