Should we lower the drinking age from 21 to 18?

Recently a coalition of nearly 100 college presidents called for the lowering of the legal drinking age. The Amethyst Initiative  asserts that twenty-one does not work and has to a “culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking” on college campuses.

These academic presidents including the presidents of Duke and Johns Hopkins believe that lowering the legal drinking age can promote more responsible alcohol use. The argument is that a legal drinking age of twenty one is bizarre since 18-year-olds may legally join the military, vote, buy cigarettes, and watch porn. Over the past few decades, binge-drinking has soared among young people. The 1984 federal law that helps determine the legal drinking age is up for renewal next year, and the college presidents believe this law stops the ability to even debate the tissue. Additionally, it discourages “new ideas” to stop binge-drinking, like allowing kids over 18 to buy alcohol after a course on its “history, culture, law, chemistry, biology, neuroscience as well as exposure to accident victims and individuals in recovery.”

With drinking and driving an issue of national concern, can we really afford to put 18 year old kids that close to a legal substance that can be so dangerous?