College . 04/04/2008 03:53 AM . Aaron Olmstead

A few years ago, Minnesota Congressman Morrie Lanning passed a bill discouraging the binge drinking often exhibited in the first hour of turning 21. The legislation aimed to eliminate the “power hour,” for Minnesotans by delaying the legal purchase of alcohol until 8 a.m. the following morning.

Now, effective January 1st, Senator Lanning successfully introduced another similarly well-intentioned law, making Minnesota the pioneer state to bar college bars from selling limitless drinks. In the wake of recent alcohol poisoning deaths, the policy is intended to prevent bars from encouraging kids to binge drink by offering bottomless drink specials.

Reports show that excessive alcohol consumption accounts for 75,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. 1400 of this number are college students. Poor and needy as they may be, students somehow manage to spend $5.5 billion a year on alcohol. That’s more than they spend on textbooks, soft drinks, tea, milk, juice and coffee combined. And Minnesota ranks as the third greatest transgressor in binge drinking, right behind Wisconsin and South Dakota.

The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Studies reports that 44% of students in the states binge drink and that this percentage has remained the same for eight years running. Studies done by the same group suggest that campus binge drinking is lower in states with stronger alcohol control laws and, not surprisingly, with fewer adult binge drinkers

“We have previously found that environmental factors such as low price, special promotions of alcohol, and high density of alcohol outlets near the college campus support heavier drinking by college students. In this study we have also focused on the pattern of drinking by adult populations and state control laws,” said Henry Wechsler, Ph.D. a co-author of the paper and director of college alcohol studies at The Harvard School of Public Health.

There’s no denying the lack of responsibility among college students when it comes to consuming alcohol. When you think of “college kids,” frat parties, underage drinking, Girls ( and Boys ) Gone Wild are often the first examples to appear in mind. But while the problem – and the study results – may seem intuitive, hopefully the Minnesota restrictions do not.

To the question of whether these two acts of preventative legislation are the proper solution, the answer is a firm no.

The “power hour” law is as absurd as it sounds. It’s not a solution; it’s a diversion, and a weak one at that. Any person desirous of celebrating their 21st birthday by downing a few shots of whiskey, a pitcher of beer and whatever else it takes to get smashed will do so — regardless of an eight hour legal delay. Kids will either appoint someone else to buy the alcohol, or they’ll delay their binge until the night after. The government is fooling itself if it thinks college students will lose interest in drinking if they’re forced to, um, wait eight long hours.

Although it appears to be good thinking on the surface, the second law is still largely ineffective. Bars will subvert the threat to their business by offering dirt-cheap single beers in place of the bottomless drinks. Or, students can simply drink all they want for the right price at private keggers.

But more important than the inneffectual nature of the laws is their intrusion. Quite simply, the state’s nose doesn’t belong in my beer. Regulating drinks won’t fix the problem of binge drinking any more than outlawing cars will create responsible drivers. While alchohol-related statistics might improve, you’re still looking at the real issue: a whole bunch of kids who don’t know how to drink responsibly.

Let’s look at another example. Guess what’s a bigger problem than excessive alcohol consumption? Obesity. Reports say that up to 400,000 U.S. persons people die in a year from obesity-related issues. That’s more than five times the mortality rate from alcohol. Do I hear anyone suggesting that we implement legislation prohibiting the McDonalds dollar menu? No doubt, a subsequent study would show that such a law had lowered calorie intake nationwide, but would anything change? No. Obese people wouldn’t change their habits because their favorite source of heart disease became unavailable – they’d find a new source of calories, or spend a few more bucks on lunch than usual.

Essentially, minor results do not justify invasive regulation. If the government is allowed to to “fix” the nation’s bad habits, we’re quickly traveling a slippery slope to endless unwarranted and ineffective legislation.

So, if it’s not the government’s job, and if it’s got to be done, how should binge drinking be addressed?

Go to the source. Go to the habits. My theory is that most kids over-imbibe in college because, in many cases, they’re making the most of their first experience with drinking. Often, they don’t know the first thing about alcohol, and view it as something like forbidden fruit. And this is the time to taste and see what they’ve been missing out on. Or maybe time-tested bad habits have already been developed in highschool.

Legislation isn’t the answer. Parenting is the answer – a common theme at the root of many national issues. When parents do not teach their children to drink responsibly, instill in them the value of abstaining, or educate them as to the specific consequences of excessive consumption, students learn drinking habits from their peers in college. Then they become the next generation of teachers for the next generation of drinkers, and the drunk-is-the-new-hot cycle continues.

Until parents intercede, the government will intervene. And generations of college students will toast to eight hour delays and 50-cent beers over their next round… or two… or twelve.

Aaron Olmstead is the founder and publisher of Kritik.


<