Dartmouth students between the ages of 18 and 21 might soon be able to legally buy 30-packs of Keystone Light in Vermont and smuggle them across the Connecticut River if the Vermont legislature passes a new bill to lower the state's drinking age. Despite the controversy surrounding the proposal, there is reportedly little chance the bill will be approved.
Vermont State Representatives Norman McAllister, R-Franklin, and Jim Hutchinson, D-Randolph, sponsored the bill, which Dick Marron, R-Stowe, introduced in February.
The bill would reverse a 1986 Vermont law raising the legal drinking age to 21. Vermont passed the bill after the federal government threatened to withhold highway funding from any state with a drinking age less than 21.
Supporters of the bill said the current drinking age is inconsistent in a society that grants all other privileges to 18-year-olds.
"It doesn't make any sense to me that all those rights are entrusted to 18-year-olds, but they're not allowed to drink," Hutchinson said.
McAllister recalled growing up in the 1960s, when at the age of 18, he could be sent to Vietnam but could neither vote nor drink.
"I guess I never got over it," he said.
McAllister said he also remembered driving to Dartmouth where, despite the drinking age, alcohol was easily obtained.
Steve Jackson, whose daughter suffered a brain injury after being struck by a drunk driver, heads the Vermont chapter of MADD, which advocates against drunk driving.
Jackson is vehemently opposed to the bill and said that if it passed drunk-driving incidents would skyrocket as younger drinkers took to the roads.
"It would be disastrous," he said.
Jackson said lowering the drinking age is irresponsible because an 18-year-old's brain is not fully developed, and the area that makes decisions is more readily affected by alcohol.
Tara Burns '07, a drug and alcohol peer advisor at Dartmouth, said she opposes the bill for the same reason.
"Young people's brains are still developing into their 20s, and alcohol affects the brain."
Although he said he was aware of research suggesting that 18-year-olds' brains are less mature, Hutchinson remained skeptical.
"If that's the case," he said, "then we need to raise the voting age, the age of majority, the age of contracts and the age of military service."
The lowering of Vermont's drinking age conjures up images of underage Dartmouth students fording the Connecticut River to buy or consume alcohol in Norwich, Vt. Critics of the bill say this prospect is both real and dangerous. With cars going into Vermont to buy alcohol and then leaving, drunk-driving rates could increase.
"The border of Vermont would become a blood border," Jackson said.
College President James Wright has publicly stated his support for a lower drinking age.
"I think we would all be better off if the drinking age were 18," Wright told The Dartmouth in October.
Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone was unaware of the bill but said he opposed it after learning of the proposal. Like Jackson, he said the bill was dangerous. Referring to the early 1980s when the drinking age varied between states, Giaccone said a difference in states' drinking ages could fuel an increase in drunk-driving accidents.
"We went through it once before, and what we found was that motor vehicle accidents and death rates went up for that age group," Giaccone said.
Evan Simpson '06, another Dartmouth drug and alcohol peer advisor, said he thinks lowering the drinking age is a good idea, but it needs to be done in all states in order to avoid car accidents.
Drunk driving, he said, "would likely be exacerbated if Vermont lowered its drinking age without a corresponding step by New Hampshire."
While Jackson acknowledged that lowering the drinking age nationwide would eliminate border issues, he said there would still be more injuries and deaths among a younger age group.
Despite the debate over the bill, it is unlikely to get to the floor, let alone gain a majority.
"This isn't going to happen. I feel it's a statement," McAllister said
Since the 1980s, federal highway funding has been contingent on states' maintaining a drinking age of 21. If Vermont passes the bill, they would lose nearly $10 million in highway money -- a loss McAllister says the state cannot afford.
Jackson said he is relieved the bill has little chance of passing. In a press release from Vermont MADD, he wrote that lowering the drinking age "might buy a lot of young votes but at an unacceptable cost of increased pain and suffering and death."
Hutchinson pondered how Dartmouth would respond if the bill were passed.
"The best thing the College could do would be to set up a toll booth on the Ledyard Bridge," he said. "Then they could lower tuition by a half."
