Full interview with Dr. John McCardell, President of Choose Responsibility and founder of the Amethyst Initiative (7:23)
Dr. McCardell says this is a very specific project that is now including over 110 presidents of colleges that say that the 21 year old drinking age is not working, and it's time for us to have a debate about all the effects that law has had. There has been a mixed blessing on the highways, and we should ask if the best remedy to combat drunk driving is the drinking age, and if it is, why stop at 21? There are better ways to deal with drinking and driving, but we need to look beyond the highways and see that legal age 21 is at least partly responsible for the over 1000 deaths a year for 18-24 year olds that take place elsewhere: behind the locked doors of a dorm room.
Dr. McCardell also explains the Greek Mythological story of Amethyst, which explains the name of the initiative. Listen
Interview with John McCardell, founder of the Amethyst Initiative
Dr. McCardell says this is a very specific project that is now including over 110 presidents of colleges that say that the 21 year old drinking age is not working, and it's time for us to have a debate about all the effects that law has had. There has been a mixed blessing on the highways, and we should ask if the best remedy to combat drunk driving is the drinking age, and if it is, why stop at 21? There are better ways to deal with drinking and driving, but we need to look beyond the highways and see that legal age 21 is at least partly responsible for the over 1000 deaths a year for 18-24 year olds that take place elsewhere: behind the locked doors of a dorm room.
Dr. McCardell also explains the Greek Mythological story of Amethyst, which explains the name of the initiative.
Listen