This is an organization that really knows what they are talking about! The nonprofit organization, Choose Responsibility, was founded to consider policies that will effectively empower young adults from age 18 to 20 of the United States to make informed decisions about the presence of alcohol in their lives. The group aims to treat these young adults as actual adults, like the law state that they are.
In order to allow the purchase and consumption of alcohol by those that are 18 and older, Choose Responsibility has formulated an approach that will ensure responsible behavior. This approach consists of education, certification, and provisional licensing for 18-20 year-old high school graduates that choose to drink alcohol. As of now, if states chose to experiment with this approach, they would be penalized by not receiving a percentage of federal highway funds. Choose Responsibility wants federal legislation to not punish these states if they can put forth a plan that educates and licenses young adults that helps to uphold decreased levels of fatalities, with a lower drinking age. The states would also be responsible for putting together information that monitors the effects that come about with the change in law. Once statistics from the information are compiled, states would submit them to Congress in order to show why they should not be punished for their lower drinking age.
The educational part of the approach would be very similar to Driver’s Education in that it would be taught by a certified alcohol educator, have at least 40 hours of instruction, require a partnership between home and school, have a final exam that students must pass for licensing, and provide accurate and unbiased alcohol education for both drinkers and abstainers. There would also be a set curriculum taught, which can be seen on the organization’s website. After completing the class, each student would receive a license that gives them the privileges and responsibilities of adult alcohol purchase, possession, and consumption of alcohol.
This organization presents an efficient and detailed outline of its goals that would lead to positive effects as a result of lowering the drinking age. The group does more than just say, “The drinking age should be lowered!” They have devised a comprehensive plan that shows exactly how the drinking age can effectively be lowered.
Choose Responsibility seems like a great organization because they are trying to deal with the issues of drinking and the drinking age realistically. I believe that this would be a great step to handling the debate over the drinking age, and I also like the fact that young adults between the ages of 18-20 can participate in the process only if they want to drink. The government really should start considering this organization. If this process does start to occur do you think that bad drinking habits such as binge drinking will decrease?
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that bad habits such as binge drinking will decrease. If young adults are taught the negative consequences that can occur if they choose to take part in binge drinking, they are less likely to do it. Having the knowledge that they could be sent to the hospital with a chance of dying, increases the teenager's awareness of the dangers of excess alcohol consumption. Choose Responsiblity wants to approach the matter at hand by teaching teenagers responsible drinking, so that they are less likely to be reckless with the substance. If their program can be implemented into every state, alcohol-related accidents will not be so prevalent in our society.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting approach, and it seems like a good idea. Education is one of the most important aspects in our lives, and education in the potential harms in drinking could prove very useful in tandem with the concept of personal responsibility-- teaching people about alchohol use in a structured manner would be conducive to reducing destructive drinking behavior, but it would ultimately still be up to the adult's choice whether or not to drink.
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