We believe: We’re skeptical whether lowering the drinking age will reduce binge drinking, but 18-year-olds should have the opportunity to drink responsibly.

“Lines form on my face and hands

“Lines form from the ups and downs

“I’m in the middle without any plans

“I’m a boy and I’m a man

“I’m 18 and I like it”

When Alice Cooper sang those lyrics in the spring of 1971, the country was about to undergo a seismic shift in deciding what age a person becomes responsible enough to be an adult.

The military had already decided 18 was old enough to go to war. It was the Vietnam era, and the unpopularity of that war led many draft-age citizens to decide that if they were old enough to fight for their country, then they were old enough to vote for the politicians who sent them to war.

On July 1, 1971, Congress passed the 26th Amendment, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

Now another age issue has come up, one that’s always been there but has received a new boost from a group of college presidents: lowering the drinking age.

The group calls its movement the Amethyst Initiative. Amethustus is Greek for “not intoxicated.” Amethyst is a purple gem that apparently wards off intoxication. It would make sense that a group of college educators would come up with a name so esoteric.

But college presidents wanting to lower the drinking age? At first glance, that seems counterproductive to their educational mission. Colleges grapple each year with binge-drinking parties where, invariably, a student winds up dead of alcohol poisoning or in an auto accident. Playboy magazine comes out with its list of the nation’s top party schools (Indiana University was on top a few years back), and college officials cringe at the dubious distinction.

Lowering the drinking age would encourage more drinking, wouldn’t it? The college presidents are saying it wouldn’t. They argue that the current drinking age of 21 drives students to clandestine parties off campus where there is little chance of detection. If the drinking age was 18, alcohol consumption would be done more openly without the need to run and hide, which encourages binge drinking.

Of course, detractors say more students would take up drinking and auto accidents would increase.

We’re not sure binge drinking would be a thing of the past if the age was lowered to 18. But it would make sense to bring the drinking age in line with voting and military service. The law treats 18-year-olds as adults. For example, 18-year-olds can make their own decisions as far as entering into contracts. It would follow that they are responsible enough to regulate their alcohol intake.