Dear Mr. Fitzgerald,

Your recent editorial in the paper regarding underage drinking had several remarks we would like to comment on. A higher drinking age has undoubtedly saved lives; quickly after the law was passed to deny federal highway funds to states not raising the age for legal drinking, most states complied. Subsequently underage drinking dropped by nearly 25 percent, and more importantly fatal crashes involving young adults declined by 32 percent. Statistics are from the federal study Monitoring the Future.

We do not understand why showing your identification is considered such a hardship. You mention that you are obviously over 21, which may be evident by your appearance, but people in general are terrible at telling age. In a British study, bartenders would have been better off flipping a coin, because they identified a 16-year-old girl's age range correctly less than half of the time. (From the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy, Volume 8, Number 4 November 2001.) This is why identification checks are so important. Isn't a small amount of annoyance worth it to keep youth safe? Surely the few seconds required to show your i.d. are worth saving a life?

Regarding your comments that if one is old enough to be in the service, go to war, and even die for our country then one should be able to drink. The argument has obvious emotional appeal, but unfortunately does not reflect the current research on the development of the adolescent brain. Nor are the two things connected. The human brain does not finish its second growth spurt until the late teens for females and the early 20's for males. One of the last sections to mature is the part that makes decisions and looks at risk-taking, which one might argue, is the ideal mental development for being a soldier/sailor/airman/marine. And obviously less than ideal for determining if one has had enough to drink and whether one should drive.

In order for our society to work, laws have to be enforced. The legal age for purchasing alcohol is 21. If you are serving those under 21, you are breaking the law, and we applaud the Sublette County Sheriff's Department for their community policing efforts.

Sublette County Prevention Coalition

Robena Downie

Prevention Specialist

High Country Counseling

Pinedale

For the complete article see the 04-02-2009 issue.

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