“College and university presidents are on the front lines of a growing public health problem: excessive alcohol use by young people. More than 120 have signed on to the Amethyst Initiative, an effort to call attention to this pressing issue whose effects on campuses are too often tragic and avoidable. The initiative does not take a position on what the drinking age should be. But it does state that legal age 21 has wrought significant unintended consequences that simply must be examined with care. These include binge drinking, possession of fake IDs, the frustrating difficulty of enforcement and the ineffectiveness of the abstinence-only message. The drinking age has effectively banished alcohol from public places and public view. But it has done little to reduce excessive drinking.” (09/04/08)