In a presentation Thursday at the American College Health Association's annual meeting, Edward P. Ehlinger, director and chief health officer of Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, took aim campus-based projects intended to cut down on binge and underage drinking.
"I don't think the problem of alcohol is an underage problem. It is not a college or university problem," he said. "I think alcohol is a community problem — it is a societal problem."
Efforts like the Amethyst Initiative — a group of college presidents who advocate for the lowering of the U.S. legal drinking age to 18 — and the National Social Norms Institute at the University of Virginia, Ehlinger argued, aren't working. "We have a whole bunch of efforts going on over the last 10 to 15 years," he said, referring to these and other projects sponsored by foundations, government agencies and alcohol companies. "What have been the results? The numbers have stayed about the same." He pointed to statistics that show that alcohol-related deaths, injuries and crimes among 18-to-24 year olds have stayed at similar levels for years. . . . . . .
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