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Louisiana has a lawless mentality - a mindset that permeates every level of thinking. It's an attitude founded in the way we think about underage drinking. In the "good ol' days," drinking was legal at 18, making most college students of age. In 1984 the federal government cracked the whip. They required states to raise the minimum drinking age to 21 or face a 10 percent cut in highway funding. Failing to raise the drinking age might have made the drive from campus to Bourbon Street about three hours. While the state complied, many teens still receive a mixed message. It's all right to serve in the military, vote in elections and hold "real" jobs, but it's not OK to drink a beer. And many parents tell their teens and their friends that it's OK to drink as long as they don't get caught. The art of smuggling alcohol into the dorms is a skill many obtain before midterms of their first semester. Locating the bars with dark corners where drinking youngsters can hide might as well be part of Freshmen Orientation. A 2006 survey by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found 29.97 percent of Louisiana residents age 12 to 20 reported alcohol use, the highest in the South. The group also found 57.8 percent of college students nationwide age 18 to 20 consume alcohol. Breaking the "law" is something about which many don't care. Occasionally there's a crackdown. Bogie's was fined $13,000 Friday and told they will be unable to sell alcohol for two weeks, essentially shutting down their business, for selling to minors. But it's not Bogie's fault teens seek local watering holes before the state says they're legally permitted to drink. It's an overarching mentality that stretches the state. And ignoring the drinking age is a root of a larger problem. When not following one nonsensical law is permissible at age 19, not following other laws seems just as reasonable at age 39 or 49. As a state we turn a blind eye at underage drinking the same way we turn a blind eye to nepotism and fraud - no one really gets hurt. The solution is to lower the drinking age, a move many studies say won't increase binge drinking or alcohol-related deaths as some naysayers predict. Dropping the drinking age would not only remove the glamours of drinking when you're not allowed but also combat the lawless mentality in the state.
----- Contact Ginger Gibson at ggibson@lsureveille.com
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