The minimum legal drinking age is once again up for debate with college presidents signing the Amethyst Initiative, a call to rethink the current policies that deal with underage drinking.

One hundred twenty-eight college presidents are putting their reputations on the line against popular thinking by signing the Amethyst Initiative, which calls for re-examination of the current legal drinking age.

One has to wonder why college presidents would stake their reputation on such a controversial issue.

The American Medical Association (AMA) proves that the still-developing brain is damaged by drinking. Cringing parents, MADD and police officers are also against the initiative.

Critics claim college presidents are signing the initiative in order to not be held responsible for the problem of underage drinking. MADD states on their Web site the initiative is “misguided” and gives “deliberately misleading information to confuse the public on the effectiveness of 21 law.”

Alexander Wagenaar, a University of Florida epidemiologist, stated in an Aug. 19 article from the Associated Press “[College presidents] don’t want to deal with [the drinking problem].” Those who claim this as an argument haven’t looked at what the Amethyst Initiative is hoping for – a national debate on how to combat underage drinking effectively.

“I signed [it] not because I think there is an easy solution out there … we need to be talking about solutions,” explained Lawrence Schall of Oglethorpe University.

Although AMA studies show underage drinking leads to damage of the frontal lobe of the brain, the studies note it is binge drinking that causes damage. The AMA’s Web site also states “providing more education about the harmful effects of alcohol abuse” is a solution.

The Amethyst Initiative aims exactly for that – alternative ways to deal with underage drinking. For clarification, the initiative does not mandate the legal drinking age be lowered to 18.

The Amethyst Initiative doesn’t sound like such a cringe-worthy plan to me.