Defusing The Powder Keg (Part Deux)

Or, "Code Finally Cracked:  The July 1st Rule"

In a previous post, we discussed what the best ways to lower the drinking age would be, defusing the fears and objections of the pro-21 side.  Here, we add another simple, elegant, and surgical idea that a flavor of which apparently almost passed in New Jersey in 1979 but unfortunately failed, and then they raised it to 19 and ultimately 21, influencing other states, and as they say, the rest is history.

The idea was to not even raise it to 19, but rather to keep it at 18 but make it delayed until July 1st following one's 18th birthday if one's birthday is earlier than that.  Thus, it would be 18 or July 1st of the year one turns 18, whichever is later.  Twenty-One Debunked believes that this should be further refined to only apply to off-premise purchases, not to on-premise service or actual drinking in general.

The intent of this "July 1st Rule" is to keep alcohol out of the high schools (as much as one can in practice), and thus take the wind out of the sails of those who seek to set/keep the drinking age higher.  It would likely be about as effective in doing so as setting the drinking age at 19, 20, or even 21, without throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.  And for those few who graduated high school much earlier than their peers?  They could simply show a college ID, military ID, or some other proof of no longer being in high school.

On-premise service would basically be a non-problem in that regard (except during school hours, perhaps, which could be restricted specifically during that time).  And needlessly delaying on-premise service for millions of people until July 1st and then suddenly unleashing it all at once would likely create chaos at the bars (and on the roads) right around the July 4 holiday, already the deadliest days on the roads.  The real issue here is the off-premise purchases, which 18 year old high school seniors bring back with them to school, having "liquid lunches" and especially to share with (or buy for) their younger friends.

As for high school keggers, or any other large, unsupervised parties with an over-abundance of alcohol, those could be kept more or less at current levels (that is, with no significant increase) simply by keeping the purchase age at 21 (or perhaps 20 or 19) for large quantities (kegs, cases, liquor handles, etc.) specifically.  That is, have quantity limits per transaction for 18-20 year olds, and no more than one transaction per person per store per day.  By adding such friction, this will further reduce the frequency and flagrancy of both keggers as well as buying for their younger friends as well.  The latter would already have pretty stiff penalties for doing so, of course.

For bars, pubs, and restaurants (and bowling alleys, etc), one could simply make it so that if there is a group of people sitting together, no alcohol can be served to anyone if there is anyone in the party under 18, unless there is at least one person over 21 for every four people under 18 in that same party.  And pitchers of beer, which are known to encourage excessive drinking, can also be limited to parties with at least one person over 21 as well.

Similar ideas (quantity limits and/or "July 1st Rule") could be adapted for the tobacco and cannabis age limits, which we also believe should be lowered to 18 as well.  The latter could also perhaps be graduated based on THC potency as well, which would also double as a clever way to "bring back mids".

Simple. Elegant. Surgical. So what are we waiting for?