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The drinking age could be lowered to 18-years-old if some Maryland leaders get their way.
Supporters of the plan say forcing people to wait until they're 21 causes more problems than it's worth.
A Maryland House special committee met today in Annapolis in part to discuss this issue. The federally-mandated drinking age has been 21 since 1984. But many say it's just not working.
The debate to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 is raging everywhere, including the University of Maryland.
"There's a lot of pressure to drink. I'm not going to lie to you -- a lot of pressure," said Nazar Tsitsyala.
Some say if you're old enough to vote for president and fight for America, you're old enough to drink.
"I believe as long as you're responsible and you don't drink and drive, that if you can go to war, you should be able to drink," said Omar Torres.
Santa Fe Cafe manager Andy Buddacki supports lowering the drinking age; he says it would reduce the dangerous practice of underage kids binge-drinking in secret in their dorms or apartments. Plus, it would scale back the losing battle against fake IDs.
"We'll have now on certain nights, weekend nights, 3, 4, 5 people out there actually checking the IDs. Fake IDs have come a long way," said Buddacki.
Several states are considering lowering the drinking age for military personnel, or letting 19 and 20-year-olds buy low-alcohol beer.
But there are major obstacles. The National Highway Safety Administration says the age 21 law has cut traffic fatalities, and a lot of people think lowering it is a bad idea.
"There's still a lot of underage drinking, but I think lowering it would just make it worse," said one Maryland student.
"I'm an RA in a freshman dorm and I hope it doesn't get changed because the floor will be, like, out of control," said Jamie Miller.
Moreover, states that do lower their drinking age risk losing part of their federal highway funding.
ABC 7/NewsChannel 8's Greta Kreuz was told that University of Maryland president C.D. Mote has not said that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, despite some reports to the contrary. The statement that he and other college presidents signed in July calls for a discussion on the issue. Maryland is planning a campus-wide dialogue on the subject next month.
The controversy of being able to be in the military and not drink has been around forever. People complain that it is too much trouble or too hard to check IDs. Who is going to check for sobriety before these kids get into a car? If they kill themselves that's one thing but they could kill me or someone in my family that's entirely different. At 18, the majority of kids don't have the maturity or sense to be able to drink. I say this as someone who was once there.
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