Recently, 120 university presidents joined a movement aimed at lowering the drinking age to 18. They feel there would be less alcohol addiction and abuse if alcohol were more accessible. Since there are no statistics to support this theory, and plenty to refute it, the suggestion seems preposterous – especially when it’s coming from a group of highly educated professionals you would expect to look at the facts. Why do they seem to have gone off the rails when it comes to solutions to alcohol addiction and abuse? It could be because state laws aren’t giving them the backup they need.

A study conducted by Harvard University discovered a direct correlation between state alcohol laws and binge drinking – one of the most common manifestations of alcohol addiction and abuse on college campuses and in the adult population in general. Here’s a sampling of their findings:

University binge drinking is 31% lower in states that have laws restricting high volume sales of alcohol. Some states require registration of kegs, some restrict Happy Hour, some don’t allow open containers, don’t sell pitchers of beer or allow alcohol advertising.

Among the 23 states that require keg registration are four that also have the lowest binge drinking rates: California, Georgia, New Mexico and Idaho. Georgia, where you have to register kegs, can’t have open containers, can’t buy pitchers of beer, and can’t advertise alcohol, has the fourth lowest rate of student binge drinking.

At most universities, binge drinking is done off campus not in a college dorm. So the students are directly affected by the same laws that affect adults. In fact, the rate of university binge drinking is 32% lower in the states with the lowest rate of adult binge drinking.

Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin Madison, one of the biggest party schools in the U.S., has the highest rate of adult binge drinking and the second highest rate of student binge drinking. In Georgia, where student binge drinking is the fourth lowest, adult binge drinking is the eighth lowest.

Many universities have programs in place to prevent alcohol addiction and abuse; but if they’re not backed up by the law and students can simply go off campus and drink with few restrictions, the universities are fighting an uphill battle. While it’s nice to think that students will stop drinking based on reason or a sense of ethics, the nature of alcohol addiction, or any addiction for that matter, makes that highly unlikely.

Roughly half the alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. are caused by binge drinking and about five university kids die every day from alcohol-related injuries. Even those who do not get injured, or die, are pretty much wasting the hard-earned dollars spent on a university education - did you know that one night of heavy drinking impairs thinking for a month?

Universities that want to curb binge drinking, alcohol addiction and abuse among their students would be better off spending their time pressuring lawmakers to tighten up the laws. It will help the universities, the students, the adults, and the community. Lowering the drinking age, on the other hand, will put us right back in the same position that caused it to be raised to 21 in the first place.

In the meantime, while we wait for the powers that be to sort all this out, if you have a student in college who needs help with alcohol addiction or abuse, get them into alcohol rehab as soon as possible.