The Washington Postreports: “A growing number of teenagers say it’s easier to illegally obtain prescription drugs than to buy beer or marijuana.” 19 percent, to be exact (according to the survey from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuseat Columbia University). 25% say marijuana is the easiest, with 43 percent saying they could buy the drug in less than an hour.
Arguably, regulation of beer and cigarettes is pretty effective. The problem may be, given our absurdly high legal drinking age, that teenagers too often have trouble getting beer. For many, pilfering prescription drugs or buying weed is the easier option.
If the choice is between a few beers and popping pills, we really should encourage responsible drinking.
Like it or not, most teenagers start drinking around 16. Cracking down too much on that either fails or encourages kids to try other, more dangerous drugs.
Besides does anybody really believe that college students shouldn’t drink?
Absolutely correct. Busting 18 year old college kids for drinking is a farce and a waste of police resources. In a campus atmosphere, you have kids between the age of 18-22 hanging around together. What do you think will happen? Unless one proposes separating the freshman and sophmores from the upperclassmen (impossible, ridiculous and wrong!) then we might as well give up the charade. But, you’ll have to deal with the propoganda of neo-prohibtionist outfits like MADD, so it won’t be easy.