A rising question across the United States asks whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18.

Will lowering the drinking age to 18 solve the problem of binge drinking on college campuses or just crete new problems?

Several universities and colleges around the country are supporting the measure because they believe it will reduce binge drinking around college campuses.

Backers of the change believe the rise of binge drinking among adolescents and college students can be directly traced to raising the drinking age to 21. “Just like during national Prohibition, the law has pushed and forced underage drinking and youthful drinking underground, where we have no control over it,” said David J. Hanson, an alcohol policy expert at the State University of New York-Potsdam.

Douglas Police Chief Alberto Melis said he doesn’t understand the need to lower the age requirement for drinking legally.

“College presidents feel they would have more control if the drinking age is lowered to 18. I can’t understand that thought process,” Melis said.

“If passed, a great deal of high school seniors would then be able to drink legally. A n 18 year old might be able to make a good choice while voting, but drinking and driving is a completely different process.”

Changing the drinking age will make it more difficult to enforce and necessitate the need for more checkpoints, he said.

“I can’t see how this is a benefit. All it does is take the problem from the college president’s’ hand and give it to someone else.

“There is a big difference in the decision-making process between an 18 and 21 year old.

“They also have a lot of distractions when they are driving – I-Pods, cell phones and texting – and now we are going to add alcohol on top of that.”

Douglas Unified School District Superintendent Earl Petit said that historically, the district has very little problem with alcohol on campus – only one incident last year.

“Our rules and policies won’t change.  Alcohol is already accessible to 18 years olds. We have just let all the students know that it is behavior we will not tolerate on campus.”

Despite the fact that there would be a number of seniors that would legally be able to drink, he doesn’t see it as a severe impact on the district.

“I don’t expect any real problem. It is just a matter of being more diligent and communicating more with the students about the rules and consequences for breaking them.

Cochise College is an alcohol free campus regardless of student’s age.

There never has been a problem with binge drinking on campus, and Dr. Karen Nicodemus, Cochise College President, doesn’t expect that to change despite a potential lowering of the age.

“Students, particularly those in our dorms in Douglas, understand that alcohol is not permitted and the consequences if they are found with alcohol in their possession,” said Joanna Michelich, Vice President for Instruction and Provost.

In a first instance, students caught with alcohol in the dorms can be put on probation and subsequent infractions could force them out of campus housing.

“Students understand the consequences for having alcohol on campus, regardless of the drinking age,” she said.

Despite the push by some college presidents, national opposition to the proposal remains strong.

“Why would we repeal or weaken laws that save lives? It doesn’t make sense,” said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. The age-21 laws adopted by all 50 states — under threat by Congress of losing their federal highway funds — have been credited with lowering the rate of drunk-driving fatalities. But critics also question the studies used to link the age-21 law and lower alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.

A recent Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005.

Seventy-seven percent of Americans recently surveyed by Gallup said they opposed lowering the drinking age.