Last summer, chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States signed on to the Amethyst Initiative , a public statement that encourages schools to consider lowering the drinking age to address the fact that "the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people continues despite the minimum legal drinking age of 21, and there is a culture of dangerous binge drinking on many campuses."  

Despite recent efforts, the dangerous campus culture of binge drinking prevails :

A recent study has confirmed something university officials have been aware of for some time: Drinking among college students is on the rise.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study showed the number of college students binge drinking between 1998 and 2005 rose from 42 percent to 45 percent. The number of alcohol-related deaths among 18-to-24-year olds rose to 1,825 from 1,440 during the same seven-year period.

At the University of Maryland, where University President Dan Mote and University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan are both signatories of the Amethyst Initiative, their campus alcohol coalition understands that students reflect society at large, and as long as drinking is accepted and promoted, it's no wonder they'll just keep boozing. 

"National trends getting worse are quite concerning," Kelley said. "Our students aren't immune from the direction of society and culture, and if it continues to get worse, I suspect we'll see the evidence here as well." 

We recently discussed the local ballot initiative campaign underway in Breckenridge, and it's been making headlines in various local outlets.

The latest is a column that appeared this weekend penned by Breckenridge Town Council Member Jeffrey Bergeron, who agrees it's time we allow adults to make the safer choice:

...the proponents hope the police will abide by the will of the voters and stop citing Breckenridge adults for possessing a drug less harmful than alcohol.

I would agree that marijuana is a drug — as is tobacco, anti-inflammatories, Viagra and booze. Some of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life were under the influence of alcohol. Admittedly I've done a few foolish things while stoned, but I did them very slowly.

We know booze causes death on our highways, is a contributing factor in domestic abuse, violent crimes and karaoke...

...And you don't have to look far to find businesses and lives ruined by booze... The worse result I have seen of pot use is watching Beverly Hillbilly reruns and driving 40 in a 50 mph zone.

CLICK HERE to read the entire column. 

An interview with SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert is included in this week's edition of 4:20 Drug War News on the Drug Truth Network. The piece is centered on the recent news that marijuana use is up and dangerous drinking is down in Colorado, the site of many highly publicized SAFER campaigns and other activities.

Click HERE to to listen!