American college students rallied last week to advocate marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol on their campuses. In France, a new government report proposes a different solution to the problem of binge drinking among students: campus wine tastings in university canteens.

Allowing students to taste wine in moderate quantities will "show them that it is a pleasure, good for their health and part of their national heritage," Jean-Robert Pitte, a former director of the Sorbonne, tells Decanter magazine in an interview reported on its Web site. 

Alain Rigauld, president of a prominent anti-alcohol group in France, dismisses the report as little more than wine-industry marketing.