Former Middlebury College President John McCardell is again urging Vermont lawmakers to consider changing the drinking age to 18, instead of its current 21.
McCardell heads a national organization that favors the change, and testified at the Statehouse along with alcohol policy expert David Jernigan, of Johns Hopkins University, who opposes it.
McCardell says states should have the right to set their own drinking age without fear of financial penalty by the federal government. He says Vermont’s a perfect place to try out the younger drinking age, which he says would curb binge drinking among college students.
Jernigan says dropping the age would just lead to people drinking at a younger age.