Q: I often have intellectual discussions with my 19-year-old son about lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. He believes that lowering it would be better, as having it at 21 pushes teenagers to "drink underground" and causes more problems as kids drink more.
He also says if 18-year-olds can go to war, they should be able to drink. I have told him that when it was 18 years old, there were many motor vehicle accidents related to teens drinking and that raising the drinking age has led to less driving fatalities.
Do you know what the truth is?
A: This is a complicated question, but in the studies I have seen that have looked at this issue, raising the legal drinking age to 21 has resulted in fewer traffic fatalities.
In a recent study, it was found that raising the age to 21 resulted in an 11 percent decrease in the number of intoxicated teenagers involved in fatal motor vehicle accidents. It has also been found that states that punish underage teenagers for using fake identification have 14 percent fewer teenage driving deaths related to alcohol than states without these kinds of laws.
I must also say that I am sure there are some mature older teenagers who may be able to drink fairly responsibly, and allowing them this privilege might not cause too many problems. Unfortunately, there are many other teenagers who do not handle drinking in a responsible way, and allowing drinking during their teenage years causes many problems.
Research has shown that between the ages of 18 and 21, a young person's brain development matures. That is why raising the drinking age to a time when a person's brain is more mature, which enables them to make better decisions, makes sense.
Q: I have heard that there is a medication being used to treat alcoholism. It isn't Antabuse or Naltrexone, but something else. Do you know what this is?
A: I am not sure exactly what you have heard, but two other medications come to my mind. One is Vivitrol, which is an injectable form of Naltrexone. With Vivitrol, a person receives an injection once per month instead of having to take a pill every day. This medication has been beneficial to many people who suffer from alcohol dependence.
The other drug you may have heard about is topiramate or Topamax, a medication used to treat migraine headaches. This medication is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcohol dependence, but some physicians are using this off-label based upon reported benefits.
Topiramate is actually an anti-seizure medication that has shown some promise in treating drinking problems. In one study, it was found to help reduce cravings for alcohol and those who took this medication had better treatment outcomes as compared to those who received a placebo. Drinking was reduced and abstinence rates also increased.
Again, this medication is not yet approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence, but it has shown possible benefit.
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