Rethinking the Drinking Age: Is 21 Working? Is 18 the Answer?

Thursday January 29, 2009, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. in Brubeck Room at Wilton Library

The Wilton League of Women Voters and the Wilton Library present a community forum--a panel discussion--about the Amethyst Initiative, a proposal by more than 100 colleges and universities to open a dialogue about lowering the drinking age in the U. S. to 18. Speakers on both sides of this issue will discuss the rationale behind the recent initiative and their viewpoints on prevention of adolescent alcohol abuse. Speakers include Dr. Linda Degutis, Associate Professor, Yale University Medical School, and immediate past president of the American Public Health Association; Dr. Lee Peters, VP, Student Affairs, University of Hartford; Mr. Barrett Seaman, author of Binge: Campus Life in an Age of Disconnection and Excess and board member of Choose Responsibility, an organization that proposes a new approach toward the drinking problem among young people; and Mr. John Hamilton, CEO, Regional Networks of Programs, Inc., a nonprofit social service agency specializing in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse.

Audience Q and A will be included. The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available at 7 p.m., followed by panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. Registration suggested.
To register, please call 203-762-3950 or visit www.wiltonlibrary.org/events.
Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton, 06897.