The Our Lady Peace lyrics, “I’ll be waiving my hand, watching you drown, watching you scream,” conjures up memories of teenage angst. Being trapped somewhere between childhood and adulthood can be tormenting. Surrounded by a culture that glorifies drinking, but being told not to touch it is a cruel dare.   

Regardless of how unsure we were about our friends, it’s hard to visualize one of them standing on the beach blankly staring as the waves crash over and over again as you flail for life. But it happens, metaphorically speaking, when  drinking minors are more afraid of getting a Minor in Possession than letting somebody else get alcohol poisoning or get behind the wheel drunk. So they don’t make the call that could save a life.

It’s a double-edged sword. Laws to deter underage drinking are getting tougher, and according to duifoundation.org, they’re working. Zero tolerance laws for underage drinking and driving have decreased the likelihood of binge drinking among males aged 18-20 by 13 percent and since the legal age to drink was raised to 21 in 1984, an estimated 1,000 lives are spared every year.

But laws meant to deter drinking may also deter minors from making the right decision once they have gotten themselves into a bad situation.

While most laws surrounding underage consumption are meant to curb drinking, an amendment to the current Michigan liquor control code of 1998 would encourage minors to lay their fears aside when somebody’s life is in danger. Senate Bill 408, which has passed the Michigan Senate and has been sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, states:

“A minor who has consumed alcoholic liquor and who voluntarily presents himself of herself to a health facility or agency for treatment or for observation, any other minor who accompanies that minor, and any minor who contacts a peace officer or emergency medical services personnel are not considered in violation of subsection (1).”

This is the only change to the state’s liquor laws and we support it. We don’t support underage drinking or binge drinking, but we do support this logical caveat to the law.     

Most of us played a round of beer pong and passed a bottle before the legal drinking age. It’s inevitable. Regardless of the law, both “good” and “bad” kids are going to drink. And according to the National Institute of Health, approximately 5,000 minors die each year from causes related to underage drinking: about 1,600 homicides and 300 suicides. Some of those lives could be saved if somebody just made the call.

Some say that minors should accept the consequences of their mistakes, and what better time to learn about consequences than when you’re young. However, studies have shown and defense attorneys have argued that teenage brains aren’t operating at the same capacity as a well-rounded adult. According to a Live Science study, the area of the brain associated with empathy and guilt is underused by teenagers.

So how can they be expected to make a sacrifice to their record and social life on the chance that a drunk person at a party might not wake up the next morning or might not make it home without crashing the car.  

Nobody should ever be afraid to ask for help. To contact the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee e-mail their clerk at [email protected].