COLUMN: A toast to less stringent liquor laws

From Lisa Levenson's "First Person," Fall '96 From Lisa Levenson's "First Person," Fall '96It works well in England, soFrom Lisa Levenson's "First Person," Fall '96It works well in England, sothere's no reason why the U.S.From Lisa Levenson's "First Person," Fall '96It works well in England, sothere's no reason why the U.S.can't roll back 'legal age.' From Lisa Levenson's "First Person," Fall '96It works well in England, sothere's no reason why the U.S.can't roll back 'legal age.' Ahhhh, spring break, that annual collegiate rite of passage. The ideal spring break experience is a ritual week-long drunken stupor in a city where no one speaks your language, but the bartenders and every sleazy member of the opposite sex seems to know your name. The weather's warm and winter's woolen layers are rapidly shed in favor of bare skin, freshly bronzed. I spent spring break across the Atlantic, in frigid and windy London, the capital city of merry old England. And in addition to the typical touring and sightseeing, my three companions and I hit our fair share of pubs and clubs (emphasis on the former) during our six-day "holiday." No one carded us when we strolled into the pubs each night, bellied up to the gleaming teak bars, and ordered lager, ale, fermented cider, bitters or a wonderful British invention known as alcoholic lemonade. Wine with our last night's meal was obligatory. And shelves of liquors, whiskeys and other temptations beckoned in stores on almost every street corner. In fact, the closest we came to getting thrown out of anywhere in the United Kingdom was the time we walked into a video arcade ("amusement center" in Brit-speak) and began checking out the slot machines. The guard believed us when we explained to him that yes, all of us were over 18, and didn't ask for more proof. Purchasing tobacco is legal for anyone over the age of 16 in the UK, and drinking is permitted for those 18 and up. But while young Britons may smoke much more than Americans of similar ages, simply because smoking still appears glamorous in Europe, their drinking habits are much more moderate. High schoolers here take pride in throwing wild house parties when parents are out for the evening or away for the weekend. The family home, along with everything and everyone inside when these affairs begin, inevitably gets trashed. And no matter what kids explain to their parents about why so many people had to come over and what they were all doing, activity revolves around alcohol, illegally obtained by older siblings or sympathetic friends. It's not this way in Britain. Club patrons do swig beers on the dance floor as music blares and lights pulse around them. They wash "flavoured potato crisps" (roast-lamb-and-mint and smoked-ham-and-pickle were two choices we stayed away from) down with pints of beer and meet friends for a swill after work. But the pubs stop serving at 11 p.m. and retails outlets, by law, must cease selling alcoholic beverages at the same time. The city's famed subway system (officially known as the Underground and colloquially called the Tube) shuts down an hour later, but it's never littered with empty cans and broken bottles. Neither are street corners in central London, despite the thousand-strong throngs of revelers that congregate outside movie theaters in the public squares and "circuses" on weekends. Put simply, drinking isn't a clandestine thrill for the British. It's not a secret vice to be satisfied in the woods near a playground, out of reach of neighborhood cops who have nothing better to do than cruise suburban subdivisions. Brewing and distilling are businesses for families across the UK, who have dedicated themselves to creating and pouring the perfect pint. For most other Britons, drinking is just a fact of life, and alcohol is not an object for abuse. In America, on the other hand, drinking is cool because it's a forbidden but easy, cheap and temporary, relatively safe way to alter the mood. For all of these reasons, alcohol is evil. After all, if it weren't, we wouldn't need such strict laws to protect our young from experiencing its harmful effects. Unfortunately, the strategy of prohibition is hopelessly ineffective, as evidenced by the dismal failure of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited completely the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating spirits within the U.S. in the 1920s. Things that are forbidden only become more desirable; psychologists have indisputably proved this phenomenon. I'd like to see the drinking age here rolled back to 19, which would prevent alcohol from legally seeping into high schools but would permit, almost universally, us college students the same privileges our European counterparts already enjoy -- and expect. At 18, we can be drafted and choose our nation's next leader, as well as the men and women who represent us, our hometowns and our concerns in Washington. But only outside of our country's borders are we legally allowed to imbibe. It's time for the U.S. to catch up to nations more enlightened in this arena, where alcohol is not surrounded by an aura of mystery and intrigue. Two hundred and twenty years ago, we declared independence from Britain and her royal traditions. But with respect to the regulation of alcohol consumption, our forebears with the funny accents definitely had the right idea.