I mentioned I’ve been thinking about addiction lately and here are some further ruminations. Recently on The New York Times’ Motherlode blog there was a post about colleges calling underage students’ parents when they’ve been caught drinking. It made me think about another article I recently read in the New Yorker about anthropologists’ take on drinking.

That article, “Drinking Games” by Malcolm Gladwell, explored the differences among cultures in how people drink and even how they act when under the influence. The interesting and unexpected conclusion is that there is a great deal of variation among cultures in this regard. This seems counterintuitive because we’ve been taught to think of alcohol as a drug with predictable effects that correlate to the quantity consumed. But what if the way we drink and how we act is just as much a product of socialization and acculturation? What impact does that have for social policy? For parents wishing to teach their children responsible drinking habits?

It seems to me there is something problematic in the approach of expecting youth not to drink until full adulthood. Under this scheme — presuming everyone actually adhered to it — parents would essentially have nothing to do with educating their offspring about alcohol because their kids would already be on their own when the behavior begins. We all know that this is not how it occurs in reality. Instead kids drink on the sly, amid their peers in a milieu that emphasizes inebriation.

Still, I am not sure what a better alternative approach is and am conflicted on how I will handle it when my children reach that age. But I think the “no alcohol until 21″ approach is ineffective and counterproductive. I’ll come right out and say that I think the drinking age should be lower and the driving age should be higher. In the end, we accept that it is our responsibility as parents to teach our children how to lead a healthy lifestyle and if we omit to teach them about responsible drinking then essentially we’re leaving the job up to somebody else. I think colleges are right to call students’ parents over alcohol violations but the intent should be education and not punishment.