Drinking denied

“Hey I’m going down to the Tube tonight, how ’bout you?”

“Oh man, I would totally come but I lost my fake….”

“Don’t worry, I know everyone who works there and you can get in for free.”

This being an all too familiar conversation at the start of a weekend in Portland, and no doubt most other college campuses across the nation.

Occasionally, opinion pieces are abundant with writers condemning or defending the culture of alcohol consumption by students. The respondents are none other than passionate students criticizing their uptight classmates or the non-drinkers passionately advocating the purity of their perfect lifestyle.

Whatever you believe, the ease of getting a fake ID and getting into a bar is now a shattered dream for those who want to go drinking next weekend.

The Oregon state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division is installing new computers to compare a new driver’s license photo with an old license image to see if they match. The idea behind this was so that it makes it more difficult for criminals or the under-21 crowd to obtain a fake ID.

Now, one by one, hipsters, nerds, artsy-fartsies and the rest of the under-21 students at Portland State are going to have to wait and discover the enjoyment of boozing in a bar until they are actually 21.

Students who had once been able to enter the doors of the Portland bars are now going to be denied. It’s not that bad of an idea though–preventing more criminals from obtaining fakes and keeping the youth from majoring in beer drinking their first year of college.

In reality, we all know that parties will still have underage binge drinking. Some parents will still be too trustful of their underage kids and believe everything they say. Some bars will still let underage kids in.

Some students will still be pressured into drinking regardless of what new, melodramatic commercial is on TV trying to advocate a drinking-free lifestyle. The commercials you get with or without cable TV are still the same–in fact, they might as well show innocent children being attacked by the most fashionable and trendy upperclassmen holding the latest Vodka bottle.

To be honest, there is no real help group, commercial or therapist that can change this lifestyle of underage drinking. The students themselves will have to get enough will power to change, since the only people who are in charge of their lives are themselves.

Changing the problem begins at home, and with students realizing that you don’t have to drink to have fun. But most people don’t think like that. Perhaps what the DMV is trying to do is prevent criminals from making more mistakes, which is not only going to benefit crime prevention but will also lower the crime statistics caused by drinking, as well.