Tags on tap

Keg tags will not stop underage drinking

For many students, beer drinking is as much of the college experience as Michigan football or long nights studying. On any given weekend night, many University students attend parties where it's not too hard to find kegs and alcohol. But legally, the University's under-21 population is not allowed to consume alcohol. In an effort to prevent underage drinking, State Sen. Dianne Byrum (D-Onodaga) has proposed an initiative to attach tags to kegs and hold buyers liable for minors caught drinking from them. But the proposal will not likely meet its goal because it is impractical. A voluntary experiment of the program in East Lansing, home of Michigan State University, lasted only a few weeks after keg sales dropped by 50 percent. Because of lost business, vendors quickly gave up - and students had already begun to buy their beer in other containers.

If kegs became more difficult to buy, then inventive college students would find other ways of getting alcohol. As in East Lansing and Boulder, Colo. - home of the University of Colorado, where a similar experiment also failed - students would find other ways to procure their drinks. The proposed ban would be effective statewide, preventing University students from simply running to Ypsilanti to buy beer. However, beer is sold in many different containers - from six packs to cases of 12 and 24 - offering students more than one option. In addition, wine and other liquor products would remain untraceable. The ban's effect would be negligible - there are numerous other options and ways for students to get alcohol.

The plan's implementation is impractical and unenforceable. It calls for a plastic numbered tag to accompany each keg, which would be associated with buyers' driver's licenses at the time of purchase. The buyer would also have to sign an affidavit swearing not to serve the contents of the keg to any minors. However, the tags could easily be removed - preventing the system's desired ends from being reached.

Adding the tags would also compound the duties of alcohol sellers. Already, many Ann Arbor retailers record driver's license information, but mandating the program could prove excessive and may not be followed. Enforcement also proves problematic as it does not improve upon current policing of parties by authorities.

As this experiment has already failed in other towns, it must be questioned whether it is worth the trouble of enforcing this policy in college towns. It will not improve on the methods of sale and enforcement of the policy will only drive student business away or change it. If the plan is to stop minors from drinking, a plan would be needed to monitor all sales of alcohol. This would be nearly impossible, as the state can only do so much without reaching oppressive proportions. Byrum should go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that can be executed reasonably and have an effective result.

09-19-97