Choose Responsibility

Choose Responsibility is a non-profit organization in the United States, that promotes public awareness of the dangers of excessive and reckless alcohol consumption by young adults. The main goal is to lower the minimum legal drinking age by educating the public. It was founded and is directed by Dr. John McCardell, Jr., president emeritus of Middlebury College.

Choose Responsibility has examined many industrialized societies with drinking ages less than 21 but scientifically measured to have more responsible drinking habits than Americans. The organization believes that current drinking laws "infantilize" young adults and promote immature behaviors. Therefore, it promotes public policies that it believes would empower young adults age 18 to 20 to make mature decisions about the place of alcohol in their own lives. Choose Responsibility compares the results of current drinking laws to the failure of laws associated with Prohibition to maintain and enforce a reduction in alcohol use.

McCardell has a PhD in history from Harvard University, and attended Johns Hopkins University and Washington and Lee University. He has two adult children; he also received the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians.

Experts in several fields of research make up Choose Responsibility's board of directors.

The organization promotes its views through a program of research, publication, education, and related activities. Choose Responsibility has proposed a comprehensive program that combines incentives and rewards for responsible behavior by young people, and punitive measures for irresponsible behavior (i.e. the carrot and stick approach). The organization promotes a multi-faceted approach that combines education, certification, and provisional licensing for 18- to 20-year-old high school graduates who choose to consume alcohol.

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