After spending part of Sunday afternoon listening to a panel of teenagers talk about underage drinking and the danger of driving under the influence of alcohol, Sen. Wayne James said he would introduce a bill to raise the territory’s drinking age from 18 to 21.
The discussion took place at the culmination of the weekend-long Teen Summit, sponsored by the St. Croix Unity Coalition. Approximately 80 young men and women from the ages of 12 to 17 spent two days at the University of the Virgin Island’s St. Croix campus discussing alcohol, drugs, peer pressure, decision making, sex, AIDS, anger management, nutrition, managing finances and many other topics.
The teens, from public, private and parochial schools, had begun arriving at the college Friday afternoon and were assigned to dorm rooms, six to a room, without regard to friendships or schools. While the program is aimed specifically at alcohol and substance abuse, it covers the whole range of issues facing teens today, and there was plenty of time for creative and competitive projects as well.
The program is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
During Sunday’s panel discussion the teens, by a show of hands, overwhelmingly supported the idea of raising the legal age at which a young person can begin drinking from the current 18 to 21.
James agreed, and told the teens that when he got to his office Monday he would begin working on legislation to do precisely that.
He also noted that the Virgin Islands has to forego potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal highway funds and potential grants alcohol and substance abuse programs because its legal drinking age is below that required by the federal government to qualify for the funds.
James and Cheryl Francis, wife of Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, encouraged the teens to make their own decisions in life and not let others make decisions for them. Knowing what you want out of life will help you steer the right path.
“Life is not this road that you end up going down by chance,” James said. “You make the road. If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Ask, ‘What is it I want from life? What are the things that will get me there and what are the things teat will distract me?’”
The choices people make in life are their own choices, Francis said, but they affect more people.
“When you let someone else make choices for you, you’ve given someone else control of your life,” she said. “How you live your life affects your future – and your children’s future.”
