Coors urges lower drinking age

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. -- Colorado Republican Senate hopeful Pete Coors yesterday criticized the legal drinking age, chiding the federal government for coercing states into raising the age limit from 18 to 21.

"We got along fine for years with the 18-year-old drinking age," the former CEO of the Coors Brewing Co. told an audience of about 200 people at a candidates' debate here. "We're criminalizing our young people."

His remarks came in response to a question from his primary rival, former Rep. Bob Schaffer, at a Republican Senate breakfast forum sponsored by the Arapahoe County Republican Men's Club.

Both candidates are seeking the Republican nomination to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who is retiring. The winner of the Aug. 10 primary is likely to face Democratic state Attorney General Ken Salazar in a pivotal race that could decide control of the Senate.

Mr. Schaffer cited a quote from a 1997 USA Today article in which Mr. Coors said that lowering the drinking age might help teenagers learn to drink responsibly. Mr. Coors currently is taking a leave of absence fromhis position at Coors, of Golden, Colo.

Mr. Coors said he resented the federal government's intrusion in what he sees as a state issue. During the 1980s, the federal Transportation Department threatened to withhold highway funds unless legislatures raised the drinking age in their states to 21.

"I haven't said that 18 is a better age. I'm saying we should reopen the debate and let the citizens decide, without bureaucratic intervention," Mr. Coors said. "People mature at different ages. You should be just as horrified at your daughter drinking at 18 as at 21 if she's not ready."

The two candidates have been described as virtually identical, taking conservative stands on most high-profile issues, but Mr. Schaffer pinpointed the drinking-age issue as one on which they disagree.

Asked whether the state should decide its drinking age without federal interference, Mr. Schaffer said, "The state did decide. There are several examples of where the federal government has tried to coerce Colorado into doing something and Colorado regularly ignores them."

"As a matter of policy, I think lowering the drinking age is a terrible idea," Mr. Schaffer said.