UTICA - Nearly 100 college presidents across the country have proposed lowering the legal drinking age to 18. As you can imagine, not everyone thinks this is a great idea.

The thought behind 100 college presidents, including the president of Syracuse University, is that a lower drinking age would curb binge drinking.

However, those who work closely with people who have an alcohol problem, say the idea is sending the wrong message.

College presidents from all over the country say binge drinking is their most serious problem, and lowering the age to 18, could change things.

"I'm just saying if we treat these 18, 19, 20 year-olds like adults, they'll act like adults so we need to start having an adult conversation," says Ohio State University President Gordon Gee. 

But not everyone age 18 to 21 would act like an adult says the President of the Insight House in Utica.

"Just because the age is lower doesn't make it a better situation and it's a safe thing for people to do," says Insight House President Donna  Vitagliano.

Vitagliano says lowering the drinking age to 18 could bring more serious problems, than just binge drinking.
    
"We know that kids that start drinking earlier have more of a dependence problem later on end up being an alcoholic, having alcohol dependence problems rather than abuse problems later on," she adds.

Vitagliano says between alcohol poisoning, and car accidents, alcohol kills more teens than any other drug and she predicts by lowering the age, you will not increase the maturity level of teens.

Technically, laws governing drinking age are left up to each state. However, all states adopted 21 as the minimum drinking age after Congress mandated in the mid 80's that any state that allowed drinking under 21 would lose ten percent of federal highway money.