Have you heard that there is  talk about changing the drinking age in the USA back to 18!! I have to say that I am all for that. After all, if someone is old enough to vote, join the military and carry a gun then why can't they have a drink?

A new program called the Amethyst Initiative was formed in July by Presidents and chancellors from colleges and universities throughout the USA to petition for changing the drinking age. They are proving that the 21 year age is only forcing a great deal of binge drinking and more problems. While they aren't specifically requesting the drinking age to be pushed back to 18 they are requesting our elected officials to open their eyes and realize this is a subject that needs to be addressed.

While hearing about this program I was interested in finding out about the name amethyst. It actually means "not intoxicated" in Greek! Mythology has it that an intoxicated Dionysus got mad at a young girl named Amethyst. She went to Diana for help who chose to turn her into  white stone. When Dionysus saw this he cried into his goblet spilling the wine and tears onto the stone and it turned purple.  The amethyst stone was then believed to prevent intoxication and so was used for many of the drinking vessels as well as jewelry in Ancient Greece.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this program. You can follow their progress on their website www.amethystinitiative.org

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

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