College is the time to be alive, to go out and have some fun, maybe break the rules, drink a little (or a lot), but that’s all about to change for college students in Georgia with the new Michael’s Law signed by Governor. Here are the important parts of the law that affects those of college age: HB 152, also known as “Michael’s Law”, is a law that went into effect July 1, 2016 that now prevents anyone under 21 from entering a bar (defined as a place where 75 percent or more of the sales are from alcohol) unless they’re with a parent, guardian or spouse over 21 or there is live entertainment with a cover charge. The law also prevents anyone under the age of 21 from working in a bar as a bouncer. While the law seems like a great solution to prevent underage drinking and violence in bars, there are some major issues that are bound to follow. One of the main problems with this new law is that it will prevent the quintessential designated driver, or DD, from entering a bar with the people they’re driving. From past experience, designated drivers tend to be under 21, usually in their first year of college, and when they turn 21 the responsibility falls to another minor. They tend to go to the bar with their friends and stay sober, making sure that their friends not only get home safely, but are also safe in the bar. Michael’s Law prevents the usual designated driver from doing their job on a regular basis.

Michael’s Law went into effect after Michael Gatto, an 18-year-old boy in his first year of college, was beaten to death at a bar by an underage bouncer who worked at the bar. This new law seems like a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the incident and has left many college town bars and students frustrated with the change, including me. While many are mourning the loss of easily being able to drink underage, I’m worried that the willingness of designated drivers will drastically decrease. Though this may not be an issue in many bigger college towns, it’ll certainly cause issues within my small-town college and many others like it.

I have always been the “mom friend”, a role that implies I take care of all of my friends and sometimes their friends, especially when drinking at the bar is involved. This role lands me in the position of designated driver more times than not; a job made easy by the fact that I don’t like drinking with hundreds of strangers. I would go in with my friends to the bar and make sure they were safe during their night of fun. With Michael’s Law that all has changed, and I can’t do my DD job like I used to. Usually once someone turns 21, they ditch the role of DD to drink and party with ease. So what happens when bars are full of only those 21 and up? There’s not going to be many willing DDs there for one thing, given the fact that this new law is now blocking many of them from getting into any bar. Lack of DDs means a risk in increase of driving under the influence; many drunk college students thinking they can get themselves home just fine, they only had a couple of drinks right?

The immediate solution many think right away is to just have someone over 21 be the designated driver, it’s that simple. That’s where it gets tricky. College students, especially those of legal drinking age, do not want to ditch that freedom they’ve earned for a night to watch all their friends get drunk. Leave that to the minors, they’ll earn their right eventually. If a person of legal drinking age is put in charge of driving, there’s a better than even chance that they will have at least one drink while they’re at the bar and all safety that was thought to be gained with this new law is thrown right out the window. Another solution is to just have the DD wait at home for a call to go pick up their friends, but really who wants to do that? Not a lot of people are looking forward to the prospect of waiting for their phone to ring at 1 a.m. just to go pick up their drunken pack and probably take them to Taco Bell. It’s not fun. Uber is a perfectly fine solution as well, but if you’re in a small college town you’re out of luck there. Other issues that may arise with Michael’s Law include the higher risk of a minor getting caught with a fake I.D. or in possession of someone else’s I.D., bars closing down and bar employees losing their jobs for being underage.

Change the law, make it harder for minors to get a hold of alcohol if that’s the concern, but don’t let people get hurt because they didn’t have their trusty DD. In the meantime, still have a DD lined up for your night of drinking. If there’s live entertainment and a cover charge, offer to pay for your DD. If they can’t get in at all, set a definite time for them to get you, and don’t be a jerk about leaving when they come to get you. Designated drivers are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, and they literally get nothing in return. This law needs to change. It’s not going to prevent underage drinking, it’s only going to increase the number of DUIs.