Garcia wants to stop ‘power hour’ binge drinking

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, has introduced a bill aimed at stopping a binge-drinking tradition that led to the 2004 death of a New Mexico State University student.

Senate Bill 622 would change the legal drinking age from midnight on a person’s 21^st birthday to 7 a.m. on that day, unless it’s a Sunday. In that case, the legal time would be noon.

Violators – those who serve people before the legal time on their 21^st birthday – would be guilty of a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

The tradition among many involves taking a friend out for 21 drinks beginning at midnight on his or her 21^st birthday. It is often called the “power hour.”

In a news release, Garcia, who owns Victoria’s bar in Las Cruces, said the bill comes in response to the November 2004 binge-drinking death of Steven Judd, an NMSU student who was served approximately 18 drinks at two Las Cruces bars shortly after midnight on his 21^st birthday.

He died with a blood alcohol level of 0.427 percent and, according to the news release, his family appealed to legislators to push for the proposal Garcia is now making.

Several states have enacted similar measures in an attempt to combat binge drinking.