Mother England leads the way again. Just a week after a British law allowing pubs to remain open 24 hours took effect, the Michigan state Senate passed a bill to allow Michigan's bars and clubs to remain open past the current deadline of 2 a.m. Though alcohol sales would have to stop at 2 a.m., other activities at your friendly neighborhood drinking establishment - comedy, dancing and everything except "illegal tomfoolery" - could continue indefinitely. Despite concerns about the potential dangers of allowing people to party past the magical hour of 2 a.m., the bill would help residents and business owners and, more importantly, make drinking safer in the state.

Much of the opposition to allowing clubs and bars to remain open longer has been based on concerns over dangers from prolonged alcohol consumption. However, this law avoids this danger by maintaining restrictions on alcohol sales past 2 a.m. Moreover, it will actually decrease the dangers of drunk driving by allowing bar-goers to sober up before driving home.

Some bar owners feel prohibiting alcohol sales defeats the purpose of remaining open longer, arguing there is no reason for people to remain at a bar if they can't keep drinking. But the state is not making bar owners stay open, it is simply lifting the arbitrary 2 a.m. curfew. And, bar owners can still make money by providing entertainment and satiating drunken appetites.

Most major cities are the center of nightlife in their respective metropolitan areas. Detroit, however, has for years taken the backseat even to small suburbs when it comes to late-night entertainment. If Gov. Jennifer Granholm signs the bill into law, Detroit would benefit. Owners of a new Detroit dance club told the Detroit Free Press, "A lot of clubs in New York, Miami and Los Angeles don't close till three, four, five o'clock in the morning. And in Detroit, most people don't get out until 11 p.m." Giving patrons more than three hours to burn their cash could persuade more suburbanites to venture into Detroit and may even help accelerate the city's revitalization.

Closer to home, this change would allow University students - who rarely make it to a bar earlier than 11 p.m. - to fully savor their local bar escapades. At the very least, more students would frequent the Ann Arbor bar scene, sparing a few unkempt lawns the blanket of crushed red cups.