Drinking Accomplishments

In this short essay, the author will analyze the topic of alcoholism in Not All of Us Are Saints. It is the author's contention that only community based efforts such as Dr. David Hilfiker's stand a chance of stemming the tide for this at risk population that has so much social stigma attached to it. For this purpose, we will examine studies in which community based programs help to alleviate the problems of alcoholics.

As the website tells us, MADD was started in 1980 by a group of women in California that were outraged after the death of a teenage girl by a repeat-offender drunk driver. These women banned together to build an organization that would sweep the nation. By the end of the first year there were eleven different chapters in four different states and by the end of the next year, there were seventy MADD chapters that were operating. Now, that this organization has been around for about twenty years, there are more then six hundred chapters throughout the nation (MADD Homepage).

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy.

Groups such as the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and others were able to make strong arguments that appealed to the emotions of many US citizens. The founder of MADD was a woman named Candy Lightner whose thirteen year old daughter was killed in a hit-and-run by a man with two previous convictions and was only sentenced with 2 years in minimum security prison after the hit-and-run (Gale). After the creation of MADD in 1980, several people who were parents and relatives of those killed in drunk driving accidents opened their own chapters. These people spoke to the hearts and minds of others using their real-life experiences to depict exactly how damaging the drunk driving epidemic really was. Finally, in 1988, all fifty states switched back to a minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one where it has stayed ever

These organizations include but are not limited to, the Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the National Youth Rights Association.The non for profit organization called druglibrary states on their website, “By the greatest majority of indicators, the biggest drops in alcohol consumption and alcohol problems actually came before national prohibition went into effect.” (May 1, 2016) This sheds some light onto the drinking age law’s results by revealing that they were not as successful as they are often taken to be. We could have probably had the same or better results by never enacting the

The United States’ minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of twenty one is almost a perfect example of a policy with unrealistic expectations and serious unintended consequences. The current policy that the United States has in effect criminalizes youth who consume alcohol at less than twenty one years of age. Young adults are going to drink under twenty one, so why shouldn’t the United States lower the MLDA to eighteen? Following Prohibition in 1933, many states made their MLDA twenty one. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, many states lowered it to eighteen to match the drafting age (Alcohol Policy MD). President Reagan passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public

Lowering the drinking age will result in life and death consequences. By keeping the drinking age at 21, the rate of fatalities for drinking and driving decrease drastically. During the short period during the late 1980’s when the drinking age was lowered to 18, the number of fatal car crashes involving young adults who were under the influence dropped from 61% to 31% (Wil Fulton). By bringing the age down to 18-years-old, alcohol would be more accessible to the lower age group. For example, an 18 year old, who is still in high school, is more likely to sell alcohol to a 16 year old than a 21 year old, who is away at college. In recent studies, researchers found that 77% of the population are opposed to lowering the drinking age to 18 (Brandon Griggs). MADD is supported by influential government companies such as the American Medical Association, National Transportation Safety Board, National Safety Council, International Association Chiefs of Police, Governor's Highway Safety Association, Surgeon General of the United States, and U.S. Transportation Secretary to name a few (John H. Barnhill, PHD). Overall, young teenagers lack the proper wisdom collected to make right judgments about alcohol. The 3 years between the age 18 and 21 are filled with change and responsibilities, making one more suitable to make appropriate

In 1980 after Candy Lightner, a mother of a thirteen-year-old girl was killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver, she was galvanized by the tragedy and founded of the organization MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). MADD lobbied for the law after many deaths of children in result of drunk driving, and activist who protested against the organization was accused of promoting drunk driving. Since then, they are still to this day fighting to keep the uniform minimum drinking age at 21.

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving called on congress along with Senator Frank Lautenberg, House Public Works and Transportation Committee Chairman Kim Howard, Congressman Michael Barnes, then-Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, Illinois Secretary of State Jim Edgar and representatives of the health and safety community to erase the blood borders between the states with differing ages by setting the nation’s minimum legal drinking age to 21. Therefore, “In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, NMDAA” (“Minimum Drinking Age” 12-13). The creation of this act raised the drinking age to what it is in United States of America today, 21 years old. Not only has this gotten rid of the patchwork of different states with differing

Most countries around the world have adopted MLDA laws for the purchase and /or possession of alcohol as a protective policy for the youth. Scientific evidence indicates that the lower the drinking age, the earlier the youth begin to decrease alcohol (at least in the United States). MLDA laws are vital components of any effort to control the production, marketing, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages (Philip, 528). Several studies have indicated that more accidents occurred as a result of lower drinking age. As a result there has been advocacy for restoring MLDA to 21. Due to such advocacy campaigns, 16 states increased their MLDA between September 1976 and January 1983. The US government also lowered this age to 21 too.

For many years, the debate about the legal drinking age has been prolonged. In the mid-1930s, under the 21st Amendment, the federal law to drink was age 21; however, states were given the option to set their own legal drinking age. During the 1970s, 30 states had a legal drinking age ranging from 18 to 20. Ten years in, the death toll rose from 10 to 40 percent in states that had lowered their drinking age (Barnhill, 2014). After many observations of traffic accidents involving drunk teenagers, the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving or (MADD) acted by educating the public of the dangers of drunk driving, and to speak for stronger drunk driving laws. This received so much publicity that President Reagan signed a bill into

“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college

On July of 1984, the national drinking age was changed from eighteen to twenty-one. This law was passed thanks to Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MAAD). MAAD was founded by Candy Lightner, a mother who lost her daughter to a drink driver. “In 1980, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, or MAAD, was founded by Candy Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter was killed on her way home from a school carnival by a drunk driver. The driver had three previous DUI convictions and was out on bail from a hit-and-run arrest two days earlier. When MAAD was founded in 1980, more than 21,000 people were killed in drunk driving crashes each year. Lightner and MAAD helped to change

I understand that, at least for me at the time, drinking was a way of connecting with friends, to socialize with strangers, and to alleviate the shyness. But in hindsight, I noticed there was a change from wanting to needing a drink.  It was a way to deal with the tree of work and life itself. Years later now my wife and son are in the picture, I do my best not drink "that much" at home, but still finding a myriad of excuses to do so.

Alcohol is a drug that is classified as a central nervous system depressant. There are three forms of alcohol, beer, wine and distilled spirits. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States and has more adverse effects that most other drugs combined. There are many aspects to consider when thinking about alcohol as a drug. There are many myths surrounding alcohol, including who uses it, what its effects are on users, social and sexual situations and the amounts people drink. The vast majority of the American population uses alcohol and in many various ways and this also causes different effects. Alcohol is also has a great causation in crimes committed by users, social, medical, and educational problems as a