Joining the Military: A Life Changing Decision

During the 1960s most U.S. states established 21 as the Minimum Legal Drinking Age, also known as MLDA. Since a few states still kept their MLDA at 18 Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act; which stated that the federal government would not give any highway funds unless those states whose MLDA has not been changed to 21 would change to 21. Ever since the

The minimum legal drinking age was not always twenty-one; it has fluctuated between twenty-one and eighteen over the past few decades. In the article, “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” by Carla T.

As most people living in the United States already know, the national minimum age for purchasing alcohol is twenty-one. However, prior to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, some states lowered the drinking age below 21 (mainly as a result of the lowered voting age). The Drinking Age Act was put into place as a result of a correlation between young drinking and motor vehicle fatalities. Under the provisions of the Act, any states with a minimum drinking age below 21 are subject to a 10% cut in highway funding from the federal government. The United States is one of only a few countries with a drinking age as high as 21; the majority of countries

The national minimum drinking age in The United States is stated to be anyone under the age of 21 years can not consume or purchase any alcoholic beverage; this law was passed on July 17,1984 by President Reagan. Nearly 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Many People would agree that alcohol should not be present to children under the age of 21 years. There has been many debates on whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age. “Between 1970 and 1976, 29 states lowered their age for drinking alcohol. The results were catastrophic. Highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed. Immediately, states began raising the minimum

The minimum drinking age has been debated ever since the early 1970’s when there was no national drinking age. Depending on the state, the minimum drinking age was between the range of 18 to 21-year-olds. However, Exhibit B illustrates how the debate was quieted in 1984 during the Regan Presidency with the passing of a law that required states to prohibit people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol as a condition of receiving a portion of federal state highway funding.

This was a very controversial move by the government, as states had all had different drinking ages, and many people felt as if the government was over stepping their boundaries. (DrinkingMap.com) The National Minimum Drinking Age Act had loopholes that the states could utilize. For example, the NMDAA stipulates that people can not publicly possess and purchase alcohol unless they were 21, it did not say anything about drinking alcohol. So, 41 states have set their own allowances for when people can drink.

appropriations (Haevens). This is the main reason the legal drinking age has not been lower below 21 years of age.a large number of the general population desires a lower drinking age. In the 25 years since the legal drinking age was set at 21, seven states have tried to lower it. (Wechsier ).It is unfair for the federal government to withhold money from states if they exercise their rights to set the legal drinking age to what they think is right. Twenty-six states do allow underage drinking of wine at religious ceremonies ( "Drinking Age" 1). The legal age to drink alcohol should be lowered to 18 to allow for parental guidance, to help prevent binge drinking, and to help reduce the amount of drinking and driving.

The legal drinking age is the age at which a person can consume or purchase alcohol. These laws cover a wide range of issues and behaviors, addressing when and where alcohol can be consumed. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed by Congress 30 years ago. This law told states that they had to enforce the drinking age of 21 or lose up to ten percent of their federal highway funding. The idea that a person was fully an adult at age 21 relates to an English common law. 21 was the age where a person could vote and become a knight. If a person was 21, they could drink then, too. Franklin Roosevelt approved lowering the minimum age for the military draft from 21 to 18 during World War II. Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began pushing for the national drinking age to be set at 21. They thought it would keep alcohol out of the hands of 18-year-olds who they felt were less mature. As a result, President Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 to set the age at 21. Legislation concerning the legal minimum drinking age in the United States can be

On July 17th, 1984, President Reagan passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act (1). This meant that in order to purchase and publicly posses alcohol, one must be twenty-one years old (1). Today, many push for a reversion back to a drinking age of eighteen years old. The reasons on both sides are many, and all of them will be explored and diagnosed. As the reasons pile on, though, it will become clear that the drinking age should return to eighteen.

One main reason drinking should be allowed for college-aged students is because they are all adults, and should have equal rights as any other adult once they turn 18. As legal adults, 18-year-olds hold the option to serve in the military and die for the United States of America, can purchase cigarettes, and are able to wed, and live on their own. Along with legal obligations such as paying taxes and standing as an active jury member, adults can take out loans,

With the drinking age lowered to 18 years old, those at 15-17 (or even younger) may have friends who can purchase alcohol for them. That can create an even younger generation of drinkers who are most definitely not classified as old enough to consume alcohol by any means or by anybody. That will affect brain development, binge drinking, and create more DUI’s at an even higher level. Now instead of illegal alcohol activity being among the college setting, it is now heavier into the high school setting as well. When the legal drinking age is set at a certain age, people under that age of legality tend to drink less regardless. Since alcohol has been widely proven to not be entirely healthy for consumption and bad for brain development, it is best that the drinking age stays at 21 to reduce the amount of consumption in teens.

Over the past twenty years the minimum legal drinking age has been twenty-one in all US states, but that has not stopped citizens of the United Sates from attempting to lower the age. Following the end of prohibition in the United Sates during the Great Depression, all states agreed on a set of twenty-one to be the legal drinking age. For almost forty years there was no change in the drinking age until a decrease in the age for voting occurred. This led to the gradual decrease of the minimum legal drinking age to somewhere between the ages of eighteen and twenty among twenty-one states. Recent data collected by Henry Wechsler and Toben F. Nelson, both of which obtain either a

Bang! A soldier just got shot, and most likely p never had his first legal drink. Is this right to fight for your country and never have the freedom of drinking? The drinking age was moved to the age of 21 in 1984 due to many drunk drivers. Now I think everyone gets the point not to drink and drive due to the serious consequences. If we lowered the drinking age underage drinking wouldn’t be as big. More money for our government will be made, therefore we can buy and reproduce more goods. The drinking age should be lowered, because it will stop binge drinking, you are considered an adult at age 18, and it helps colleges.

Most states established a minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one after the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution revoked Prohibition in the year of 1933 (Wechsler 986). Between 1970 and 1975, twenty-nine states reduced their minimum legal drinking age between eighteen, nineteen, or twenty after the Vietnam War draft influenced the legal voting age to be lowered to eighteen years old (Toomey 1958) as the 26th Amendment ("Background" 1). Congress enacted the National Minimum Drinking

It wasn’t until 1984 that there was a national minimum drinking age of twenty-one. This is an act that is still in effect today. There are also still limitations on when alcohol can and can’t be sold. For example, in Indiana you can’t buy alcohol on Sundays or in Milwaukee you can’t buy any alcoholic beverages between nine PM and eight AM. There are many restrictions put on alcohol consumption and it varies from state to state.