Underage Drinkers And The Drinking Age

The issue of underage drinking has become a major problem, especially on college campuses. But, underage drinking is not purely the root of all accidents related to alcohol. The real problem lies within the unsafe underage drinking habits amongst youth. There are ways that these alcohol-related accidents can be avoided. Several organizations have been created that are targeting a change in the legal drinking age laws. One key way to lower the risk of unsafe drinking is to lower the minimum legal drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen.

The drinking age was moved from 18 to 21 for a reason. The higher drinking age of 21 has saved many lives, helped reduce the amount of underage drinking, and therefore should not be lowered. Many studies from a large variety of sources have proven higher drinking ages have a positive effect on society.

The U.S doesn’t have a minimum drinking age, states are allowed to set the limits where they choose, but each state chooses to be the same. The U.S. is only one of four nations worldwide with a drinking age as high as 21. Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth. “In 2012, nearly ¾ of students have consumed alcohol by the end of high school and more than 1/3 have done so by 8th grade.” Even though the minimum legal drinking age is 21, many under 21 still consume alcohol at some point. In fact, underage drinking is overwhelmingly common among college students. If anything, the high drinking age only drives young people to consume more alcohol. "The evidence is clear that there would be consequences if we lowered the legal drinking age," said study researcher William DeJong of Boston University School of Public Health. The decrease in drinking and driving problems are the result of many factors and not just the rise in purchase age or the decreased per capita consumption. These include: education concerning drunk driving, designated driver programs, increased seat belt and air bag usage, safer automobiles, lower speed limits, free taxi services from drinking establishments, etc. William DeJong states, “ despite its demonstrated effectiveness, the law does strike some people as unfair.” More

In the U.S. News opinion piece, A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe, Laura Dean-Mooney states, “Lowering the drinking age would have dangerous long-term consequences: early teen drinkers are not only more susceptible to alcoholism but to developing the disease earlier and more quickly than others” (Dean-Mooney n.pag.). Despite this, getting rid of, or at least decreasing the lure of the forbiddenness of alcohol and bringing the consumption

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.

Lowering the drinking age will allow for parental guidance for the young people starting drinking alcohol. If younger people were allowed to drink with their parents they would not engage in risky behaviors such as asking strangers for alcohol. The drinking age in three western European countries is lower than 21 and in those countries the young people learn to control themselves(Wechsier ).The Amethyst Initiative,

There have been arguments, more so now than before, about lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age. Realistically, to do so would be unideal. From 1609 when the first colonist arrived in Jamestown in 1919, in the United States of America there were no age restrictions on alcohol consumption or purchase. Prior to Prohibition drinking laws varied by state, and there was no national law in concerns to a drinking age. Most states had no laws establishing a legal drinking age. In 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, making the sale and consumption of alcohol in the United States illegal. When Prohibition ended in 1930 the legal drinking age was 18 until 1984, when Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, it forced states to alter their age requirements to legally buy and possess alcohol. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act raised the age limit from 18 to 21 by October of 1986. If states failed to do so, they would lose 10% of their federal highway funding. The goal of the act was achieved by October 1986, which still stand until today. Yet, there are arguments over lowering the drinking age back to 18. To lower the drinking age to 18 would be a defective idea for numerous reasons. The age limit should remain at 21 because all things that can kill you must have restrictions, 18, 19, and 20 year old’s brains are not fully developed, and because it would be in the best for the public interest.

In 1984, the United States’ federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Under this act, the federal government gives highway funds to States that forbid people under the age of twenty-one years old from “purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages”(23 U.S.C. § 158). The incentive created a sense of a standardized minimum drinking age when legally there cannot be a federal minimum drinking age. Even though this Act has been in effect for decades, there are many debates on whether or not the age should be changed. The minimum legal drinking age should stay the same because it prevents a large number of drinking and driving accidents; it reduces overall alcohol consumption; and it has very horrible health effects on youth.

Why is the Minimum Legal Drinking Age 21? State governments decided their own individual drinking age after Prohibition ended in 1933. Through out the course of the Vietnam War, some states lowered their drinking age to 18, 19, and 20

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

Ever since the end of prohibition in 1933 the United States government has placed the issue of minimum legal drinking age sensitively in the hands of the states, letting each decide for itself what the minimum age should be. At that time all agreed that the minimum legal drinking age should be 21, where it remained for all states until 1970.Between 1970, and 1975 a number of states played around with the idea of lowering that age to 20, 19, and

Government officials and citizens alike have debated whether the drinking age laws should be lowered to eighteen once again. MLDA twenty one does not work and is being ignored by minors and adults. Even lower drinking ages imposed in other countries are working, judging by their lower death rates. By enabling people eighteen and under to drink, the economy would grow. The minimum legal drinking age limit should be reverted back to the original eighteen years old.

In all 50 states the minimum legal drinking age is 21 and has been since after the Vietnam War (“Addressing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age in College Communities”). During the Vietnam War, arguments spread about how the legal drinking age should correspond with the draft age of 18 (“Addressing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age in College Communities”). After reports of drunk driving accidents and deaths with younger ages, President Ronald Reagan issued to have the MLDA raised to 21-years-old (“Addressing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age in College Communities”). “In 1984, 23 states had minimum alcohol purchasing ages of 21 year old, and on July 17th of that year, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to withhold federal highway funds from 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