The Prohibition era of the United States, where the consumption and sale of all alcohol was firmly prohibited by the American government and punishable by law, was one of the most volatile eras in its history. Bootleggers and speakeasies made the criminal underworld thrive in America until, due to this activity and the unpopular nature of the law, Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Since then, the minimum drinking age was put into practice to make sure that no one below a certain age was allowed to drink, a declaration that has changed dramatically over time. However, there have been questions as to whether or not the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. There is precedent in the history of the legal drinking age, and the debate rages over whether or not it keeps people safe, or whether it just arbitrarily limits the freedoms of individuals who can do more dangerous things legally already.
The drinking age has not always been set at 21; there are many states that have their own provisos and provisions regarding a lower drinking age. Post-Prohibition, following the 1933 repeal of the Amendment, most states decided on a minimum drinking age of 21. Colorado, however, still had no drinking age, and only set it at 18 in the year 1945. In Illinois, while men had to be 21 to drink, women only had to be 18 years old to drink. Idaho allowed you to be 20 and still drink beer, but liquor retained the 21-year stipulation. New York, North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia (for beer and wine) and others all had a minimum drinking age of 18, and still others had minimums set at 19 (Miron and Tetelbaum, 2007).
In 1971, the 26th Amendment of the Constitution was passed, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18; this also had an effect on minimum drinking ages, as a lot of states equated the right to vote with the right to drink. Many states lowered their drinking age minimums in the early 70s; all states but Arkansas, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming lowered their drinking ages to between the ages of 18 and 20, depending on the state (Cultice, p. 172).
There are those who believe in the lower drinking age; consuming alcohol is considered to be a socially acceptable practice, and many people claim that 18 year olds should be allowed to drink alcohol since they are already allowed to do more dangerous things - like join the military or drive a motor vehicle. Lowering the drinking age, it is argued, will more strictly regulate the consumption and sale of alcohol, and permit underage drinkers to have a legal means of obtaining alcohol. This would free up law enforcement resources allocated to enforcing these higher legal drinking ages, and they would keep underage drinkers from seeking out dangerous alternative options for obtaining alcohol.
Despite the varying degrees to which states determined their minimum drinking ages, this all changed with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which stated that all states would set their minimum drinking ages to 21. This was enforced by lowering the federal highway apportionment of each state that did not follow through by ten percent. This amendment came about from the study of drunk driving accidents started by Ronald Reagan's commission and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). The phenomenon of drunk driving is the major reasoning behind those who seek to have the drinking age minimums remain at 21 - studies have shown that a high legal drinking age lowers the prevalence of fatal injuries among adolescents (Jones et al., p. 112). There is also a spillover effect, as a lower drinking age would permit 18 year olds to grant 15-16 year olds access to alcohol, leading to even higher fatal injuries. The more experience with alcohol one has, the lower the likelihood is to have a fatal injury, suggesting that the higher drinking age leads to fewer injuries.
Since the NMDA of 1984, there has been tremendous opposition to the setting of the minimum drinking age to 21. Studies have indicated that binge drinking most often occurs in those under 21, perhaps due to the illegal and taboo nature of underage drinking that is established by the rule. Difficulty in enforcing the 21 age minimums and the subjective unfairness of the bill has led some, including New York assembly members, to push forward bills that would set a drinking age back at 18. These individuals and organizations argue that the 21-year-old drinking age does not do anything to solve dangerous college drinking binges, and only serves to make them worse (Engs, 2003).
Even now, there are states that still do not abide by the Minimum Drinking Age Law. Louisiana, for example, still has its minimum age set at 18, though this mostly applies only to certain exceptions. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, both US territories, have 18 year drinking ages. There is sufficient precedent to suggest that these states have been doing just fine with an 18 year old drinking age, and that the rest of the country should follow suit. Those who wish to lower the LDA seem to suggest that teen drinking continues unabated regardless of the illegality of it, but it moves to less controllable areas. This increases the likelihood of injury (Jones et al., 1992), and promotes even more risky behavior along with drinking, since the threshold of rebellion and illegality has already been crossed. It is also said that it should not be the purview of government to regulate certain age limits for certain activities, as 18 year olds are already permitted to do very dangerous things - in most states, that age is considered the "age of majority," meaning that they have all of the responsibilities inherent to adulthood. Continuing said regulation into years beyond the age of majority is confusing and unnecessary for many who oppose the drinking age limit.
In conclusion, the legal drinking age limit is a huge controversy for many. Some believe that it should remain at 21, because it will limit the access youths have to alcohol, and will cut down on the number of car accidents and fatal injuries among adolescents. However, there are others who believe alcohol consumption falls into the age of majority, and that this particular liberty should not be infringed upon; they also feel as though lowering the drinking age would bring regulation to an already existing problem of youth drinking. The debate has no clear answer, but each side has their unique advantages and talking points.
Works Cited
Cultice, Wendell W. Youth’s Battle for the Ballot: A History of Voting Age in America. New
York: Greenwood Press, 1992.
Engs, Ruth. "Drinking Practices and Patterns Among Collegians", November 2003.
Jones, Nancy E., Pieper, Carl F., and Robertson, Leon S. "The Effect of Legal Drinking Age on
Fatal Injuries of Adolescents and Young Adults." American Journal of Public Health vol.
82, no. 1, pp. 112-115. January 1992. Print.
Miron, Jeffrey A., and Elina Tetelbaum. "Does the Minimum Drinking Age Save Lives?"
Nber.org. 2007-07-12.
