Drinking age debate
The drinking age debate in the United States centers around the legal minimum age for alcohol consumption, which is set at twenty-one. This law, established by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, was aimed at reducing traffic fatalities among young drivers. However, the effectiveness of this age limit has been questioned by various groups, including over one hundred college presidents who argue that it may contribute to increased binge drinking in unsupervised environments. Proponents of lowering the drinking age to eighteen argue that it would allow young adults to make responsible choices and reduce secretive drinking behaviors, while opponents maintain that individuals under twenty-one lack the maturity to handle alcohol responsibly and that the current law has successfully decreased alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
Historically, the U.S. drinking age was often lower, fluctuating from eighteen to twenty-one until the 1980s when it was standardized. Comparatively, the U.S. has the highest legal drinking age among nations that permit alcohol consumption, with few exceptions globally. Supporters of the current age cite concerns about brain development and the potential for addiction among younger individuals, while critics argue that the law fosters a culture of illicit drinking and does not correlate with reduced drunk-driving fatalities. The debate continues, reflecting diverse perspectives on youth responsibility, public health, and the effectiveness of alcohol regulations.
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Drinking age debate
In 2008, more than one hundred college presidents triggered a national debate when they signed a petition stating that the United States' legal drinking age of twenty-one years was ineffective in curtailing underage drinking. Some argue that the unrealistic age is a factor in the increase in extreme drinking and are petitioning to return the drinking age to eighteen years old.
The drinking age was changed from eighteen to twenty-one in the 1980s, with the goal of reducing highway fatalities. In reality, however, minors continued to drink after the law was in place. Groups that support maintaining a minimum drinking age of twenty-one include the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the National Safety Council, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Surgeon General of the United States, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, and the secretary of transportation.
Background
Twenty-one years is the highest legal drinking age worldwide among nations that allow alcohol consumption, with the exception of a handful of states in India that have a minimum drinking age of twenty-five. According to the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, in the early 2020s, other nations with a minimum drinking age of twenty-one included Mongolia, Bangladesh, and a number of Pacific islands, among them Kiribati, Palau, and Nauru. In the United States, most states allow underage consumption in certain circumstances, such as with parental consent or for religious or medical purposes. Other exceptions included for government-work-related purposes, such as undercover police work or government research and for educational purposes, such as in culinary school. In 2022, only Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and West Virginia did not offer any exceptions to the twenty-one-year-old drinking age.
For most of American history, however, there was no age limit for drinking. Prior to the enactment of Prohibition in 1920, few US states had a legal age for consumption of alcohol. Although repeal of Prohibition in 1933, under the Twenty-First Amendment, came with a federal preference for a legal drinking age of twenty-one, states were given the option to set their own limits. Illinois and Oklahoma set different legal ages for men (twenty-one) and women (eighteen). Illinois changed its age limit in 1961, but Oklahoma maintained the two drinking ages until the Supreme Court ruled in Craig v. Boren (1976) that the difference violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Between 1970 and 1976, thirty states lowered their drinking age, with minimum ages set variously at twenty, nineteen, and eighteen. The activist group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) played a major role in the legal age being raised to twenty-one in 1984; MADD’s stance was primarily grounded in the fact that traffic fatalities involving drunk teenage drivers were on the rise. The most alarming statistic came from the 1970s, a decade in which the age was lowered to eighteen; death rates rose from 10 to 40 percent in states that had lowered the age. In 1982, only fourteen states had a minimum age of twenty-one. After the drinking age was raised, fatalities were reduced by 13 percent. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required states to raise the legal age for purchasing and possessing alcohol in public to twenty-one, or face losing millions of dollars in federal funding.
Drinking Age Today
Those who want to preserve the drinking age of twenty-one argue that teenagers are not yet mature enough to handle drinking and are more likely to injure or kill themselves or others. They also point to traffic fatalities tied to teens driving under the influence of alcohol. Many consider lowering the drinking age may be medically irresponsible because alcohol hinders the maturation of a young brain and impedes the development of planning, organization, and emotional control. Consequences of delayed development include a greater likelihood of addiction, more inclination toward risky behavior, reduced decision-making capacity, memory loss, depression, and suicidal tendencies. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported that the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities among sixteen- to twenty-year-old Americans decreased from more than five thousand in 1982 to less than two thousand in 2008, largely due to the reduction in the drinking age.
Those pushing to lower the drinking age contend that the higher age is ineffective in its goal of reducing teen drinking and instead has brought about an increase in binge drinking in uncontrolled private environments. The higher age criminalizes behavior by people who are otherwise adults, legally and socially. One consequence is a revival of “speakeasy” behavior, or drinking in places without societal restraints. The legal drinking age also increases the tendency of young people to drink as much as possible before going out in order to lower the risk of being caught drinking in public.
Lowering the age, advocates contend, would allow young adults to make their own decisions, just as they do about smoking, marriage, signing contracts, voting, or joining the military. It would also allow supervision by reducing the need to be secretive. They also argue that there appears to be no correlation between the minimum age and drunk-driving fatalities. In fact, the US data does not correlate with that of Europe, where fatalities have been decreasing since 1982, although the minimum drinking age is lower.
Critics of the current drinking age argue that lowering the age to eighteen would eliminate the need to enforce the unenforceable. It also allows diversion of enforcement resources to combating alcohol abuse, overconsumption, and driving under the influence (DUI) offenses, also called driving while intoxicated (DWI) or operating under the influence (OUI) in some states.
Opponents of the change are not convinced. They counter that unenforceability as an argument against retaining the current age is a nonstarter because many other laws are also routinely violated; society would not abandon speed limits, gun controls, or laws against violent crimes, for example, even though those laws are frequently broken. They claim that if the societal benefit is significant, enforcement remains necessary, even if the outcome is less than perfect.
Bibliography
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Griggs, Brandon. "Should the US Lower Its Drinking Age?" CNN, 4 Jan. 2015, www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/us/legal-drinking-age/. Accessed 5 May 2017.
"Impaired Driving." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1 Mar. 2024, www.cdc.gov/impaired-driving/about/. Accessed 29 July 2024.
"Minimum Legal Age Limits." International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, iard.org/science-resources/detail/minimum-legal-age-limits/. Accessed 29 July 2024.
Paglia, Camille. "The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime." Time, 23 Apr. 2014, time.com/72546/drinking-age-alcohol-repeal/. Accessed 5 May 2017.
Stevens, Lindy. “129 College Presidents Back Lowering Nation’s Drinking Age.” The Michigan Daily, 1 Sept. 2008, www.michigandaily.com/content/129-college-presidents-back-lowering-nations-drinking-age. Accessed 5 May 2017.
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Wechsler, Henry, and Toben F. Nelson. “Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences among Youths?” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 100, no. 6, 2010, pp. 986–92. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=50616981&site=ehost-live. Accessed 5 May 2017.