According to the Centers for Disease Control, people ages 12 to 20 consume 11% of all alcohol in the United States. More than 90% of these teenagers consume alcohol bingely. Regardless of whether the legal drinking age is 18 or 21, we must recognize that many young adults and teens drink alcohol and even binge drink. Most importantly, we must recognize that proper education is important for young adults to make safe and wise choices about their own behaviour. As the debate over drinking age continues, we must continue to work hard to monitor and educate young adults about the dangers of alcohol abuse. Heavy drinking peaks at 45.4% among 21- to 25-year-olds, while binge drinking rates among 12- to 13-year-olds, 14- to 15-year-olds, 16- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 20-year-olds are 0.3%, 3.7%, 10.2% and 26.2%, respectively. [49] Normalizing responsible drinking from an early age and controlling driving under the influence of alcohol can reduce drunk driving. Germany, Russia and China are examples. 100 of 102 analyses (98%) of a meta-study on the legal drinking age and traffic accidents found a higher legal drinking age, which is associated with lower rates of road accidents. [19] In the 30 years since the introduction of MLDA 21, drunk driving deaths have decreased by one-third. [50] The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that MLDA 21 saved 31,417 lives between 1975 and 2016. [50] People who start drinking, who start drinking in adolescence, are more likely to have problems such as alcoholism later in life.
(i) Educate young people aged 18 to 20 on how to consume alcohol responsibly using a curriculum similar to driver training programmes and implemented across States; and (ii) issue a liquor license to individuals who pass a final examination at the end of the 40-hour educational program, the license allowing such individuals to legally drink alcohol in the state where the license is issued. (Toomey et al., 1962). Giving teens access to alcohol at age 18 makes them more vulnerable to a car accident due to drunk driving. Seizing this opportunity seems irresponsible. As an article in MADD`s Driven magazine puts it, “Promoting `responsible driving and drinking` is like promoting `responsible driving shootings.`” 20% of US teens aged 16 to 17 and 7.4 percent aged 14 to 15 report drinking alcohol in the past month, compared to an average of 38% of European teens aged 15 to 16. [49] [52] U.S. teens ages 16-17 also have lower rates of binge drinking (12.6%) than 15- to 16-year-olds from Europe (35%). [49] [52] However, research has shown that an alcohol drinking age of 21 years reduces alcohol consumption among people under 21 years of age, including high school students. Alcohol consumption by young adults has demonstrable and serious costs: for example, a lower age to consume alcohol leads to more deaths on the roads.
In fact, road accidents are one of the main reasons why the Vietnamese-era experiment with a lower drinking age was abandoned. Other effects of lowering the drinking age may be less obvious, but no less costly. In the 1980s, states decided to raise the drinking age to 21. Surprisingly, it wasn`t because of security, audience pressure, or even their own emotions. That. The legal drinking age in our country, dictated from state to state, has a turbulent history. When prohibition was repealed, the legal drinking age was accepted nationally at 21, but when the voting age rose from 21 to 18 in the early 1970s, many states followed suit by also lowering the drinking age. Soon after, however, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed, punishing states that allowed people under the age of 21 to publicly purchase and possess alcoholic beverages. The problem never seems to go away, and New Hampshire and California are two of the latest states to reignite the drinking age debate with policy proposals hoping to garner voter support. The California proposal[1] aims to legalize the purchase and consumption of alcohol for people 18 years of age and older, while the New Hampshire bill[2] would legalize the consumption of beer and wine for persons aged 18 to 20 as long as they are in the presence of adults aged 21 and older.
In addition, drinking and driving is strongly correlated among youth. According to M.A.D.D. (Mothers vs. Drunk Driving), the highest rates of drunkenness were observed among 21-25 year olds (23.4%) and 18-20 year olds (15.1%) in 2010. After the age of 25, rates of drunkenness decrease. According to the CDC, lowering the drinking age could impair brain development, leading to depression, decreased motor skills, or memory loss. Statistically, fewer accidents and deaths under the influence of alcohol occur in countries where the legal drinking age is 18. My research with Angela Fertig examined the effects of drinking age going back to the 1980s, when many states went from a low of 18 to 21. Our study found that a lower drinking age was associated with a statistically higher risk of unwanted pregnancies and, most importantly, poorer infant health. [3] University alcohol consumption. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Accessed by www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/college-drinking March 15, 2016.