Minimum Legal Drinking Age
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Background
A majority of the youth consumes alcohol, and during adolescence the tendency of this increases. About 6% of ten to eleven year olds drink alcoholic beverages. This percentage increases to about 25% by the ages of twelve to fourteen, and eventually to 55% by the ages of fifteen to seventeen. An astounding 92% of high school seniors have reported that they have consumed alcohol at one point or another, and 64% report being current drinkers. 35% of these seniors have said that they are regularly intoxicated 1 Because of this high level of intoxication in high school students, there are high rates of health and social problems. The leading cause of death for teenagers is motor vehicle crashes, and one third or one half of these fatal accidents involve alcohol. A wide variety of health problems are associated with the use of alcoholic beverages.
Historical Perspectives
History Around the globe the legal drinking age varies from 0 to 21. It is generally 18 in most countries, however a few such as the United States, Thailand, North Korea and many countries in the Middle East raised the age to 21 years or older.2 The U.S. drinking age of 21 years has had a long history since the days of Prohibition when it was enforced in nearly every state. In 1919 all alcohol consumption by any age group was prohibited mainly because of the belief that alcohol caused rampant violence and delinquency, as well as the increasingly popular puritan values, which included anti-drinking..3 Around 1970 through 1975, many other legal age restrictions such as voting were lowered and along with it came drinking. Most states changed their laws to lower the age to 18.4
Law Mother's Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) pressured lawmakers to raise the minimum drinking age. Following this pressure, 16 states raised the minimum drinking age between 1976 and 1983. Due to concerns of minors traveling across state borders to consume alcohol, the Federal Government issued the Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984. The Minimum Drinking Age Act required that all states raise the minimum drinking age to 21 or face severe reduction in federal highway funding.5 Most states did comply with the act in fear of the reduction of federal highway funding, however, state drinking laws do vary slightly from state to state still. There were however, some important exceptions to the rule which include the right of a minor to be in possession of alcohol for the following reasons: lawful employment by a licensed alcohol manufacturer, religious practices accompanied by an adult or guardian, being employed by a private club and administration by a licensed physician, doctor, nurse or medical staff.
Debate There are many arguments in favor of keeping the drinking age as it stands at age 21 or lowering it. Those in favor of the current drinking age feel that it dramatically lowers the incidence of drunk driving because the law makes it harder for those under age to purchase and consume alcohol. Those opposed assert that setting the drinking age at 21 will not cause underage drinkers to stop consuming alcohol, but rather go underground and engage in risky behavior to do so. If teens are not to be found in clubs or bars, they will be found at parties where risky binge drinking is more likely to be present. Numerous studies have been completed over the years but it is very hard to see direct conclusions in them. Those opposed to the current minimum drinking age feel that denying legal adults the right to drink is unethical because those same adults are able to vote, fight in a war, own property and do many other things. Many point to the fact that if you are able to fight and die for this country, you should be able to have an alcoholic beverage. Another argument is that Alcohol related emergencies rise when the drinking age is high because there is no room for parents to introduce alcohol slowly and safely into their children's lives. According to researchers William Dee and Thomas Evans, this unfamiliarity of alcohol in teen�s lives merely just shifts fatality risks from teenage years to young adulthood, instead of preventing it all together.6
Wherever one stands on this issue, everyone can agree that how alcohol relates to young adults lives is critically important and there is a need to come together as a nation to find an appropriate age that benefits everyone.
Recommendations
There should be stronger punishments for those providing the alcohol to the underage youth. There also needs to be an increased number of Alcohol Beverage Control enforcement officers. Sting operations for alcohol outlets could also help restrict the sale of alcoholic beverages to underage minors. Every time there is an alcohol bust, the source should be documented. The social environment should be evaluated to research the encouragement of youth drinking.
Alcohol Dependence On-Set
In 2001-2002 the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism did research to determine if individuals who had become dependant on alcohol at younger ages are more likely to seek treatment or perhaps experience a chronic relapsing dependence. 7 The institute did face-to-face interviews with a sample of about 43,000 people under the age of 18. They mainly focused on 4778 people that were diagnosable as dependent on alcohol using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria. The institute concentrated on whether the individuals ever sought treatment, smoked or used other drugs, and they examined their childhood antisocial personality and depression. 7 The results they got were that 15% of the individuals studied were diagnosable before the age of 18, 47% before the age of 21, and about 66% before the age of 25. 28% had reported more than two dependence episodes, 45% experienced dependence episodes exceeding one year, and 34% had six or seven dependence criteria. The odds of those who became dependant over the age of thirty to seek help were higher than that of those who first became dependant before the ages of eighteen, twenty, and twenty-five. People that first became dependant under the age of twenty-five had much greater odds of experiencing episodes exceeding one year. 7 The institute concluded that young adults need to be counseled about alcohol, and help should be readily available at the first onset of alcohol dependence. 7
References
1. Enforcement of the Legal Minimum Drinking Age in the United States Alexander C. Wagenaar, Mark Wolfson Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 37-53 doi:10.2307/3342606
2. �Legal Drinking Age.� Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. 7 Jul. 2007 http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html
3. �Prohibition in the United States� Wikipedia. 5 Jul. 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
4. �Brief History of the Minimum Legal Drinking Age�American Medical Association. 5 Jul. 2007 http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/13246.html
5. �Legislative Analysis of the Minimum Drinking Age Act� National Youth Rights.Org 6 Jul. 2007 http://www.youthrights.org/legana.php
6. �Behavioral Policies and Teen Traffic Saftey� National Youth Rights.Org 7 Jul. 2007 http://youthrights.org/docs/DeeEvansDrinkingAgeStudy.pdf
7. PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 3 September 2006, pp. e755-e763(doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0223)
