The Drinking Age

By: Ian Hill Emily Szamier Stryker Farrar Ben Little Ben Dyer Nikolai Beer

The Teams Approach

Collaborative research sharing ideas and information gathered Utilized the team development theory by setting a common goal and creating certain jobs to achieve said goal
Goal:
To conduct thorough research about the drinking age, and combine it into an effective presentation that explores all options and possibilities To exhaust all resources of as much knowledge pertaining to the drinking age

Whats the deal with Alcohol?

The Perspectives:
Lower the drinking age Keep the drinking age the same Raise the drinking age **Prohibition **More limitations or restrictions Why is the drinking age so important? What raised the issue or continues to keep the issue such a hot topic? What factors play into the debate? What caused prohibition and what ended it? Primary vs. Secondary? Who is involved? Who is affected? What is the impact the drinking age has on secondary stakeholders?

The Key Issues:

The Stakeholders:

Some Background
1855: alcohol was illegal in nearly a third of the states 1860s: states began repealing the bans or failing to enforce the laws 1919-1920: a gap between the proposed amendment allowed people to stock up on booze 1920: the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within the United States Dec. 5, 1933: the 21st amendment officially ended Prohibition 1984: Congress passed and President Reagan signed legislation that cut federal highway aid by 10 percent for states that didn't lower their drinking ages to 21, as a minimum
Aimed to curb drunk driving incidents

1988: all states had complied with President Reagans legislation ** (Price, June 8th 2012)

Why Prohibition Started?

Medical?
It was discovered that alcohol damaged our health and could affect livelihood

Economic?
Laborers were drinking too much, and missing work as a consequence Other alcohol businesses lost jobs Too much money spent on alcohol which affected family dynamics Women set up first prohibition groups, because of the excess of males drinking/bingeing which caused internal family issues

** (Ben (n.d.))

Why Prohibition Ended?

Prohibition was poorly enforced and failed to ensure sobriety It cost billions of dollars Also, rapidly lost support in the 1930s, when alcohol for practical purposes, was simply missed Some states continued Prohibition, maintaining statewide temperance laws Mississippi was the last dry state and officially ended Prohibition in 1966

**(History)

Some Words to Keep in Mind

Alcoholism:
A chronic disorder marked by excessive and usually compulsive drinking of alcohol leading to psychological and physical dependence or addiction

Bingeing:
An act of excessive or compulsive consumption

**(Merriam-Webster)

The Deadly Facts

There are 80,000 alcohol related deaths each year in America About 4,700 young Americans die as a result of underage drinking Excessive drinking killed 10,228 people on American roads in 2010, a number that's been on a fairly steady decline since 1982, when 26,173 died in alcohol-related crashes. Raw numbers show that drunk driving fatalities have definitely dropped since the early 1980s (Trex, (n.d.))
Keep in mind that driving has also dramatically increased since the 1980s. Increased seat belt usage, airbags, and safety improvements to both cars and roads are also a factor ** (Price, June 8th 2012)

The Facts
An estimated $220 billion is drained from the economy because of alcohol related situations College students drink more alcohol and binge drink more than nonstudents of the same age According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), binge drinking accounts for 90 percent of alcohol consumed by teens, and more than half by adults Traffic reports show a 62% decrease in alcohol fatalities among teen drivers since 1982 (Trex, (n.d.)) Alcohol is the most abused substance in America (Curie, (n.d.)) Underage college students consume 48% of all alcohol consumption by 4 year students (Curie, (n.d.))

** (Price, June 8th 2012)

More Data and Statistics

** (Price, June 8th 2012)

More Pictures

Key Stakeholders
Primary Stakeholders?
Consumers under the age of 21 Law enforcement/government Alcohol retailers and manufacturers
Over 6 billion dollars in 2011 and increasing every year (tax policy center (n.d.))

Military

(Primary) Secondary Stakeholders?

Everyone
Drivers Family of drinker(s) children, siblings, and parents spouse Pedestrians peers friends

Key Issues
Safety
25,692 alcohol induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides (CDC) More than 25,000 lives have been saved due to the minimum drinking age
Lots of factors that could potentially affect this statistic

Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents Increased risk of homicide or suicide Increased risk for assaults and rapes on college campuses

Health
15,990 alcoholic liver disease deaths in 2010 (CDC) Youths that start to drink at age 15 or younger are more likely develop substance abuse problems (Curie, (n.d.)) Can Increase chance of (U.S. Department of Health):
Cardiomyopathy stretching and drooping of heart muscle Arrhythmias irregular heart beat Stroke High blood pressure

More Key Issues

Economy
$220 billion dollars spent as a result of alcohol Police enforcement of underage drinkers
What kind of resources are used to enforce these laws?

Why people drink?

Sociability
Studies prove this is the number one reason for drinking (International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP))

Enjoy the taste Overcoming shyness and uneasiness Peer pressure To get drunk A way to forget problems

When should people first drink?

Alcohol can cause alteration in the structure and function of the developing brain, which continues to mature into a persons mid 20s (U.S. Department of Health and Services) Exposing the brain to alcohol during this period (i.e, before age 21) may interrupt key processes of brain development and alcoholinduced brain damage may persist. 18 year olds would have the ability to supply younger high school students the trickle down affect

What about Denmark?

Just to be clear: there is no legal drinking age, just a legal purchasing age In Denmark 16 year olds can legally buy alcohol under 16.5 alcohol percentage anything over 16.5% and you must be 18 years old
The idea is to prolong life - Time Magazine published an article showing that drinkers outlive those who never drink

Some studies show that you are more likely to be the first to be let off in a job if you dont participate in any of the drinking events with coworkers
Build better relationships

Teen clubs across the country arrange organized parties to allow the youth to drink in a safe environment Statistically there are more tried youth in Denmark that dont drink then those who do drink alcohol Denmark also offers a variety of different transportation options that allow someone a safe passage home at any time of the day/night
Trains, busses, walking paths, and taxis

More About Denmark

Teen clubs across the country arrange organized parties to allow the youth to drink in a safe environment Statistically there are more tried youth in Denmark that dont drink then those who do drink alcohol Denmark also offers a variety of different transportation options that allow someone a safe passage home at any time of the day/night
Trains, busses, walking paths, and taxis

With all that said, Denmark is still number 4 out of countries with highest alcohol related deaths 9.9/100,000
However most of these deaths are from overconsumption not necessarily driving, or accidents

Alcohol is implicated in 25.1% of road traffic accident mortality and in 16.3% of the corresponding morbidity. **(Rehn (n.d.))

Some Stats

What we learned?
A major shock in the research, was that some of the assumptions about alcohol in Europe, or more specifically, Denmark were not as factually correct as one may hope. Denmark also struggles significantly with alcohol related problems, even though they are maybe misconceived as having safe regulations. The drinking statistics gathered about America were far less surprising. The drinking age has always been a hot topic, especially among the youth. While most youth would like to see the drinking age be lowered to 18, that is maybe not the best solution according to the data and research

Conclusion
Based on the information and research gathered by the group, we found that there is no simple answer to the debate of the drinking age. However, with that said, it seems that the often proposal of changing the drinking age to 18 would not be the best of the options. We think that lowering the age to 19 or possibly 20 would be the best compromise with the most beneficial results. 21 seems to be to high, and does not necessarily result in the most beneficial solution. This is based on the key issues we explored and the data collected. Reasons span from health related issues to how accessible alcohol would be for minors if the age was 18

References: Works Cited

Price, T. (2012, June 8). Alcohol abuse. CQ Researcher, 22, 501-524. Retrieved from http://0library.cqpress.com.wncln.wncln.org/cqresearcher/

Trex, E. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/19437/why-drinking-age-21

Ben , W. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/28892/prohibition/why/ CDC. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm Saunders, J. B. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brad21.org/facts.html Curie, C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/media/pdf/underagerpttocongress.pdf U.S. Department of Health (n.d.). Retrieved from website: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/alcohols-effects-body Rehn, N. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iss.it/binary/alcol/cont/alcohol in european region.1185265094.pdf (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=399 http://www.merriam-webster.com http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prohibition-ends http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/images/underage_consumption_map_2011.gif http://www.espad.org/denmark# http://alcoholcultureindenmark.blog.com