Brant 1

Lowering the Legal Drinking Age

Matt Brant Dr. Stanford English 1102-029 September 19, 2013

Brant 2 At the end of 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed alcohol prohibition and gave states the right to set their own laws on the consumption of alcohol. During this time, most states set their Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) to 21. After the legal voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 nationwide by the 26th amendment in 1971, 30 states decided to lower their MLDA down to 18, 19, or 20. This movement left only 14 states remaining with a MLDA of 21 by the year 1982. In 1984, Congress voted to pass the National Minimum Drinking Age Act as a result of statistics in the 70s indicating that vehicle accidents caused by teenage drivers had increased among states where the MLDA was below 21. Surprisingly the National Minimum Drinking Age Act didnt actually require a MLDA of 21 nationally. Instead, the act threatened states that their federal transportation funds would be cut off if they didnt increase their MLDA to 21, essentially finding a loophole to mandate a national MLDA without technically taking away the states rights on the decision. Though the MLDA is 21 in every state across the nation, the age of majority, or the age that individuals are considered adults and consume the rights and responsibilities that come along with adulthood is 18. Because of this difference in the MLDA and the age of majority, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether maintaining the MLDA at 21 is the right decision, or if it would be smarter and fairer to lower it down to the age of majority (ProCon.org). Personally, I feel that the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 to 18. Dr. Ruth Engs is internationally recognized for producing numerous books, articles, and scientific papers on alcohol and the drinking problems and patterns associated with it amongst college students (D. R. Engs). After more than 20 years of extensive research into college age drinking, Dr. Engs feels that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 or 19 years of age. The suggested lowering of this age though comes with some regulations of such younger

Brant 3 drinking. Under this proposition, people 18 years of age or higher would have the right to drink in controlled environments where drinking responsibly could be taught correctly. Currently the law requires individuals to be 21 years of age in order to legally purchase alcohol, yet the majority of college students that are under this age tend to consume alcohol in an irresponsible manner. The primary reason for such behavior is simply because at that age, consuming alcohol is illegal, therefore young adults are more inclined to drink in excess and not be smart about it when they get the opportunity to drink. Disobeying the current drinking laws is most commonly seen in college or university students, and those under 21 tend to me more likely to be binge drinkers, meaning they consume more than five drinks at least one time per week. For example, of all student drinkers, 32% under the age of 21 are considered heavy drinkers, whereas only 24% of drinkers above the legal age are seen as heavy drinkers. Dr. Engs also pointed out that from the early 1980s to the present, research shows there has been a continual decrease in drinking and driving related incidents which aligns with the decrease in alcohol consumption per capita among the nation as well as in university students. Though these trends started in 1980, it was well before the national law requiring all states legal purchase age be set at 21 surfaced in 1987. Another significant aspect to consider about such decrease in drinking and driving problems is that there are many other factors that could have contributed to it such as stricter penalties, increased awareness education, safer vehicles, free taxi services or designated driver programs, and slower speed limits. Although there has been a trending decrease in consumption and car accidents attributed to alcohol, there has actually been an increase in heavy and irresponsible drinking and the effects that follow among college age individuals. This increase can be shown by the statistic that from 46% of students said they vomited after drinking between 1982 and 1987 and after the legal age increased to 21 in 1987, it jumped to 50%, showing that

Brant 4 students were becoming more irresponsible when it came to drinking after the increase in age. This increase is directly attributed to what is known as underground drinking, where students under the legal age are away in their dorms or apartments with other individuals of similar age without any adults, due to the lack of responsibility in their drinking behaviors (D. R. Engs). After Dr. Engs published her opinion about the legal drinking age based upon her research, she became even more well known for her findings and studies about alcohol, so much that people wanted to know more about her opinion on her proposal to lower the legal drinking age in order to establish responsibility among young drinkers. One of the main people who wanted to talk to Dr. Engs about the subject and get more of a clear perspective on her opinion was Dr. David J. Hanson. In order to get this information and be able to release it to the public for easy access to gain further knowledge on it, Dr. Hanson conducted an interview on the controversy of the legal drinking age with Dr. Engs. In this interview, Dr. Engs made a good point that at age 18, 19, or 20, individuals have the right to get married, yet they cant even enjoy sipping champagne at their own wedding. On top of everything that she had stated as her proposal in her initial article, she also added that she would suggest that no matter what their age, people should be able to consume alcohol under the supervision of their parents in their homes, to introduce them how to drink responsibly before they go out in public on their own trying to learn. Dr. Engs made an interesting comparison when talking about people under the age of 21 not being able to legally drink. First she brought back history and made the statement that here in the United States prohibition has been tried two separate times, once in the 1850s at the state level, and then the major one nationally in the 1920s. Both attempts at prohibition were total failures that just created serious social problems and rebellious activity against the law from the public. Dr. Engs considers having the MLDA of 21 as it is now as another prohibition that is

Brant 5 specifically targeted at individuals within that three year period where purchase and consumption is illegal. Just like during the national prohibition in the 1920s, the people who are affected by the increase in the MLDA have continued to tend to drink more and do so in an abusive manner than those of legal age (D. R. Engs). Gene Ford is the founder and publisher of Healthy Drinking magazine, and has written many books about drinking and consuming alcoholic beverages and the health benefits that come along with doing so. His thoughts and ideas on the MLDA are very similar to those of Dr. Engs. Ford stated that the United States has the strictest laws pertaining to young adults drinking than that of any other country in western civilization, yet we also have more problems that result from young people drinking than anyone else. It is a proven scientific fact that introducing drinking early on is by far the safest way to reduce and prevent alcohol abuse amongst young people. In numerous other countries, it is custom to grow up learning to drink with the family so that it is seen as a normal circumstance and allows them to gain responsibility in their actions when they are drinking before they go out on their own and not knowingly abuse it. It has been proven that when given the opportunity, young people have the ability to be truly adult in their behavior while drinking. Unfortunately, they arent given that opportunity to do so because of minimum drinking age laws (Ford). Alex Yellin published a petition to try and get the MLDA lowered to age 18. Like Dr. Engs, he feels that by lowering the MLDA to 18, people of age 18-20 would be able to drink legally in supervised environments rather than having to be underground drinking and constantly hiding it by doing it in places such as house parties, which could potentially save some peoples lives. Another point that he makes is that at age 18, a citizen of this country can be sent to war and die for his country, but cant order a drink at the bar. At 18 we can vote for elected officials

Brant 6 to guide our nation, but cant grab a case of beer from the grocery store. In this country, 18 is the age in which America views an individual as an adult, therefore they should be given the right to decide on their own whether or not they want to drink alcohol and be responsible about it. Maintaining the current MLDA at 21 simply just doesnt make sense, for the fact that it doesnt actually prevent teens from drinking, if they want to do so, they will, and theyre certainly more likely to do so irresponsibly with it being against the current laws. A poll was taken of a few thousand seniors in high school back in 2006 that revealed 72% of them had tried alcohol before. This just goes to show that no matter what the laws against it are, it isnt going to change the availability and experimentation young adults are going to do with alcohol, only make it worse due to the lack of knowledge and experience they have thus far (Yellin). In order to see both sides of the argument, rather than just pushing for the lowering of the MLDA from 21 to 18 here in the United States, I found a chart that breaks down all of the pros and cons of lowering the legal drinking age. ProCon.org said that on the plus side of lowering the drinking age, 18 years of age is when one is classified as an adult in the United States and as adults, individuals should be given the right to decide whatever they want about drinking alcohol. On the flipside, it would be irresponsible on the medical side of things to lower the MLDA because heavy alcohol consumption can get in the way of young adults brain development. Again another source agrees with Dr. Engs in the fact that lowering the drinking age down to 18 would eliminate the excitement of breaking the law in order to get a drink, making it not as risky and therefore not as dangerous because if 18 year olds have access to it, chances are they arent going to abuse it and be irresponsible with their right because the excitement of having to hide it is no longer present. On the other hand, one could argue that the drinking age laws reduce the number of underage drinkers. Another reason to lower the age

Brant 7 would be that with such a high amount of people defying the current drinking age laws, more people tend to have a general disrespect and defiance of other laws that are in place. In other words, by lowering the legal drinking age, less people would have to go against the law to drink, making them be less defiant of other laws since they arent having to break such a big one to begin with because by breaking one, its easier to go against others because the morality of it is already gone (ProCon.org). Personally I feel that the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 down to 18. After looking through and discovering several different peoples opinions on the issue, I found it rather interesting to find some of the things that I did. Most of which aligned with my feelings and thoughts on the lowering of the age as well. For starters I feel very strongly that if given the opportunity, young adults 18-20 would be a lot less likely to be irresponsible and abuse alcohol if they were allowed to drink in public social settings where they could be relaxed and regulated and not have to worry about getting in trouble for it. As a result of this, I believe that young adults wouldnt drink near as much either if the legal drinking age were to be lowered because they wouldnt have to hide it. I have a couple friends that are 21 and over, and they told me from personal experience that once they actually turned 21 and could legally drink and buy it on their own, it became a lot less exciting and they found themselves drinking a lot less than they had before they became of age. I think the thing I feel most strongly about in the context of this issue is that if I can go out and fight, and possibly die for my country, I feel that there should be absolutely no problem with me being able to take a drink. As an adult in every other aspect of our lives as citizens of this country, there should be no reason that we are limited on the ability to consume alcohol if we so please to do so, after all we are adults and that decision should be our personal responsibility to make on our own.

Brant 8

Bibliography
Engs, Dr. Ruth C. Why the Drinking Age Should be Lowered: An Opinion Based Upon Research. 20 March 1998. Web. 9 September 2013. <http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cqoped.html>. Engs, Dr. Ruth. The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered Dr. David J. Hanson. 1997. Web. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1053520190.html>. Ford, Gene. Why We Should Lower the Drinking Age to 19. 1997. Web. 9 September 2013. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1046348192.html>. ProCon.org. Drinking Age. 6 August 2013. Web. 9 September 2013. <http://drinkingage.procon.org/#background>. Yellin, Alex. Lower the Minimum Legal Drinking Age to 18. 2013. Web. 9 September 2013. <http://forcechange.com/21101/lower-the-minimum-legal-drinking-age-to-18/>.