The legal drinking age is the minimum age to buy or drink alcoholic beverages. The minimum age for legal alcohol consumption may differ from the minimum age for purchase in some countries. Since then, arguments against the age of alcohol consumption have persisted. Some argue that the illegality of alcohol gives it a “taboo appeal” and actually increases rates of underage drinking. Others argue that if you can fight in war, you should be able to drink. The United States has one of the highest legal drinking ages in the world. While this age may seem a bit random (maybe even arbitrary), since you`re a legal adult at 18, Congress didn`t just choose the number of a hat. There is a long and rich history about alcohol in America and why the legal drinking age is set at 21. Consuming alcohol while the brain is still developing can also increase the risk of alcohol dependence. A 2011 study of 600 Finnish twins by researchers at Indiana University found that people who drank regularly as teenagers were more likely to develop alcohol dependence later in life.
The study asked twins about their drinking habits at age 18 and again at age 25. The study of the twins is particularly noteworthy because the twins had the same environmental and genetic background, factors that could influence their alcohol behavior. After prohibition, nearly all states introduced a legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21. However, between 1970 and 1975, 29 states lowered the MLDA to 18, 19 or 20, mostly in response to the change in voting age. Studies conducted at the time showed that motor vehicle accidents among young people increased as states lowered their MLDA. In addition, the “blood boundaries” between states with different MLDAs came to public attention after high-profile accidents in which underage teens drove to a neighboring state with a lower MLDA, drank legally, and crashed on their way home. Stakeholders called on states to increase their MLDA to 21. Some did so in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but others did not. To promote a national drinking age, Congress enacted the National MLDA. A 1988 review by the U.S.
General Accounting Office found that raising the drinking age reduced alcohol consumption among adolescents, driving after drinking among adolescents, and alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents among adolescents. * For established religious purposes;* If a person under twenty-one years of age is accompanied by a parent, spouse or guardian twenty-one years of age or older;* For medical purposes, if purchased as an over-the-counter drug or prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, a hospital or an authorized medical facility;* In a private dwelling, which includes a residential dwelling and up to twenty contiguous hectares on which the dwelling belonging to the same person who owns it is situated;* the sale, handling, transport or service of supplying alcoholic beverages on the basis of the lawful ownership of an establishment or the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed producer, wholesaler or retailer of alcoholic beverages. Since the end of prohibition in 1933, the state has frequently changed the minimum drinking age. Under the 21st Amendment, passed in December 1933, most set their legal drinking age at 21. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 [23 U.S.C. § 158] requires states to prohibit persons under the age of 21 from publicly purchasing or possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving state highway funds. A federal ordinance interpreting the law excludes possession “for established religious purposes” from the definition of “public property”; accompanied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian who is at least 21 years of age; for medical purposes, if prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, hospital or authorized medical facility; in clubs or private institutions; or for the sale, handling, transportation, or supply of liquor by reason of the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of liquor” [23 C.F.R. § 1208.3].
Prior to 1984, some states had set the legal drinking age at 18, 19 or 20. At the end of prohibition in the 1930s, the legal drinking age was 21. This norm remained constant until 1971, when the minimum voting age was lowered to 18 and enthusiasm for lowering the legal drinking age also began to grow. Between 1970 and 1975, nearly half of the states lowered the drinking age to 18, 19 and 20. The repeal of prohibition by the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933, allowed each state to establish its own laws on alcohol consumption. At the time, most states set the legal drinking age (MLDA) at 21. The temperance movement gained momentum in the 1880s when several other states passed minimum drinking age laws. The Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) sets the legal age at which a person can purchase alcoholic beverages. The MLDA in the United States is 21 years. However, prior to the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal age to purchase alcohol varied from state to state.1 In most European countries, the minimum drinking age is 18, while some countries even allow legal consumption at 16. Along with Iceland, Japan and South Korea, the United States is one of the few developed countries to have a legal drinking age above 18, according to the World Health Organization.
In some countries, such as Belgium and Germany, 16-year-olds are allowed to buy alcohol. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that annual road deaths have dropped by 16 percent as the legal drinking age has been lowered to 21, which equates to about 800 lives saved each year, according to the American Journal of Public Health. Interestingly, it also seems to affect class attendance if alcohol is kept further away from young people. Compared to states that had a legal drinking age of 18, students were 13 times more likely to stay in school when the legal drinking age in the state was 21. Usually, when you check in at your hotel, an all-inclusive plan means you get a wristband. Use it to prove that you are over the legal age so you can order a drink easily and quickly. The minimum drinking age in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec is 18. Canada`s other provinces and territories allow the legal purchase of alcohol at age 19. The current legal drinking age of 21 in the United States is a source of disagreement among some Americans. It is higher than the age of majority in many states (18) and the drinking age in most other countries.
However, the story of the age of alcohol consumption in America told a very different story. For the most part, July 17 is a pretty anticlimactic day. (Unless you claim this date as your birthday, in which case, woo! Confetti keywords and banners.) Without knowing it, however, something happened in 1984 that affects many of us: the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed, which set the legal drinking age at 21. In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed, stipulating that federal highway money would be withheld by U.S. states that had not set the legal drinking age at 21. By 1988, all states had introduced the minimum age. Today, there are those who say that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18, arguing that if you can serve, fight and die for your country, you should be able to buy a beer. On the other hand, there are those on the other side of the debate who say so should be increased to 25, the point at which the adult brain reaches full development. Whatever your opinion on the subject, it is important to see how we got here. Why has the law changed? What does this mean for us today? In Lithuania, it is illegal to sell, serve or provide alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 20.
Filed Under: Lois Tagged With: Legal drinking age, legal drinking age in the U.S., when did the legal drinking age change to 21 When the legal drinking age dropped nationwide in the `70s, alarm bells began ringing, notes licensed clinical psychologist Suzette Glasner-Edwards, PhD, associate professor at UCLA`s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. “Research conducted after this period strongly suggested that an increase in road accidents among young people was associated with this change in the legal drinking age,” she tells Teen Vogue. “As a result, citizen efforts have begun to push states to reinstate 21 as the legal minimum age.” In the late `70s, the vast majority of states lowered the legal drinking age to 18. This, of course, has led to a massive increase in drunk driving and deaths. Soon, it was declared a national health crisis. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH): The passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 forced states to raise their legal age to buy or possess alcohol to 21 or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funds for highways.