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Running Head: MINIMUM LEGAL DRINKING AGE

Minimum Legal Drinking Age: A Review of Literature

Luis Meza
University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract
In the United States, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the minimum legal
drinking age of 21. It is a topic that has been discussed a lot of times and no answer to this issue
has been found yet, many organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) are
totally against a reduction in the MLDA-21 and other organizations such as Choose
Responsibility (CR) who are totally in favor of a reduction in the MLDA-21 and even proposing
a new revolutionary way to allow underage people to consume and purchase alcohol beverages
by giving them a license. Many researches from different universities will provide plenty of
information on how the reduction of the MLDA-21 can cause many consequences to the
community and why keeping the MLDA-21 might be the best option for preventing social
disorder.

The Minimum Legal Drinking Age

The Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 is one of the most controversial topics since the
National Minimum Legal Drinking Age act was passed in 1984. Mostly of the debates are
happening between the academic communities which involves college students against the
government and the question is still out there, Should the government need to lower the
minimum legal drinking age of 21 to 18? Many people consider that the MLDA is causing an
increase in binge drinking; however, not only college students are the main problem but also
young adults (18-20 years old). It is no secret to the world the idea of infantilizing young adults
is creating rage among the people because of plenty things they can do at their ages such as
voting, enrolling in the military, marry and many more things but they are not able to drink or
purchase a drop of alcohol. So is lowering the MLDA doing more harm than good? Various
organizations are providing different solutions by using several methods, research, statistics and
results with different perspectives and discussions that will try to bring the community several
options of how this community issue can be solved. Despite the different solutions provided by
the organizations, evidence has shown that people are not ready for a decrease in the MLDA.
There is so much controversy about what is the best legal drinking age for the U.S. this leads to
review these questions with serious consideration in order to look for a possible solution:
1. Why is the legal drinking age 21?
2. How successful is the current legal drinking age of 21?
3. What are the affects if the drinking age should be lowered to 18?'
4. Should the drinking age be consistent with voting rights and military entrance?

Why is the legal drinking age 21?

In order to fully understand why all the controversy about the minimum legal drinking age the
situation of the issue must be clear. The irony is that the United States does not have a national
minimum legal drinking age and states are allowed to set the minimum legal drinking age limit
where they choose, however all states abide by Legal Age 21 because of the National Minimum
Drinking Age Act passed in 1984 stating it will withhold a percentage of the federal highway
funding from any state that chooses an age below 21. The concept that a person becomes a full
adult at age 21 dates back centuries in English common law. For instance, there are only 3
countries who share the same minimum legal drinking age with the United States, which are
Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau. Choose Responsibility (CR) is a non-profit organization that
advocates against the minimum legal drinking age of 21, the president of this organization John
M. McCardell bring the community a new and innovated idea, a drinking permit, this permit will
consist of an intensive course of drinking education, the attendant must complete and pass a final
test in order to get the license. This will let young adults (18-20 years old) to purchase and drink
alcohol beverages. In a New York Times article, the McCardell states licensing would work like
drivers education it would involve a permit, perhaps graduated (McCardell, 2012).
The president of CR not only offer this opportunity to young adults but also enforces
other types of issues such as binge drinking, infantilizing of young adults and drunk driving
fatalities. John McCardell enforces these types of issues with strong pathos at the end of his
article by stating, If you infantilize someone, do not be surprised when infantile behavior
like binge drinking results. (2012). The author of the article is clearly against the Minimum
Legal Drinking Age but he offers a great response to the community who are in favor of reducing
the Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21.

How successful is the current legal drinking age of 21?

The entire controversy about whether we should lower or keep the Minimum
Legal Drinking Age is still up for debate, so how effective the MLDA-21 has
been over these years since the National Minimum Drinking Age act was
established in 1984? Brandon Griggs CNN website article Should the U.S.
lower its Drinking Age? talks about different approaches from 3 different
stances on the issue, but specially one, a non-profit organization Mother
Against Drunk Driving (MADD) who totally disagree the idea of reducing the
MLDA-21 explains how the MLDA-21 has been so effective throughout these
years. As evidence of these the author quotes a phrase coming from an
organizer of MADD non-profit organization provided by the National Highway
Transportation Safety Administration in a statement saying, "Minimum legal
drinking age laws have proven to be a very effective and important
countermeasure for reducing drunk driving when younger drivers are
involved," (Griggs, 2015). It is clearly MADD organization is not in favor of a
reduction in the MLDA-21, they show the community in the CNN article by
Brandon Griggs, how a change in the MLDA-21 can affect the U.S. and how
successful is keeping the MLDA-21 by stating A recent study in New
Zealand, which lowered its drinking age in 1999 from 20 to 18, found that
drivers aged 18 or 19 now face a higher risk of being involved in alcoholrelated crashes that cause death or injury (2015). Following the previous
information, MADD members are promoting the maintenance of the MLDA by
displaying their audience that lowering the MLDA is a risk for the consumers

themselves and for the non-consumers because of the increase of

automobile crashes. As evidence, the author Brandon Griggs of the article
Should the U.S. lower Its Drinking Age? quoted a statement made from a
MADD member saying when countries lowered the MLDA deaths increased
(2015). The author refers that the people is not ready for a decrease in the
MLDA because evidence reflect an increment of the problem. According to
the survey Minimum Legal Drinking Age on Survey Monkey proposed and
conducted October 26, 2015 by the former student Luis Meza from The
University of Texas at El Paso and directed to a general audience mostly
students and professors at the university, shows that an 80% of the people
that were asked Do you know someone who is underage and still drinks at a
bar? answered yes indicating that even though the MLDA-21 strictly
prohibits the purchasing and consumption of alcohol beverages the survey
shows that underage drinkers still drink. The survey also provide that 80% of
the people who were asked Is the legal drinking age of 21 the most effective
against underage drinking? chose disagree and the 20% answered strongly
disagree. The survey shows that the academic community does not believe
that the MLDA-21 is the most effective against underage drinking.
Speaking about this, the authors Barry, Adam E., Stellefson, Michael L. and Woolsey Conrad L.
from the article A comparison of the responsible drinking dimensions among underage and
legal drinkers: Examining differences in beliefs, motivates, self-efficacy, barriers and intentions
stated, Despite a lack of empirical evidence suggesting that lowering the MLDA will curb binge
drinking among college students, the Amethyst Initiative continues to attract supporters and

attention (2014). The author refers that if the government lower the MLDA it could be
impossible to know what effects it might lead to, but they have an idea of what can possibly
occur whether or not represent good or bad things.

What are the affects if the drinking age should be lowered to 18?
The possibility of reducing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age is not so far away from reality and
the bigger concern the community has is the possible consequences it might bring. For instance
in the previous article the authors refer to this by stating a warning from Fitzpatrick, Lowering
current MLDA represents an enormous social experiment with potentially major consequences
(Barry, Stellefson and Woolsey, 2014). The author refers that lowering the MLDA-21 will be a
big step for society because it can bring consequences that any scientist or politician have not
figured out yet.
On figure 1, the political cartoon from the author Granlund posted on December 27, 2010. It
represents a small parody concerning how binge drinking, automobile crashes and alcohol
influence can be the main effects of lowering the minimum legal drinking age of 21 to 18. With
this in mind the authors Ertan Yrk, Ceren & Yrk, Bar of the article Alcohol consumption
and risky sexual behavior among young adults: evidence from minimum legal drinking age
laws stated, states that previously lowered the drinking age to 18, such as Massachusetts and
Maine, experienced an increase in alcohol related traffic accidents among the 18 to 20 age
group (2014). On the other hand, opposing views argue that keeping the legal drinking age of
21 is affecting underage people not only by binge drinking, but also the use of drugs and many
antisocial behaviors. As evidence of this, the author Camille Paglia of the article The Drinking
Age Is Past Its Prime stated, The age-21 rule sets the U.S. apart from all advanced western

nation and it has pushed kids toward pills and other antisocial behavior (2014). The author
refers that this situation is provoking and adding more problems to the community because now

Figure 2. More adolescents use alcohol

than cigarettes or marijuana
Figure 1. A cartoon related to binge drinking,
automobile crashes, and alcohol influence

it is involving illegal substances that

could lead to a worse environment
between the community.
On figure 2 it is clearly
observable that alcohol
consumption is a serious
problem among underage
drinkers, even more than

SOURCE: Johnston, L.D.; OMalley, P.M.; Miech, R.A.; et al. Monitoring

the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key
Findings, 2014. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, the University
of Michigan, 2015.
SOURCE: Granlund, D. (2010). College presidents favor lower drinking
age. Retrieved December 27, 2010 from
http://atodblog.com/2010/12/27/lower-the-minimum-drinking-age-toreduce-college-binge-drinking-studies-show-thats-as-crazy-as-it-sounds/.

cigarette consumption and

drug use such as marijuana.
The graph is provided by the

Institute for Social Research in the

University of Michigan posted in 2015. However, public policy is another issue and effect of a
reducing or changing the MLDA-21 among college students, it has shaped college drinking
making it a social problem during the past years, however, it has been a part of the discussion
whether the MLDA should be changed or not and even though public policy is working at its
best college life brings severe challenges to future alcohol policies. For instance, the author of
the book Public alcohol policy and college drinking. College Drinking: Reframing a social
problem mentions what effect does state alcohol policies have on college students, by a
research made by Harvard School of Public Health that stated, The state sets the rate of college
binge drinking (Dowdall, 2009).

Should the drinking age be consistent with voting rights and military entrance?
This issue brings again the idea of infantilizing young adults and the
issue debated by the president of Choose Responsibility he stated in his
article, our laws acknowledge that at age 18 young adults possess sufficient
maturity and judgment to operate a motor vehicle, serve in the military,
perform jury duty or sign a contract, those same laws deny 18-year-olds the
right to purchase, possess or consume alcohol (McCardell, 2012). The
author points out that the government consider young adults (18-20) not
mature enough to drink or purchase alcohol beverages but they are mature
enough to serve in the military, to vote and to sign contracts, this behavior is
creating rage among the young adults who are frustrated by this
discriminative behavior from the government. According to the survey
provided by Luis Meza the people who were asked, What are the
main reasons do you think for the underage drinking problem? the 60% of
the people answered discrimination by the government which indicates
again the theme of infantilizing of young adults. This problem affect the
young adults community because the frustration of doing plenty of task with
a higher level of maturity such as voting, enrolling in the military, marry and
sign contracts but they are not able to enter a bar or drink alcohol. This
problem develops more mental issues and even depression.

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Conclusion
To conclude, the MLDA affects every single person in a community whether or not they
are underage consumers or legal consumers, there are so much ways how misbehavior use of
alcohol affects the community in the event whether is drunk driving, infantilizing young adults or
binge drinking it affects a whole community by causing accidents (automobile crashes
especially), disagreement between the community and the government or underage consumers
taking unwise decisions. That being the case, these actions mentioned before, are the result of the
alcohol crisis in America with shocking statistics that shows 10.1 million underage drinkers all
over in the U.S. and averages between underage drinkers and legal drinkers. The MLDA has
different perspectives with so much to discuss and different types of solutions such as the
creation of organizations that seek to stop misbehavior of alcohol use, but no real solution with
real effects of improving the community problem has been found yet, further research is needed
and new implementations of solutions are essential in the journey of solving the community
problem.

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Reference Page
Brandon Griggs (2015, January, 04). Should the U.S lower its drinking age? CNN news Retrieve
March 23, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/us/legal-drinking-age/.
Barry, Adam E., Stellefson, Michael L. and Woolsey Conrad L. (2014). A comparison of the
responsible drinking dimensions among underage and legal drinkers: Examining
differences in beliefs, motivates, self-efficacy, barriers and intentions. Substance Abuse
Treatment, Prevention & Policy. 9 (9), 2-10.
McCardell, John M. (2012, May 28). Let Them Drink at 18, With a Learners Permit. The New
York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/28/do-we-need-to-redefineadulthood/let-them-drink-at-18-with-a-learners-permit
Granlund, D. (2010). College presidents favor lower drinking age. Retrieved December 27, 2010
from http://atodblog.com/2010/12/27/lower-the-minimum-drinking-age-to-reducecollege-binge-drinking-studies-show-thats-as-crazy-as-it-sounds/.
Paglia, Camille (2014, April). The drinking age is past its prime. TIME, Retrieved from
http://time.com/72546/drinking-age-alcohol-repeal/

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Ertan Yrk, Ceren & Yrk, Bar, (2014). Alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior
among young adults: evidence from minimum legal drinking age laws. Journal of
Population Economics, 28 (1). 133-157.
George, D. Dowdall. (2009) Public alcohol policy and college drinking. College Drinking:
Reframing a social problem (pp.103-123). Westport, CT: Praeger.