Should states lower the legal drinking age?

The debate goes something like this: If men and women are old enough to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan at age 18, shouldn't they be allowed to drink alcohol legally?

Several states are considering lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. According to a report in USA Today, legislation has been introduced in three states (Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina) to lower the drinking age for military personnel only. In Missouri, a planned ballot initiative would lower the age to 18 for everyone. South Dakota is debating allowing 19- and 20-year-olds to buy low-alcohol beer. Minnesota is considering allowing people ages 18 to 20 to buy alcohol in restaurants and bars not in stores until they are 21.

These proposals have drug dependency treatment and traffic officials more than a little worried. Congress voted in 1984 to reduce federal highway funds to any state that sets the drinking age below 21 (causing most states that had lowered the legal drinking age to 18 in the 1970s to return to the age-21 law). That led to a decrease in traffic fatalities involving drivers ages 18 to 20 by 13%, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Meanwhile, some pretty solid evidence is accumulating that waiting until age 21 to drink dramatically cuts the risk of developing alcoholism. A study released this week online from the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research shows that women born after 1944 began drinking, on average, at age 17 and had a 50% to 80% greater chance of developing alcohol dependence than women born before 1944, who began drinking at age 20 on average. Says study author Richard A. Grucza of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis:

"About one in three individuals who start drinking at age 17 or younger become alcohol dependent. For those who wait until age 21 or older, that number is one in 10."

- Shari Roan

Photo: Gino Domenico / Bloomberg News

Comments

[Nathan]

I love beer and wine, but it is foolish to reduce the drinking age. The statistics cited speak for themselves. And unfortunately, many adults can barely handle drinking responsibly.

What a trifecta it would be if we have kids fresh out of high school driving around inexperienced, text messaging AND drunk behind the wheel.

[David in Los Angeles]

numbers don't lie: keep the legal age at 21

[lauren]

If the drinking age IS lowered, high schoolers would drink even MORE freely than they already do. Many kids turn 18 early in their senior year. Partying is already a big problem among teens. This would add to the health and safety concerns and have dangerous consequences for all of us.

For the record. I do like beer and wine and, yes, I am the parent of a high schooler.

[Nedly Mandingo]

If you lower it then even younger people will consume it. Everyone that wanted beer or other alcohol at 16 could get when I was a kid nothing has changed now except that now you can get weed just as easy.

[Amy]

So, prohibition and the way alcohol was viewed in my grandmother's age group and beyond has NOTHING to do with the study. Of course it's going to prove that younger women drink more because it society mores had influenced the older generation that it was the "drink of the devil"

My issue with the higher drinking age is that the parents have less influence on their childrens drinking habits when they turn 21, than when they are 18. I think parental influence is at the heart of the binge drinking and being responsible issue.

[Charles Choomngern]

That's pretty sad, you can serve and die for your country, but can't drink. Only in our over zelous country.

[JP]

how about the fact that the legal drinking age does very little to prohibit minors from consuming alcohol. in my generation the 21st birthday is almost a joke. Everyone i knew had already been consuming alcohol long before turning 21. The only difference is now you could go out to bars easier and not worry about a fake ID. The whole debate is a joke. And as for the statistics...anyone who has studied statistics knows that you can pretty much get a statistic to "prove" any point in a debate. Only by looking closely at the data used can one determine whether or not the results are valid. Therefore I am dubious of all stats unless one can actually see the data used. How can they be sure that other factors were not to blame for the rise in alcoholism in women after 1944? Was it age or could it be cultural or something else that would be hard to measure with stats?

[Michael]

People should be able to drink legally at age 18, as is the case in most countries.
The reason earlier drinking is a problem is early driving. Encouraging dependency on cars so early in Americans' lives has been horribly destructive on our social fabric. Drinking alcohol responsibly encourages healthy socialization - the opposite of the alienization that results from our car culture.

[Caitlin]

I believe whole heartedly that waiting until 21 to legally drink saves young adults from so much trauma (accidents) and depression (alcoholism). But why not raise the limit to 25? Do you have any idea how many fewer accidents we'd have then?! And AA might actually have to beg for members after that!

Okay, you caught me. I'm being facetious. But really now. Those kinds of arguments, while valid, only prove that people at any age are reckless. The fact of the matter is...you're telling a kid fresh out of high school that they are now an adult. They can smoke cigarettes til their lungs are black. They can spend all of their money on lotto tickets. They can do anything they want. They just can't drink. Because research proves that it lessens road fatalities.

If we really are going to allow them to function as adults in society, they should be able enjoy the few benefits.

[PNW Trojan]

What? We don't have enough drunks and druggies killing/maiming people now? This benefits society, how??????

[John Bard]

As a Brit who's native country allows drinking at 17, I have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of drunken exhibitionist young people on the streets of L.A.
A far cry from London - and almost everywhere else in the UK - where hordes of hammered teenagers lay waste to city centers every weekend. Keep the limit as it is - otherwise, you're gonna regret it!

[Leeor Maciborski]

Why is it that the United States has more alcoholics than other nations with lower drinking ages? Perhaps our over-indulgent culture is to blame? Then again, the mere taboo imposed by our puritan background about drinking makes alcohol all the more appealing to a naturally rebellious youth. Lowering the drinking age is a step to remove the over-arching conservative hand that instigates minors to abuse any forbidden substance. Other nations with no such restriction or taboo expose their youth to alcohol at a younger age and often in the controlled environment of family's household don't see the extent of abuse we have in America.
Either way, to think that minors cannot get their hands on alcohol is naive. Teenagers drink. That is the reality that the law must acknowledge and catch up to.

[Anna Lathen]

Yes, they should change these laws. In Europe, the laws are a lot more Liberal. Plus alcoholism is a lot less common.

[Robert]

I support lowering the drinking age to 16 or 18. It is ridiculous to have a legal drinking age of 21. I am 21 now, but I have been drinking since i was 13. Never addicted... never a binge drinker. People in this damn country need to loosen up a little.

[john noonan]

we are still a country too influenced by our puriton past. In Europe they have much lower numbers of alcoholics and kids are taught to drink responsibly. Get over it, our government manipulates us with misrepresented statistics all of the time and most of us know it. Live and let live is my policy.

[Revgen]

16 year olds can be charged as adults for violent crimes, but 18 year olds are too young to drink?

Oh the hypocracy!

[Bean]

I believe that part of the problem of underage drinking is the culture of rebellion in teens.

If you look at european countries, who have very low drinking ages (often 16, hardly ever enforced) and a culture of acceptance toward alcohol consumption (esp. wine) during meals from a young age, you see a lower rate of binge drinking.

I've lived both sides of the coin - when I got out of high school, away from my parent's rule, off to college, still underaged, the ease of getting alcohol illicitly made binging really The Thing to do. "Let's do it because it's illicit! because we can! Because before, we couldn't!" It's a sudden release of oppression going into a new world.

I lived and studied in paris, france for a while also. There, many parents were accepting of their children partaking in the wine at the dinner table, rather than treating it as the illegal substance to be distanced from the tender youth at all costs! This moderated, continual exposure fostered more of a *respect* for it, rather than stoking the illicit fascination with it as a tool of rebellion that comes with the repression of any urge or curiosity, really.

As a result, all of my french friends in school in paris had a VASTLY different, less abusive attitude toward booze than my American friends in general.

It's a cultural problem, I hesistate to trust the study quoted because I'm sure the attitude toward alcohol changed drastically between pre-1944 and post-1944 women. Maybe the numbers do lie. I trust my experience.

So lowering the drinking age might not HELP the problem, in general it just takes respect of a dangerous thing to temper its danger. Cultural change is much much harder than a law change, however. And one might follow from the other.

[Red]

Hey! This sounds GREAT! Up the drinking age for the military personnel only so we can be sure that after they've been severely traumatized by this atrocious war, they can come home and get drunk to drown out their problems.

If you have such a problem with 18 year olds being allowed to go to war but not be allowed to drink - how about this....how about we RAISE THE AGE FOR MILITARY SERVICE instead of lowering the age for drinking??? But it's SO much easier to convince a bunch of drunk 18 year olds to go fight for George and Dick's oil stock portfolio...oh, I mean, *freedom*.

I'm sure this goes along perfectly with the military commanders advice to the troops after they've returned home from this war to shut up and go have a drink to deal with it, therefore saving millions in military medical benefits.

This country is so screwed up, I don't even know where to begin.

[Tony]

How about this - let 18 year olds drink but take away there driver's license until they are 21. Everyone wins.

[Teresa]

This is very simple: If young men and women aren't considered "old enough" to drink until they are 21, then they shouldn't be considered "old enough" to join the military, learn how to use sophisticated deadly weapons, and be sent off to fight and die in war.

Either raise the age to join the military, or lower the drinking age.

You cannot have this both ways.

[Matt]

Just raise the age to join the military to 21. Then both sides are happy.

[Paul]

If the legal drinking age were lowered, kids would be drinking in bars instead of at house parties, which means better supervision. They would also still be living with their parents, which means someone would be keeping tabs on them, unlike in college where they get trashed and don't have to come home to consequences.

Give kids some controlled experience with drinking is much better than just letting them run free without supervision once they turn 21. It would make them more responsible drinkers. And Nathan, drinking and driving are not mutually exclusive. Very few drinkers drive while intoxicated. You're just pushing a false stereotype.

[al]

talk about playing russian roulette with all the innocent teens who will either die or become parapelegic for life no way lower the age from 21 please we all know they will get behind the wheel teens cant drive sober much less impaired

[Michael]

Please reduce the drinking age to 18. This is not a debate about alcohol consumption, this is a debate about when someone is old enough to be responsible for his or her own actions. If someone is old enough to serve their country overseas and make life-and-death decision, they should be able to determine when it is appropriate to drink alcohol.

Will people drink inappropriately? Yes, but they already do. Anyone who is willing to break one law by driving intoxicated, is probably not bothered by another law that proclaims the legal drinking age as 21. Hold THEM responsible for their actions.

Are we truly a country that cherishes freedom (and with that, personal responsibility) or do we pay lip service to it and pass laws based on statistics and polls? Choose wisely.

[Paul]

The study references in the article is faulty. Women born before 1944 were born into a completely different world than those born after 1944. Before Animal House was released in the late-1970s, there wasn't a single film that glorified college-age drinking. Now there's tons of them. Before the 1980s, alcohol advertisers targeted middle-aged men. Now they heavily target women and 21-year-olds. The world and society in general have changed so much for women born after 1944 that the entire study is without merit. It proves how pop culture changes alcoholism, but it doesn't provide any reliable information about the effect of the age when people start.

If you do a study on France or other countries where drinking is legal for younger people, that would also debunk the study quoted in the article.

[Stuart KD]

An 18-year old can drive, join the military, vote, smoke cigarettes and buy a rifle. They have nearly all the rights and privileges of a citizen, yet they really aren't full-fledged citizens. They can't drink. Instead of advocating responsible alcohol consumption, we impose an "age-based prohibition" . As in any prohibition, people will get their hands on alcohol and they will drink. Probably to excess. It's time to stop being a nanny-state and give an 18-year old full citizenship rights. Encourage the alcohol-beverage makers to educate these younger drinkers. You don't have to binge drink. You can drink responsibly and enjoyably. Use cabs and designated drivers. The fact that we still impose Puritan-type laws on a segment of our adult society is reprehensible and hypocritical.

[S. Smith]

Lower the drinking age to 18, only if you raise the driving age to 21. This would give kids a little time to get the novelty of drinking out of their systems and help reduce drunk driving.

[Bart]

I guess the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution has escaped most people. Sure, having 18 year old drinking will cause more problems; but denying adults their rights is worse.

[carl]

21? Drop it to 18. Check out the drinking age in many countries around the world and see how they handle booze. What about putting an age limit on purchasing a weapon. Chill out America and get with the program.

[h.w.]

Careful study of the human brain has shown that the human brain doesn't finish its normal development until the low 20's. Teens aren't physically capable of the type of cause-and-effect understanding and decision making of an adult. Honestly, I don't think we should be sending our kids to war at that age, let alone allowing them free access to drink so young. Let them grow a few years; even if teens *can* get at alcohol, providing a legal barrier filters out those who are willing to abide by the rules - which a decent portion of young people do.

[Susan]

They can vote. They can kill other people (on our behalf). They should be able to buy a legal substance, and be trusted to use it responsibly. Other countries don't have these problems or issues. Maybe they're smarter than us in, say, France?

[A. Yelvington]

I was 18 the last time they lowered the legal drinking age, and I bombed out of college the first time with nothing between me and a bar.

I was dumb, this generation will be dumb, the idea is dumb. The 18 - 21 group needs to focus on being clear-headed and getting their life in order. They can opt for a buzz when they have the security and maturity they need in place.

Oh yeah, check out the mortality rate from back then. More cars and more drivers now would just bump them up.

[Samaritan]

Lower the drinking age?

NO, we should RAISE the age of young men and women enlisting in the armed forces. To kill at 18, should be outlawed.

[Robert]

The bottom line is that the increase in drinking age did NOT reduce teen drunk driving incidents or reduce teen drinking. It simply put more drinking out in the street. These are the stone cold facts and all the politicking in the world will not change the facts.

[Gilbert Soto]

You are being naive if you don't think 18 year olds do not drink, or can't get alcohol. Legally, along with not being able to drink even though you are old enough to fight in Iraq, you can't drink 3 years while you are in college? Who does that?

[This article has bad stats!]

The staistics cited in this article are highly flawed.Firstly, the legal drinking age has nothing to do with the age at which people start drinking - nothing! In addition the highway fatality rate since 1984 is down across all age groups mainly due to safer cars and highways. The drinking age was raised as a cheap political stunt against a group of citizens who can't vote. I highly recommend people reading Micheal Males book The Scapegoat Generation in order to get the facts on this and otherissues concerning teens - it l sets the record raight onmany of the public's misconceptions about teens.

[wasco]

No one in California need worry, there isnt a chance in heck that this state would ever lower the age, increase ,yes, lower, nooooooo.

[Mark]

We should all be wary of hidden variables in this study. I'm very disappointed that this article didn't even mention the cultural changes that explain the results.

It is naive to pretend that the drinking age has that much of an influence on an 18-year-old's behavior once they have left home. Even if we ignore the violation of civil rights, It's very patronizing to say that these people are "kids" and need our protection from themselves. If they're mature enough to go through boot camp and shoot at other "kids" in other countries, they're mature enough to have earned the title of "adult."

Also, I can't believe that people are suggesting that we raise the driving age. Did no one here have a job at age 18? Did no one here have rent or college loans to pay? Seriously, guys.

I don't know a single 18-year-old who doesn't drink because he/she is afraid of getting caught. The vast majority who don't drink don't because they don't want to. The same is true (in my experience) with drunk driving. I don't drive drunk because I don't want to run someone over and because I know it's a bad idea. We should stop pretending our laws have a gravity that they don't and focus instead on educating people. College students would probably drink less if they actually knew what they were doing to their brains.

We all want our children to be safe, and none of us wants to be hit by a drunk driver, but let's actually look at facts when we make decisions about about taking away rights from a section of the populace. I don't want to repeat what everyone else has already said about this article, but look at all the evidence, and not just one study with questionable conclusions drawn from limited stats, and the correct decision seems clear.

[Douglas Eby]

Addiction expert and author Stanton Peele, Ph.D., J.D., notes in a recent column of his that attitudes and laws about youth drinking differ in various cultures:

He writes, "The World Health Organization survey, Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children, found these countries had the lowest incidence of drunkenness among 15-year-olds: Macedonia, Israel, France, Italy, Greece, Malta (is that even a real country?), Portugal, Spain - all of which ranked lower than the United States.

"But, wait a second. All of these cultures readily give alcohol to children. I just returned from spending my daughter's spring break with her in Spain and Portugal. I confess, although Anna is only 20, we had wine with our meals!

"I know I should have explained to the servers, who brought wine to us along with the olive oil, that Anna was too young to drink, and that it would lead to her catching a permanent disease.

"But I feared that our hosts would never understand me. In the first place, the drinking age in Southern European countries is 16. In the second, children of any age are allowed to drink in restaurants with their parents." [From his article End Alcoholism -- Bomb Spain.]

[Elizabet]

I don't like the idea of seniors in high school turning 18 and being able to drink. How about treating drinking as a privilege? Upon getting your high school diploma or GED you get a drinkers permit? Wouldn't that serve as an incentive to finish high school?

[CT]

The drinking age being 21 is ridiculous. I don't see it changing in the near future though. The state of Tennessee loves that law because it makes up for there budgeting in Congress. The state gives incentives for making underage arrests. They do not focus on domestic violence or the Real problem in the state, METH. I got arrested for sitting on a couch at a house while drinking a beer and watching Madden. I wasn't driving but still ended up paying a $1000. The state claimed I had a drinking problem because of my family history. I guess they forgot to mention that I had a 4.088 GPA in high school, won numerous math awards, had a full time job, and have held my full scholarship in mechanical and civil engineering for the last two and a half years. The 21 law will not change in Tennessee because the lawmakers view the statute as tool for compensating for their errors, not for saving lives. It should change, but this state is too focused on drinking and not education or catching the real criminals. You can carry a pocket full of crack around and be fine, but don't let 'em see ya with a Bud Light.

[Adrian]

I agree that they should lower the drinking age to 18. Having the drinking age at 21 doesn't really do much because teens are still going to drink anyway. You always want something you can't have. Plus, with it being illegal teens are more likely to binge drink because they don't know when the next time they are going to be getting alcohol. Not to mention when something like alcohol poisoning happens, teens are going to be too afraid of getting help for their friend and will end of killing them.

[Catriona]

I am Australian where there is a fully supported drinking age of 18 it causes few problems as 18 year olds are considered adults for all purposes. A higher drinking age simply sends the problem underground I support 18 with it strictly enforced. Australia tried a 21 drinking age it didnt work and was reduced to 18 as a result.

[Melissa]

I just completed an extensive paper on why we should leave the drinking age at 21. Something that surprised me in my findings was the decrease in suicides and vandalism when the drinking age was raised. The purpose of age-21 law is not to punish, but to protect our youth and to keep them as safe as possible. Underage drinking is a problem, but lowering the drinking age is not a solution

Right now the 18-20 year olds want to drink, what happens when we lower the drinking age? This is also known as the “forbidden fruit” theory. Some think that if we lower the drinking age it will reduce the allure. It’s a fact that 15-17 year olds typically imitate the practices of those that are slightly older, so if 18 year olds are allowed to drink the younger peers will too, thus “lowering the branch the forbidden fruit hangs on”.

[Andie]

Whatever happened to democracy, freedom, and all the other stuff 'America' is supposed to stand for? Where's the freedom of choice?

[Laurie]

I know that it is ingrained in all US citizens that there needs to be an age limit on "allowing" things like drinking, but the fact of the matter is that no drinking age is going to stop your kid from drinking if that is what he/she wants to do. Call it human ingenuity, but where there's a will, there's a way.
The way to solve this problem is to stop thinking of drinking in such a puritanical manner. If people weren't told from an early age that they were not allowed to drink, then the inevitable urge to rebel wouldn't lead them to that kind of excess. It would be something that they were comfortable with and wouldn't feel the need to experiment with the "bad" thing.
There are a LOT of things in life that aren't good for you when taken in large amounts (how much TV have you watched today?). The key to good parenting and a trait of people who are capable of handling life's many nuances is teaching your kids that too much of a lot of things is not good and then allowing them to do the research to prove you right.
Lowering the drinking age won't change anything, the only way to change this is to get rid of the drinking age all together so that drinking ceases to be a taboo.

[jnikolai]

If you are willing to trust an 18 year old to enlist in the military, carry a gun, and defend our country...how can you NOT be willing to trust them to buy a drink?

[David Wood]

See the fact of the matter is..... if an underage person wants to drink... they WILL......lemme repeat that.... WILL!.. get it because of enough people who are willing to buy them beer/liquer, also because of the amount of stores that sell underage anyways LOL. Im 20 years old and ive been able to get alcohol easily since the age of 16 (yes its sad i know). And any of my friends have never been like... "Gosh its so hard to buy beer tonight.." and juss give up trying hah. Now what could happen by lowering it is this.. people ages 18+ might not drink because of the shear fact that when they do it now its semi-rebelious. Take that away and some will not drink as much. Then their will be more drinking of course but i think it woould even itself out.

[Sally]

I love how we claim this is a free country.
We sent our 18 year old sons to war to possibly die for this 'free' country yet they're not enough of an adult to have a drink.
Funny how that works huh?
And for that fact, any 18 year old is considered and adult and has to be responsible for their own actions...but apparently they're not adult enough to drink.
Go figure.