All these posts on the drinking age being 21, the pseudo-explanations behind lowering them, and the opinionated reasons of the prevalence of teen drinking are all uninformed and ill researched. The real reasons behind the drinking age are based on sound evidence if anyone ever took a few minutes to read them over.
I assume that advocates and dissenters of the legal drinking age still have one goal in common: to reduce the number of alcohol related injuries and deaths.
- First and foremost: The brain of an average human being continues to develop until their mid-twenties. During the period before this the mind goes through intensive and critical changes that can be altered and damaged through the use of alcohol. "Damage from alcohol at this time can be long-term and irreversible" (Brown SA, Tapert SF, Granholm E, Delis DC). Occasional and Moderate drinking can inhibit learning and memory functions especially in youth. "Adolescents need only drink half as much as adults to suffer the same negative effects" (Pyapali GK, Turner DA, Wilson WA, and Swartzwelder, SH). Alcohol is a dangerous drug for youth, "Alcohol is a leading contributor to injury death, the main cause of death for people under age 21. Annually, about 5,000 youth under age 21 die from alcohol-related injuries that involve underage drinking. This includes injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes (about 1,900), homicides (about 1,600), and suicides (about 300), as well as unintentional injuries not related to motor vehicle crashes" (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] 2003; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2004; Smith et al. 1999; Levy et al. 1999; Hingson and Kenkel 2004)
From the WHY 21 website (www.why21.org/teen) the following facts and their citations are given:
- Alcohol impacts both behavior and brain function differently in adolescents and adults. (3)
- Adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of alcohol on learning and memory. (4)
- Alcohol affects the sleep cycle, resulting in impaired learning and memory as well as disrupted release of hormones necessary for growth and maturation. (5)
- Alcohol affects all parts of the brain, which affects coordination, emotional control, thinking, decision-making, hand-eye movement, speech, and memory. (6)
- Adolescent drinkers perform worse in school, are more likely to fall behind and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence. (7)
- Binge drinking is extremely dangerous for adolescents given that their brain is especially vulnerable to alcohol-related damage. (8)
- People who begin drinking in their early teens are not only at greater risk for developing alcoholism sometime in their lives, they are also at greater risk for developing alcoholism more quickly and at younger ages, especially chronic, relapsing alcoholism. (9)
- Now that the ill effects of alcohol on youth have been established and have been credited as to be substantially severe, let us explore if the quantity of alcohol related injuries and deaths have increased or decreased due to the drinking age.
I was tracing posts and discussions on the topic of underage drinking and the teen drinking law when I came to a particular comment. A blogger expressed the following "(I believe) those under 21 would drink much more responsibly if there was not a possibility of punishment". I was caught scratching my head for a second. I thought when you raise the consequence of a particular action than that act decreases. So I thought for a second…is it possible that by reducing the consequences of this particular action, underage drinking, that the consequences, the number of injuries and deaths, would decrease? I set out to research.
Adrian Lund is the President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Thirty years of study at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has indicated that "lowering drinking age brings increased highway deaths" and "raising drinking age reduces fatal crashes" (Adrian Lund). A number of studies were done by the IIHS and other organizations on the fatality rate of teen driving in 1970 when the country lowered the voting age to 18 and 25 states lowered their drinking ages from 21 to 18, 19, and 20. "IIHS's first study in 1974 looked at two states and one Canadian province that lowered the drinking age, carefully comparing their experience to that of adjacent states that did not change. That study showed that the number of 15-20 year-olds involved in fatal crashes increased in the jurisdictions that lowered the drinking age" (Adrian Lund) "Studies show teen crashes (particularly nighttime and single vehicle fatal crashes) increased in states that lowered MLDA (minimum legal drinking age)." (Williams et al., 1975; Whitehead et. al., 1975)
By 1984 22 states raised the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) and again studies were done on the fatality rate of teen driving. "Subsequently, in the late 1970s, states began to increase drinking ages again. Again, it was possible to compare states that made this change to states that didn't. Again, we saw a change related to the drinking age — this time, fatal crash rates declined as teen drinking and teen drinking and driving declined…The 21-year-old drinking age is saving lives." (Lund)
To address the blogger I encountered above, I think he is completely wrong.
The Center of Disease Control also commissioned a study on the fatality rate of teen driving. Their evidence is depicted on the chart below:
(CDC review of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving Shults et al., 2001)
As you can see by forming a linear regression line the net percentage change of aggregated car crashes increases when the MLDA is lowered and decreases when the MLDA is increased.
Say what you will about the teen drinking age but it's hard to argue with numbers. "Lowering the drinking age to 18 would increase the number of 18-20 year-olds dying on our nation's highways…Others too would die in crashes involving drinking teenagers" (Lund)
To add partially to a fellow bloggers words: All in all if you can give your life for your country don't give someone else's too.
In summary the reason behind instituting the Minimum Legal Drinking Age at 21 was because it significantly reduced the number of teen related fatal car accidents and penalized youth for harming their minds and bodies. Lowering the MLDA "is not the path to reducing the problem of teenage drinking — it is a proven formula for increasing the number of dead teens. Clandestine underage drinking is a problem, but lowering the drinking age is not a solution." (Lundi)
Citations
Alcohol and the Teen Brain." WHY 21. 2007. MADD. 26 Feb. 2008 <http://www.why21.org/teen/>.
Lund, Adrian. "Protecting Teens From the Dangers of Alcohol Use and Abuse: Wishful Thinking Versus Science." Insurance Institue for Highway Safety. 9 Oct. 2007. Insurance Institue for Highway Safety. 26 Feb. 2008 <http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/min_drinking_age/default.html>.
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