MLDA
Legal Drinking Age in the U.S.
Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) legislation aims to reduce alcohol use among those under 21, to prevent traffic deaths, and to avoid other negative outcomes. The minimum drinking age is a controversial issue in the United States today, and many recent efforts have aimed to reduce or qualify the minimum legal age at which drinking may occur. If these attempts are successful, the minimum drinking age would be lowered and the effects would be disastrous. Alcohol consumption poses many dangers to young people, including increases in accidents, fatalities and alcohol abuse problems. Therefore, this paper presents an argument in favor of keeping the MLDA at 21.
Proponents of lowering the drinking age argue that young people under the age of 21 tend to drink in a more abuse manner than do those of legal age, as alcohol is seen as a "forbidden fruit." One such proponent is Dr. Ruth Engs, Professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington. According to Engs (Alcohol and Youth Issues, 2004): "Although the legal purchase age is 21, a majority of young people under this age consume alcohol, and too many of them do so in an irresponsible manner. This is largely because drinking is seen by these youth as an enticing "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority," and a symbol of adulthood."
Those in favor of proposals to reduce the legal drinking age say that lowering the drinking age would send the message that drinking is, in itself, not evidence of maturity; instead, responsible consumption for those who choose to drink is evidence of maturity.
After Prohibition, which restricted alcohol in the United States, most U.S. states restricted access to alcohol, designating 21 as the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) (Kuhn, 1998). Between 1970 and 1975, however, 29 states lowered the MLDA to 18, 19, or 20. These changes took place when the minimum age for other...
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