Will Lowering the Drinking Age Ensure Public Safety? The alcohol industry can often be seen as one of the wealthiest and most successful components of the American economy. In a year, the American people invest $90 billion in alcoholic beverages (“The Authority in Drug and Alcohol”). Although the U.S. spends a substantial amount of money on alcoholic beverages, the effects of alcohol do not go unnoticed. Alcohol impairs the senses of anyone who abuses it and can lead to serious health problems, but a hot topic that is often debated is the legal age for alcohol consumption. Some pose the idea of lowering the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 18 while others believe strongly in the legal age of 21. Many argue that alcohol can lead to bad …show more content…
The United States has seen the first-hand effects of this issue when 39 states decided to pass a law that legalized alcohol consumption at the age of 18. These decreased age requirements lead to numerous reports of alcohol-related deaths from driving while intoxicated. According to research collected by Wagenaar and Toomey, lowering the legal drinking age leads to 4.74 more deadly alcohol- related car accidents in the evening hours for each group of 100,000 young adults in a year (Carpenter and Dobkin). These results led states to rethink the overall consequences that occurred from lowering the MLDA which was followed by the ratification of National Minimum Drinking Act of 1984. This law stated that all U.S. states had to set their MLDA at 21 or they would be forced to relinquish 10% of the money they are given to support highway maintenance and construction (Toomey). This increase in the MLDA led to a decrease in the 18-20-year- old drivers involved in deadly drinking and driving accidents by 18% (Grossman and Henry). 25,509 American lives have been saved due to the increase of the 21-year old drinking age limit in the years