Lowering the drinking age in the United States has been an ongoing debate since the National Minimum Drinking Age law passed in 1984, requiring someone to be 21 years of age to drink or purchase alcohol. The bill was thought of by Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) and was eventually set into a law by President Ronald Reagan. The main stand point of this law is to lower Drinking and Driving accidents, but the law and people for the law do not see other effects of one of the highest minimum drinking ages in the world. Lowering the minimum drinking age can offset binge drinking, alcoholism, and so much more.
According to the Center for Disease Control, "On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers" (Centers for Disease Control, 2016). Youths tend to do more ‘binge’ drinking than adults, generally because that’s what is considered ‘cool’, things youths ‘aren’t supposed to do’. Binge drinking can lead to a lot of issues like weight gain, ‘Black Outs’, alcoholism, and other addictive traits. By exposing youths to safe drinking habits and
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One by one States slowly started raising their minimum drinking age from age 18 to age 21. By limiting the amount of legal drinkers, the United States saw a decrease in Alcohol Tax revenue. If we lower the drinking age we can take that extra tax earnings and put it towards other government funded programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Highway Safety, and even local law enforcements. Over 10% of the U.S. population is age 15 to 22, assuming that they all buy alcohol that could be a 10% increase. That 10% increase would add approximately $704,064.00 annually (Alcohol Tax Revenue, 2017), based on the Alcohol Tax revenue in 2015. By broadening the target audience we can help the American Economy and put more money into incredibly under budgeted