Pros And Cons Of MLDA To 21

In 1984, the United States Congress through legislation established a minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one. “To encourage a national drinking age, Congress enacted the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984, which provided that states that failed to raise their MLDA to 21 would lose a portion of their federal-aid highway construction funding. In response, all remaining states increased their MLDA to 21 by 1988.” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2001). Since then, the measure has been heralded as a crucial cornerstone in the realm of public safety, especially traffic safety. Proponents of a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of twenty-one support this mantra of increased public safety by citing statistics which indicate

MADD takes the view that the MLDA of twenty-one has directly contributed to the reduction of alcohol-related fatalities by a number of twenty-five thousand and has decreased automobile accidents in general, by a figure of sixteen percent as stated above. Opponents of the MLDA such as The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) directly rebut MADD's assertions by claiming “The problem with the 20,000 lives saved statistic is that it looks only at deaths for people aged 18-20...Raising the drinking age may have reduced deaths 18-20 but resulted in more deaths among people 21-24.” (National Youth Rights Organization [NYRA]). NYRA also cites the work of Peter Asch and David Levy, both researchers on the subject, by quoting them as follows: “minimum legal drinking age is not a significant or even perceptible factor in the fatality experience of all drivers or of young drivers.”

Before and after the passage of the 1984 Uniform Drinking age act a group of college students were surveyed with respect to their drinking habits. These surveys were conducted in 1983, 1985, and 1987. From 1983 (one year before the new twenty-one MLDA went into effect) until 1987 (three years after the new MLDA went into effect) the following changes in drinking behavior were noticed: a significant decrease in the rate of vomiting was reported (44.2 to 37.1 percent), missing class due to hangovers was reported at a slightly increased rate (at 72.5 to 75.7 percent), students receiving lower grades due to drinking increased slightly (at 4.4 to 5.4 percent), and the number of students who had gotten into fights as a result of drinking increased rather sharply, though may be a statistical anomaly (at 11.1 to 14.7 percent). (Engs and Hanson, 1988). The study concludes that “...the only drinking problem that appeared to decrease after the increased minimum age laws... was that of 'vomiting' as a consequence of drinking.” (Engs and Hanson,