Back in the mid-1980's, the minimum legal drinking age was raised on a state and national level from 18 to 21. The theory behind this move was that raising the drinking age would prevent drinking and thereby lower drunk driving accidents among 18, 19, and 20-year-olds.

After some 30 years into this experiment, it has been proven that the higher drinking age of 21 has not led to less drinking among the target age group. Many studies have show, for example, that binge drinking has become more and more prevalent for this age group, especially on college and university campuses.

Back in 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed, which raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 years of age. A man by the name of Morris Chafetz was in charge of agreeing to sign this. Many years later Chafetz stated that, “It is the single most regrettable decision of my entire professional career.” This is coming from the man who passed the proposal himself, that shortly after turned into a law. He also stated, “Whether we like it or not, alcohol is woven into the fabric of our world, most of which has determined that the legal drinking age should be 18 — or lower.  And so far as I can tell, there is no evidence of massive brain impairment, alcohol dependency, or underage alcohol abuse, which the “experts” tell us will be the inevitable result of lowering the age in the United States.” If Chafetz, the first director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and a leading spokesman, is admitting he regrets passing it and thinks it is a problem, our society should reconsider the decisions we have made in the past.

In the USA today, 16 year olds are given the ability to drive, while 18-year-olds are able to legally marry. 18 year olds can also enlist in the military, which involves fighting and sometimes dying for their country.  But when these young veterans come back home after a tour of duty, they are not even legally allowed to order a glass of beer or wine with their dinner. Surely this is an absurd and preposterous situation. There are teenagers flying out to different countries like Mexico just to have themselves a weekend of drinking with no consequences. This is nothing out of the ordinary, since most other countries in the world have set their legal drinking ages to 18-19 years of age.

When you take a look at the minimum legal drinking age in other countries around the world, you'll find that the vast majority--roughly 77%--have drinking ages of 18, or sometimes even lower, as it is not uncommon to find a number of European countries that set their drinking age at just 16. In the United States, 31% of road traffic deaths involve alcohol. This percentage is higher than many countries with a drinking age lower than 21, such as France (29%), Great Britain (16%), Germany (9%), China (4%), and many other countries.

Another issue with having the MLDA (minimum legal drinking age) set to 21 is because of the Forbidden Fruit Dilemma. This is related to the Adam and Eve story, you’re told you cannot have something, so you end up wanting it that much more. The MLDA of 21 causes this at alarming rates. A study found by the CDC showed that alcohol has been widely used by young people in the U.S. for a very long time. In 2019, the proportions of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders who reported drinking an alcoholic beverage in the 30-day period prior to the survey were 8%, 18%, and 29%, respectively. This is very alarming since we see the ages and grades lowering from seniors in high school to kids who are just getting out of middle school. If we lowered the MLDA to 18, we would be numbing the forbidden fruit dilemma by not making it such a big deal anymore and teaching these 18 year old adults how to become more responsible for their actions. Instead we are doing the opposite by trying to restrict something that should not be restricted in the first place. People under the age of 21 have and will continue to consume alcohol behind closed doors until change occurs. 

Keeping the drinking age at 21 is both unfair and unjust. This denies young adults privileges and rights to which they should be entitled. When we turn 18 in America, we are officially considered adults. We have moved from being a minority in society to being a so-called “majority”. So what privileges does this come with? Too many to name, but some of the most important ones being: the right to vote, to vote, to purchase tobacco, to enlist in the army, the right to sign contracts, and you can even legally move out of your parents house if you wanted. This begs the question, why wouldn’t we be allowed to drink?

TL;DR To sum up, keeping the drinking age at 21 is more or less a form of prohibition, and any student of US history should know that prohibition was a dismal failure. If young adults can legally marry at 18, and join the military at 18, there is no good reason why the drinking age should not be restored to 18 as well. If you agree, please sign this petition, and contact your political representatives to let your opinion be known on this important issue. Thanks for your support.