It is my hope that college students and staff sign and share this petition so that it can spread to college campuses across America. I aim to inspire others to take action at their own institutions.

Hi, my name is Joey Amoroso, I am a freshman undergraduate at the University of Maryland College Park. Since coming to college I have realized how normalized and prevalent alcohol consumption is among the student population. I believe that because alcohol is such a common substance on college campuses that the best way to keep everyone safe is to lower the MLDA to 19 and enact an alcohol safety certification program. The MLDA is 21 but alcohol still remains the top substance used by youths aged 12-20 (Toomey et al.). America's current policy towards limiting underage drinking is not working; underage college students drink about 48% of the alcohol consumed by students at 4-year colleges (Harding et al.) and national estimates suggest that among full-time college students, 690,000 are involved in assaults, 97,000 are involved in rapes, and 599,000 are injured as a result of alcohol (McCardell). Where is this behavior taking place? And why? Due to the existence of MLDA 21, teens are essentially in a second prohibition and drinking in secret as their predecessors did. This secrecy causes all sorts of health safety problems and dangerous, addictive drinking habits among teens. UMD struggles to enforce a law that’s ignored by 70 percent of students before they even come to college. 

If the MLDA was lowered to 19 it would: 

• Promote a safer drinking environment where drinking without supervision is not the only option.
• Lessen the number of college students facing unnecessary legal repercussions and potential school expulsion for such a minor infraction.
• Better integrate alcohol into society and promote a safer and more educated drinking culture.
• Cut rates of binge drinking, assaults, and injuries as a result of alcohol being consumed behind closed doors
• Give youths a better sense of responsibility and freedom
• Keep alcohol out of reach of high schoolers while allowing college students to drink freely without worrying about potential disciplinary or legal action.

America is one of only a few countries in the world that enforces an MLDA of 21. Most European countries have a lower MLDA with much fewer drunk driving fatalities because of the safer drinking culture. Because drinking is more accepted in society and able to be consumed at a younger age youths do not feel the need to rebel and drink copious amounts of alcohol. If MLDA is lowered to 19 it would be the start of a cultural shift in America. With proactive alcohol safety education for everyone starting from a young age, America and its colleges can begin to come to terms with their underage drinking problem. America needs to stop ruthlessly enforcing 21 and start using 19 along with an enlightened public policy to create the safest possible environment for this reality. 

Sources:

Harding, Frances M., et al. “Underage Drinking: A Review of Trends and Prevention Strategies.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Elsevier, 28 July 2016, 

McCardell, John. “Yes, the U.S. Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered.” Insights on Law & Society, vol. 10, no. 3, Spring 2010, pp. 18–21. EBSCOhost,

Toomey, Traci L., et al. “The Age-21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age: A Case Study Linking Past and Current Debates.” Addiction, vol. 104, no. 12, Dec. 2009, pp. 1958–65. EBSCOhost,