The National Minimum Drinking Age Essay - 1865 Words

Upon turning eighteen you are considered to be legal adult and receive all of the responsibilities that accompany the title. At the age of eighteen year olds you receive and are expected to use the rights and responsibilities to vote, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, join the military--which includes taking on the responsibilities of life and death--and be prosecuted as an adults in the court of law along with many other things. In 1984, the national government raised the drinking age from 18 to 21. Mothers Against Drunk Driving was a key contributing organization that influenced the change in the minimum drinking age. While there are arguments for both sides, it is said that if the national minimum legal drinking age is†¦show more content†¦Research has proven that those under the age of twenty one are more likely to be heavy or binge drinkers and more specifically, twenty two percent of all students under the age of twenty one are binge drinkers. There ar e many beliefs on what is to blame for the irresponsible drinking habits of these teenagers. One popular belief is that because they’re not drinking with other adults or experienced drinkers they are not being guided into the proper direction to being responsible drinkers. However, the main reason is the lack of education on the topic. D.A.R.E.  ® is a program executed through local Police Stations that does a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for a large array of age groups. The program teaches the students about the decisions they have to make in the future and the harms of drugs and alcohol and they teach students in the elementary, middle, and high schools all across the nation. The problem with this program is that they only present their education program once through the course of every student’s public school experience. There is a program that is far better than D.A.R.E.  ® that can be paired with or implemented in the place of it. Choose Responsibility is a nonprofit organization founded to stimulate informed and dispassionate public discussion about the presence of alcohol in our culture and to consider policiesShow MoreRelatedThe Policy Of The National Minimum Drinking Age1503 Words   |  7 PagesOne of the most controversial problems within the United States is the policy of the national minimum drinking age of 21. I believe that the raising of the drinking age to 21 years old has created more problems than solving them. America has had past experiences with a similar situation when they enforced prohibition. As we know, prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, which was a huge failure. America have triedRead MoreThe Repeal Of The National Minimum Drinking Age927 Words   |  4 Pagesconsumption age. Af ter the passage of the twenty-sixth Amendment, which lowered the national drinking age to eighteen, thirty states had lowered the minimum drinking age to eighteen, nineteen, or twenty (â€Å"Prohibition†). In 1984, the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act prompted states to raise the legal age for purchase of public possession of alcohol to twenty-one or risk losing millions in federal highway funds. By 1988, all fifty states had raised the minimum drinking age to twenty-oneRead MoreProhibition Of The National Minimum Drinking Age Act1376 Words   |  6 Pages1993, the drinking age was set at twenty one but was later lowered to eighteen because of the passage of the 26th amendment which lowered the voting age to eighteen. In order to combat drunk driving, The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed and stated that states must raise their drinking age to twenty one or lose 10% of their funds to pay for their highways. The organization MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) was the group who put pressure on congress to pass The National Minimum DrinkingRead MoreThe National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 Is Not Working738 Words   |  3 PagesIt’s not working. The NMDA, National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which states that people under the age of 21 can’t consume or purchase alcohol, has only served to heighten the problem that is currently being faced. The only realistic way to make real progress while reversing the negative effect the NMDA act has had and is having is to abolish the NMDA act and introduce a new act that establishes different phases to introduce alcohol to minors. In essence, the purpose of the NMDA act was toRead MoreAlcohol And Substance Abuse And The National Minimum Drinking Age Act2083 Words   |  9 Pagesstarted to arise. One being the legal age to start drinking alcohol. The national minimum drinking age act was signed on July 17th, 1984 to the law, with the drinking age at minimum being 21 (Archer M.D.). An adult is any person who’s reached the age of maturity as directed by law (Archer M.D.). Legally, being 18 years old in the U.S. is considered to be the adult age, but the consumption of alcohol has always been withheld from the young adults of today, until the age of 21. When you’re 18 year old, youRead MoreNational Minimum Drinking Age Act Essay719 Words   |  3 PagesIn 1984 the United States Government approved the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that required that â€Å"the States prohibit persons under 21 years of age from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving Sta te highway funds.† Even though this bill was nowhere near the magnitude of the prohibition act that was passed less than a century before it, the act still damaged the relationship between individuals, firms, and the United States government. Although theRead MoreThe National Minimum Drinking Age Act Of 19841084 Words   |  5 Pagesresponsibilities consuming alcohol at the average age of 18. However, unlike most countries in the world the United States has determined to establish their drinking age to be set at 21 years of age. This antiquated position is unjust to many young American adults. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 should be revised and reconstituted to the legal age of 18. To provide a more suitable America that is secure and reasonable for all young adults. The drinking age needs to be lowered so that it can reduceRead MoreThe Minimum Drinking Age Act1692 Words   |  7 Pagesthe National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This act stated that all states mu st raise their minimum drinking age to 21. Individuals under the age of 21 would now be prohibited from purchasing or being in public possession of any alcoholic beverage. Though not every state was keen on this idea, they all jumped to raise the minimum drinking age due to the government threat that they would lose up to 10% of their federal highway funding if they ignored the request. However, since the National Minimum DrinkingRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Abolished1634 Words   |  7 Pageslegal drinking age. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age act was passed and raised the drinking age in the United States to twenty-one. This law caused uproar in states that had declared the minimum drinking age to be eighteen. Alcohol consumption is a major factor in cultural and social matters and the National Minimum Drinking Age has affected everybody. This law is unjust because of many reasons. One of the most prominent reasons is that it is an ex-post facto law. The le gal drinking age shouldRead MoreMinimum Legal Drinking Age Should Remain at the Age of 21 Essay1310 Words   |  6 PagesWithout a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher