Should the Drinking Age be changed?

Minimum Legal Drinking Age

Findings

"Minimum Legal Drinking Age." American Medical Association - Physicians, Medical Students & Patients (AMA). Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/public-health/promoting-healthy-lifestyles/alcohol-other-drug-abuse/facts-about-youth-alcohol/minimum-legal-drinking-age.page>.

Summary This article will be helpful when comparing the amount of fatal crashes when the minimum legal drinking age was 18 or now 21. It gives a brief history of when and how many states had lower drinking ages than 21 and why all the states changed the age to 21. At the end, it talks about Europeans and how they have more diseases because of the alcohol consumption compared to the US, but the fatal car crash percentage is lower because they don't get their license till they are older. This site gives a few numbers we could use.

Anna Brajcich

Will Increasing Alcohol Availability By Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths?

Findings

Wechsler, H., & Nelson, T. F., ScD. (2010). Will increasing alcohol availability by lowering the minimum legal drinking age decrease drinking and related consequences among youths? American Journal of Public Health, 100(6), 986-986-92. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/347533689?accountid=1557

Summary This article is very long but has some great information in it. It talks about reasons for being in support of lowering the legal drinking age to 18, one being so people know how to react to alcohol and controls themselves at a younger age reducing the chance of being an alcoholic or have alcohol problems when they get older. It talks about health issues, for example alcohol consumption is the third most common cause of death. It again gives a brief history of the past drinking ages. It talks about college drinking and lastly it talks about reducing underage drinking and its consequences. Very detailed article but worth reading.

Anna Brajcich

There's no benefit to lowering the drinking age:

Finding

Voas, R. (2006, Jan 12). There's no benefit to lowering the drinking age. The Christian Science Monitor, pp. 09-09. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/405547019?accountid=1557

Summary This article is very against lowering the drinking age back to 18. The author argues that the lower the drinking age the higher the percentage of fatal crashes occur. It talks about New Zealand and what happened when they lowered the drinking age. It gives the number of deaths, injuries, physical assaults, and sexual assaults for college students each year. Good article for an argument against lowering the legal drinking age.

Anna Brajcich

Legislation of Drinking Age

Findings

Koroknay/Palicz, Alex. "Legislative Analysis of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act." National Youth Rights Association. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. <http://www.youthrights.org/issues/drinking-age/legislative-analysis/>.

Summary This article helps to give background information on why the minimum drinking age is 21. It gives the drinking age legislation credit to Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. It also goes into detail about the path this bill took to make the legal drinking age 21, such as the disputes over it and some of the other people who helped to push to make this a law. It breaks it down to show who was for the bill and who was not. It also highlights the media's role on the passing of the bill.

Colleen Meyers