Lower Drinking Age from 21? Current Law is Best for Young Adults’ Safety

Are you an advocate of lowering the drinking age to 18 years? Many are, but the trouble youths have experienced over time with alcohol consumption is giving the current law more defense. A new study shows that the drinking age is right where it should be.

Back in 2006, the drinking age debate resurfaced and caused a widespread spark for a change in the federal law. University presidents across the U.S. suggested that a change be considered because the "binge-drinking" culture among college students was believed to be a result of the 21-year-old drinking age limit. Despite this concern, a Boston University School of Public Health study revealed evidence siding with the current law.

The study helped reject findings claimed by Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization. William DeJong, Ph.D., of Boston University, and his coauthor Jason Blanchette, M.P.H., found that there is no scientific evidence to support Choose Responsibility's claims of the current drinking law "forcing students to drink secretively and therefore more heavily," they wrote in their study, which is published in the Journal Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

In fact, Dejong's study cited a statistic from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study, which found that binge drinking, or the consumption of five or more drinks in a row, has decreased among college students since the inception of the federal drinking law. All 50 states adopted the law in 1988, which saw 43.2% of college students participating in binge drinking compared to 36.1% in 201--a 7% decrease in 23 years.

Additionally, DeJong and Blanchette examined nearly 80 studies associated with the drinking age and alcohol-related car accidents. They found that the higher legal drinking age led to fewer alcohol-related traffic accidents. None of the studies showed the opposite. In fact, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration found that the higher drinking age has saved nearly 1,000 lives per year since the law's inception.

Although there are plausible arguments for lowering the drinking age, statistics have shown that the current federal law has preserved lives and kept underage drinkers out of trouble since 1988. To read more about the Boston University School of Public Health study, visit this EurekAlert! article.