The United States also has a higher prevalence of alcohol-related problems such as alcohol use disorders, alcohol dependence, and harmful alcohol use than many European countries – all have lower drinking ages and higher rates of alcohol consumption. The United States even has a higher prevalence of “episodic excessive use” in its population than developed countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain. It is clear that the world`s highest drinking age does not have the dramatic benefits prescribed by our society. It is strange that a country that values individual freedom is such an exception and yet has so little to show. In fact, young people in Europe have higher rates of poisoning than in the United States, and less than a quarter had rates lower or equivalent to those in the United States. In addition, a higher percentage of young people in the majority of Europe report excessive drinking more often than in the United States. 1-2 Most European adolescents have higher rates of alcohol-related problems due to heavy drinking. Perhaps the best example of fact in relation to the myth is what happened in New Zealand. In 1999, New Zealand lowered the purchasing age from 20 to 18.
Not only has the number of alcohol-related accidents increased, but young people have started drinking earlier, excessive alcohol consumption has increased, and in the 12 months following the lowering of the legal drinking age, there has been a 50% increase in the number of intoxicated patients aged 18 and 19 in the emergency department of Auckland Hospital.3 References 1. ESPAD Report 2003. Substance use among students in 35 European countries. Published in 2004. Read excerpts here. 2. Johnston, L. D., O`Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2004).
Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2003 (NIH Publication No. 04-5506). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Read the overview here. 3. Kyrpi, Kypros, et al. “Minimum age for alcohol and traffic accidents among 15- to 19-year-olds in New Zealand.” American Journal of Public Health, January 2006, Voi 96, No. 1. The problem never seems to go away, and New Hampshire and California are two of the latest states to reignite the drinking age debate with policy proposals hoping to garner voter support. The California proposal[1] aims to legalize the purchase and consumption of alcohol for people 18 years of age and older, while the New Hampshire bill[2] would legalize the consumption of beer and wine for persons aged 18 to 20 as long as they are in the presence of adults aged 21 and older. A U.S. District Court ruled in December.
22, 1978 that MLDA 21 is “reasonably related to a state objective of reducing motor vehicle accidents” and that MLDA 21 resists constitutional challenge on three important legal issues: (1) alcohol consumption is not a constitutionally guaranteed “fundamental right,” (2) age is not inherently a criterion for “suspect” discrimination (as opposed to race or ethnic origin, for example), and (3) alcohol consumption age to avoid road accidents has a “rational basis” in the available scientific evidence. [29] [10] “A lower drinking age leads to more early school leavers.” Newsmax Media, Inc. Retrieved from www.newsmax.com/Health/Health-News/drinking-age-high-school-dropouts-rates/2015/09/28/id/693725/ March 17, 2016. The legal drinking age in our country, dictated from state to state, has a turbulent history. When prohibition was repealed, the legal drinking age was accepted nationally at 21, but when the voting age rose from 21 to 18 in the early 1970s, many states followed suit by also lowering the drinking age. Soon after, however, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed, punishing states that allowed people under the age of 21 to publicly purchase and possess alcoholic beverages. Police tend to ignore or under-enforce LDL 21 due to resource constraints, legal barriers, the perception that sanctions are inadequate, and the time and effort required to process and paperwork. It is estimated that two out of every 1,000 cases of illegal alcohol consumption by youth under the age of 21 result in arrest. [18] Some states allow parents to do so with their own child (rarely, if ever, with someone else`s child), but there is no evidence that this approach actually works.3 In fact, there is evidence to the contrary.
When teens feel they have their parents` consent to drink, they increasingly do so when they are not with their parents. When parents have concrete and enforced rules for alcohol, young people drink less.