When it comes to lowering the drinking age there is much debate about this because some people think that 18 year olds are not mature enough. The government is talking about making the drinking age 19 years old. Everybody knows that once you get into college that your more than likely are going to drink at least a couple of times. Even President Bush's daughters have gotten into trouble with drinking under the age of 21. There is a higher incidence of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning among this same age group.
Background:.
After Prohibition, nearly all states restricting youth access to alcohol designated 21 at the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA). In the early 70's, 29 states lowered the MLDA to 18, 19, or 20. This occurred when 18 year olds were allowed to vote (American Medical Association). In 1987, the United States Government decided to raise the legal drinking age to the age of 21. This causes a lot of controversy with the states. South Dakota was the last state to raise the drinking age to 21 because if the state of South Dakota didn't comply with the government than the government was going to take away our road maintanance funds. Many people feel like this is just another prohibition that the government is trying to do since the other prohibitions that the government tried to do in the 1850's and in the beginning of 1920 failed. (Dr. Ruth Engs, www2.potsdam.edu) Many people feel that this new form of prohibition is just tearing our youth/young adults away from maturing and it is also causing them to hate our legal system. By law the minimum age of consumption of alcoholic beverages is set by each state independently. In July 1984 Congress passed a bill requiring all states to enforce a minimum drinking age of 21, or they would lose their federal highway funding as punishment. Needless to say every state quickly complied with this financial tribulation, even if it was completely against what state lawmakers believed.