What Year Did The Drinking Age Change

Health

Why 21? A Look at Our Nation'south Drinking Age

Liquor bottles behind the bar at The Four's Restaurant in Quincy. The national drinking age was raised to 21 on July 17, 1984. Aram Boghosian/The Boston World

By Denali Tietjen

July 17, 2014

Looking for a reason to celebrate this evening? Here's one: The 30th anniversary of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. (Only if yous're 21 of course…)

On July 17, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, a law that required states to raise the drinking age to 21 or face a 10 percent cut to their federal highway funding. All states complied and adopted the higher drinking age.

Since and so, arguments against the drinking age have persisted. Some debate that making booze illegal gives it a "taboo attraction,'' and really increases underage drinking rates. Others argue that if you can fight in war, you should be able to drinkable.

Only seven countries have drinking ages as loftier as the United States, which begs the question: Why is ours and then high?

America's History with Booze

1176- 1919: No national drinking age. Prior to Prohibition, the drinking age varied from state-to-land with nearly states non enforcing a drinking age at all.

1920- 1930: Prohibition. In 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, prohibiting the auction and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the United States completely.

1933- late 1960s: Post-Prohibition. In Dec 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the prohibition. Most states ready their drinking age to 21 just some set information technology lower.

Tardily 1960s and 1970s: Drinking age lowered. During the tardily 1960s and 1970s, near all states lowered the drinking historic period to eighteen. This led to a huge increase in alcohol-related automobile accidents and drunk driving was deemed a public health crisis. In the mid-1970s, 60 percent of all traffic fatalities were alcohol related, co-ordinate to the National Institute of Health(NIH). Over 2-thirds of machine accidents involving persons aged sixteen to twenty were alcohol-related.

1984-2014: National drinking age raised to 21: In response to the drunk driving epidemic of the 1970s, President Ronald Reagan passed the Minimum Drinking Age Act in July 1984, a police force that mandated states increase the drinking age to 21.

The law worked, too. According to the NIH, drunk-driving accidents have dropped by l percent since the law was passed. The greatest proportion of this decline was amongst 16 to 20 year olds: approximately 37 percent of traffic fatalities in this age group were alcohol related in 2013 compared to more than than 75 percent in the 1970s.

So that's the social side of the reasoning. At present let'southward await at the science.

Cognitive development:

Higher kids hate the drinking age, non that they comply with it. Most 4 out of five college students beverage alcohol, according to the National Constitute on Booze Corruption and Alcoholism. And more than than ninety percent of this alcohol is consumed through rampage drinking.

This is a huge business organization among public health officials as tardily adolescence is i of the most important phases of cerebral development. The brain undergoes considerable restructuring and specialization during this period including eliminating unnecessary neural connections and refining connections between frontal-subcortical brain regions. Research shows that consuming alcohol, peculiarly through binge drinking, earlier the brain fully matures may crusade permanent harm to the encephalon and hinder cognitive development.

Ane surface area of the brain that experiences the most rapid changes during teenage years is the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain involved in judgment and decision making. Thus, teens are biologically more than likely to take lapses in judgment. When you combine that with alcohol, it's a dangerous mixture making questionable decisions much more likely.

Consuming alcohol while the brain is still developing can besides increment ones chance of booze dependency.A 2011 study of 600 Finish twins conducted by Academy of Indiana researchers establish that people who drank regularly in their teenage years were more likely to develop alcohol dependency later in life. The report interviewed twins on their drinking habits when they were xviii and and then over again when they were 25. The twin written report is particularly notable because the twins shared the aforementioned environmental and genetic groundwork, factors that could influence their booze behavior.

Exercise you think the drinking age should be lowered?

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