You want to know (1) how many states have a legal drinking age under 21, (2) how the legal drinking age has affected underage drinking, and (3) recent trends in underage drinking.

Every state has a legal drinking age of 21 (www.ntsb.gov/Recs/mostwanted/youth_safety.htm). In general, rates of underage drinking and drunk driving accidents by teens have decreased in the years following the adoption of 21 as the minimum drinking age (www2.Potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/YouthIssues/1085160584.html).

During the Vietnam era, 29 states lowered their minimum drinking age to 18 reasoning that if an 18 year old can go to war, he should be able to buy a drink. As teenage drunk driving accidents began to climb in the 1970s, a movement began to raise the drinking age to 21, which culminated in the National Minimum Legal Drinking Age Act (MLDA) in 1984. This federal law required states to establish the drinking age at 21 or risk losing a percentage of their federal highway dollars. Fearing monetary loss, most states quickly complied. South Dakota and Wyoming, in 1988, became the last states to raise the drinking age to 21 (http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/FewerYoungDrivers/).

The years following the increase in drinking age showed a dramatic decrease in the rate of teenage drunk driving accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) evaluated the number of highway fatalities involving at least one driver aged 18-20 following the passage of the MLDA. NHTSA found that traffic fatalities decreased by 13 percent in states that increased the drinking age to 21 (www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/). Using this as the basis for its projection, NHTSA estimates that nearly 22,000 lives have been “saved” from 1975 through 2002 due to the increase in drinking age. Advocates against underage drinking also believe that increasing the drinking age has decreased youth alcohol consumption, marijuana use, suicides, crime and DWI arrests.

Increasing the drinking age to 21 has not been the only policy aimed at decreasing underage drinking. A public relations campaign and other legislation may have also led to decreases in the behaviors listed above. Other legislation aimed at reducing underage drinking include sanctions against youth attempts to purchase alcohol, youth consumption of alcohol, selling alcohol to youth, hosting a party with underage drinkers, and youth having any alcohol in their system (zero tolerance).

Evidence is mixed on current trends in underage drinking. Advocates against underage drinking maintain that the rate of teen drinking has remained stable over the past decade. Government and university research has shown that underage drinking has continued to decrease since the 1980s. Media reports of binge drinking on college campuses have become numerous recently, which has led to a feeling that underage drinking is rising. Researchers using different criteria for evaluating alcohol use and abuse among teens may explain these discrepancies. Organizations may choose the data that supports its policy agenda, which leads to differing views of the extent of underage drinking.

SD:ts