Do you remember your first taste of alcohol? How old were you? Twenty-one? All 50 states currently demand that their citizens reach age 21 before they can legally drink. But there's a growing movement that says mandatory minimum laws may do more harm than good. When determining the right date when a young person can take one of their final steps towards personal responsibility and freedom, what's the right answer?
We’ve been there before. During the 1920’s, America undertook the “noble experiment.” The outcome then sounds a lot like the present. Alcohol consumption declined, but reckless, excessive drinking went up. Criminal behavior increased, and respect for law diminished. The speakeasy and the bootlegger became familiar terms as drinking simply moved behind closed doors and underground. The cost of enforcement skyrocketed while the rate of enforcement remained frustratingly low. By the late 1920s a growing body of responsible citizens decided to attempt the impossible: repeal of a constitutional amendment. In February 1933 Congress passed the language, and by December 5 the requisite number of states, by overwhelming margins, had ratified the 21st amendment. How many times must we relearn the harsh yet predictable lessons of Prohibition?
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