Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21?

Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21?

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?

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You are seeing 4 Comments on this Objection. See all 202 Comments on this Question.
Regarding Objection
The Full Story on Traffic Fatalities
- From Choose Responsibility
Yes Side
By Choose Responsibility - Balance, Maturity, Common Sense

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  • JSearles
    The Full "Full Story"

    Perhaps it should be mentioned that the authors' of the article indicate that the other two effects (ALR and .08 per se) are likely methodological artifacts. THAT'S full disclosure! I would encourage everyone to read the article themselves.

    - JSearlesUS August 19, 2008 10:03AM

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    • PhilyG
      Thank You

      I am glad that Choose Responsibility has been successful in convincing you to read further into the sources used by the government. Please let us all know if you find anything in that study that seriously counters CR's arguments.

      The fact is that almost all of the statistics used by proponents of the MLDA 21 are before 1995 and are presented incompletely. Since the government and organizations like MADD receive millions of dollars in funding, it isn't surprising that the public has only heard their argument and limited facts.

      - PhilyGUS January 29, 2009 9:27PM

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      • JSearles
        Your welcome

        Actually, CR had nothing to do with my reading of this peer-reviewed artile. It's what scientsits do to keep up on the literature. It is disingenuous to fault a study for using the only data available. This was a study on the effects of policy and policies don't change on a regular basis. The data suporting the MLDA-21 laws are overwhelming. Here is the bottom line: lower the MLDA and adverse outcomes increase; raise the MLDA and adverse outcomes decrease. Pretty simple, really!

        - JSearlesUS January 30, 2009 10:10AM

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  • TomAlciere
    Statistics are irrelevant

    Should Abraham Lincoln consider whether crime statistics might rise if the slaves are freed? No amount of statistical analysis of historical crash data can establish that the government has a right to impose alcohol prohibition on an innocent person who never consented to it. In a free country, the citizen would decide what to eat and drink.

    - TomAlciereUS February 16, 2009 5:56PM

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Drinking Age Before 21?

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    The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of... More

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