Why did america change their drinking age to 21?!
Why did america change their drinking age to 21?
ummm wasnering why so i can compare it to Australia on my assignment im doing due thursday :D so just wandering if anyone knows and would like to answer. Thankyouuuu! =]
Answers:
The question's already been correctly answered. 21 is ridiculous, though, because many start drinking before they're 21, and, besides, in this country, you only have to be 18 to shoot people in Iraq, so where's the sense in that?
Some states already were 21. Indiana for one. But too many kids would cross state lines just to drink and then naturally come back drunk and driving. I lived near two state lines, some of my classmates were killed like that. Making it 21 across the board solved the problem of underage kids driving to Michigan or Ohio just to drink.
Technically, each state can set it's own law regarding the legal drinking age. If you go ask your parents or grandparents, they might be able to tell you about "driving across state lines on a beer run" or something.
However, due to pressure from groups like M.A.D.D., the federal government passed legislation in the 80s saying that if a state wants federal funding for roads, then they better make their drinking age 21. Since most states couldn't afford to go without that funding, they all complied.
It was sometime in the early to mid 80s. Here's a URL with info about the drinking limits around the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/legal_drink...
well for the most part this happened many years ago. most states were 21 by 1991. The rest have followed suit since. It has to do with maturity. after many years and much research it it clear that many adults under the age of 21 to not possess the maturity to be able to handle their alcohol. Many people even older than that don't either. I do not agree that a person can enlist in the armed forces and die for their country but cannot legally have a drink however. But for the most part the age is appropriate. I have been in the restaurant and bar business for 15 years now and can attest to the correlation between the age of 21 and maturity. Like I said it is not always right but it is more appropriate than any other age I think.
because too many young kids were losing their lives and harming others so they upped the age.
many reason. fatalities in car. insurance requlations. studies that it was not woking uniformity
I believe statistics showed a prevalence of drunk-driving fatalities with drivers between 18 and 21 years old, with a pronounced drop in incidents over the age of 21. That's why several states set the legal age to 21 many years ago. And a previous answerer here explained why the federal gov't later nationalized the drinking age (to stop the problem of kids crossing state lines to drink and then driving home drunk).
sad isn't it? :( i'm not really sure, for most of my life it's been 21.
It was all about the Vietnam war and the draft. They dropped the drinking age as kids could be drafted to go to to Vietnam, but could not have a beer. After all the draft ended, they began to raise it back up again.
The federal government blackmailed the state governments
and forced their hand. It still makes me mad thinking about it.