Why did the United States of America pass a law to increase the drinking age from 18 to 21? The answer is because increasing the drinking age to 21 has effectively reduced the percentage of alcohol related deaths throughout the country. It seems that at 18, youths are not mature enough to handle the responsibilities and consequences that result from the privilege of being able to legally drink alcoholic beverages. The major reason for the increase in legal drinking age from 18 to 21 is that drunk driving accidents are the number one reason for death among young people than anything else in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vital Statistics Mortality Data report that: “More than 35 percent of such fatalities involving persons ages 15 to 20 are alcohol related. In 1996, 2,315 youth died in alcohol-related crashes”. Underage drinking and driving is a huge problem in this country, and it would only escalate if the drinking age were lowered back to 18 years of age, like it was in the early 80’s. Another look into this problem was a study reported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts over a 20-year period. “In the last 20 years, annual arraignments for DUI in Massachusetts have ranged from a high of 39,912 (in 1984) to 18,809 in 1998”. This finding proves the fact that when the legal drinking age in Massachusetts was 18 years of age, there was over double they arraignments made for driving while intoxicated. Raising the legal age to 21 helped save many lives that would have been theoretically lost to drunk driving accidents. “Because 18-year-olds are typically seniors in high school, it has been argued that legally entitling them to drink may make alcohol more accessible to their younger classmates”. This is another strong argument that supports the reason for the legal age to be set at 21. What age are you as a senior in high school? Most seniors in hi...
