Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984, which sets the legal purchasing age at 21. Despite these improvements, too many teenagers still drink. In 2012, 42% of Grade 12 students, 28% of Grade 10 students, and 11% of Grade 8 students reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. In the same year, approximately 24% of Grade 12 students, 16% of Grade 10 students, and 5% of Grade 8 students reported excessive drinking in the past two weeks. As can be seen in the table below, since the repeal of prohibition in 1933, there has been great volatility in the age of alcohol consumption in the states. Shortly after the 21st Amendment was ratified in December, most states set their purchasing age at 21, which was the voting age at the time. Most of these limits remained constant until the early 1970s. From 1969 to 1976, about 30 states lowered their purchasing age, usually to 18. This was largely due to the fact that the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 with the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.
Many states began lowering their minimum drinking age, most in 1972 or 1973. [2] [3] [4] Twelve states have maintained their purchasing age at 21 since the repeal of prohibition and have never changed it. In general, a “family member” is a parent, guardian or spouse. But laws vary widely from state to state as to when a family member can provide or permit consumption from a person under the age of 21. Many European countries, including the United Kingdom, have a more liberal drinking age. Some countries even allow children to drink, as long as they do so in the privacy of their homes and under the supervision of their parents. The legal drinking age has been discussed in many cultures and countries. Some believe that it instills the habit of drinking responsibly, and that the ban, on the other hand, encourages children to drink secretly or find illegal methods of buying alcohol. Since then, alcohol consumption by high school students has decreased significantly, from 66% to 42% (see chart). Over the same period, binge drinking among high school graduates, that is, five or more drinks occasionally, decreased from 37% to 24%. In 1984, the federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, setting the National Minimum Drinking Age at 21 (“MLDA”).
It was phased in over a few years, and today, all 50 states require you to be 21 or older to buy alcohol. So why discuss drinking age by state? From 1976 to 1983, several states voluntarily raised their purchasing age to 19 (or, less frequently, 20 or 21), in part to combat drunk driving deaths. [ref. needed] In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required states to raise their purchasing and public ownership age to 21 in October 1986 or lose 10 percent of their federal funding for roads. By mid-1988, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had raised the age of purchase to 21 (but not Puerto Rico, Guam or the Virgin Islands, see additional notes below). South Dakota and Wyoming were the last two states to serve the 21-year term. The current drinking age of 21 remains a point of contention among many Americans because it is above the age of majority (18 in most states) and above the drinking age in most other countries. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is also considered a circumvention of the Tenth Amendment by Congress.
Although the debates were not widely publicized, some states proposed legislation to lower their drinking age,[5] while Guam raised the drinking age to 21 in July 2010. [6] We all have fond memories of the day we took our first legal sip of alcohol. The United States of America celebrates Legal Drinking Age Day every year on July 21. Not only are people nostalgic for their first drinks and toasts, but it`s also a day to educate young people about responsible consumption. This day will also see discussions on how to deal with the increase in alcoholism and drunk driving. The easiest way to celebrate Legal Drinking Age Day is to relax after a long day with your favorite beverage when you are over the legal drinking age. * For established religious purposes;* If a person under twenty-one years of age is accompanied by a parent, spouse or guardian twenty-one years of age or older;* For medical purposes, if purchased as an over-the-counter drug or prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, a hospital or an authorized medical facility;* In a private dwelling, which includes a residential dwelling and up to twenty contiguous hectares on which the dwelling belonging to the same person who owns it is situated;* the sale, handling, transport or service of supplying alcoholic beverages on the basis of the lawful ownership of an establishment or the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed producer, wholesaler or retailer of alcoholic beverages. A state`s exemption from the MLDA may also be site-specific. Some state laws only allow minors to legally consume alcohol in a parent`s or guardian`s private home, while others only allow alcohol consumption on authorized premises accompanied by their parents, guardians, or spouses.
States like Texas allow minors to drink in places licensed to sell alcohol, such as a restaurant or bar, if their parents are present and allow it. As part of undercover work or research, it is legal in some states for a minor employed in law enforcement to purchase and consume alcohol. This is an understandable attempt to keep these enforcement efforts unhindered.