Why Is the Drinking Age 21?

Why Is the Drinking Age 21?

Why Is The Drinking Age 21? 4/26/11

I actually enjoyed writing this paper because it was an interesting topic to research. I feel like I did a decent job of getting the facts across and was able to put my opinion into the paper. I tried my best to let my opinion be known while at the same time offering many different opposing views.
The drinking age became 21 in 1984 with the passing of the National Minimum Age Drinking Act. Prior to the passing of this act the legal age had been 18 and in some states it was changed to 19. (drinking age) A large adversary behind changing the drinking age, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, otherwise known as MADD. They started out with the intention of raising the drinking age to reduce the amount of alcohol related deaths on the highway. They have in fact succeeded in doing so; however there has been an increase in deaths off the road. Underage people are abusing alcohol because they were never taught when they were younger how to drink responsibly and feel that they need to get as drunk as possible, as fast as possible. (MADD)
“MADD was created in 1980 by Candy Lightner after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver.”(MADD). The organization was the biggest supporter the National Minimum Age Drinking Act, which was a successful step at getting the legal age for drinking raised from 18 to 21. They feel like they were successful because they got the drinking age raised but what they didn’t realize was the massive increase in underground drinking. MADD offers a variety of different victim services including the victim and survivor hotline 877-MADD-HELP. They also have fundraisers and are always taking donations to help their cause. (MADD)
There has been a huge increase in deaths off the road because people who are underage that want to drink are now being forced to do so at typically unsupervised house parties. There was a case at the University of Boulder with a 19 year old freshman named Gordon Bailey, where as part of...

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