Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 Saves Lives, According to New Study
According to a meta-study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 reduces alcohol-related traffic crashes, alcohol consumption by youth, and long-term negative consequences in adulthood such as drug dependence, suicide, and homicide.
The study, “Case Closed: Research Evidence on the Positive Public Health Impact of the Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age in the United States,” analyzed dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles that evaluated MLDA 21 in the United States or that investigated the potential effects of raising or lowering the MLDA.
The investigation came as a response to advocacy organization Choose Responsibility’s call in 2006 to repeal the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which led all 50 states to establish MLDA 21 or risk losing millions of dollars in federal transportation funds. In 2008, the organization created the Amethyst Initiative, a group of college and university presidents advocating for a lower drinking age of 18. Public health and traffic safety experts responded with dozens of new research papers on MLDA’s effectiveness.
According to study authors William DeJong and Jason Blanchette, researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and School of Medicine, MLDA 21 has “served the nation well by reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes and alcohol consumption among youths while also protecting drinkers from long-term negative outcomes they might experience in adulthood, including alcohol and other drug dependence, adverse birth outcomes, and suicide and homicide. The evidence is clear that, absent other policy changes and improved enforcement of the nation’s alcohol laws, lowering the legal drinking age would lead to a substantial increase in injuries, deaths, and other negative health-related consequences.”
