National Minimum Drinking Age Act

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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (Title 23 U.S.C. §158) was passed on July 17, 1984 by the United States Congress as a mechanism whereby all states would become thereafter required to legislate and enforce the age of 21 years as a minimum age for purchasing or public possession of alcoholic beverages. Under the Federal Aid Highway Act, a state not enforcing the minimum age would be subjected to a ten percent decrease in its annual federal highway apportionment. ^[1]

While this act did not outlaw the consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under 21 years of age, some states extended its provisions into an outright ban. However, most states still permit "underage" consumption of alcohol in some circumstances. In some states, no restriction on private consumption is made, while in others, consumption is only allowed in specific locations, in the presence of consenting and supervising family members, and/or during religious occasions.^[2]^[3]

Pressure from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was attributed with passage of the bill.

[edit] Opposition

The New York State Conservative Party opposed the passage of the law in 1984, but according to The New York Post no longer considers the effort to bring back drinking by those under 21 worthwhile. In 2001, according to the same article, New York State Assembly member Felix Ortiz introduced a bill that would lower the drinking age to 18. He cited unfairness and difficulty with enforcement as his motivations. ^[4]

Former congressman Scott Klug (R-WI) has unsuccessfully attempted to revoke the act and leave regulation of drinking age back to individual states.^[1]

In 2005, the president of Vermont's Middlebury College, John M. McCardell, Jr. wrote in The New York Times that "the 21-year-old drinking age is bad social policy and terrible law" that has made the college drinking problem far worse. [5] The United States is one of the few countries in the world with such a high drinking age. Other countries with similarly restrictive laws include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain.