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To: chic_hearne who wrote (39000)	11/19/2000 11:48:17 AM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

More than half the states lowered the drinking age to 18 or 19 shortly after 18 year olds got the right to vote. I think the subsequent slaughter on America's highways convinced many states to raise it back to 21 when the Feds threatened to withhold federal highway funds. (This was a much needed excuse on the part of the states to go forward with this effort. Many state politicians were greatly relieved.) There's some reality for you...You were the one pounding the table for political decisions to be based on reality, weren't you? <ggg> Edit: Ooop...Sorry...Perhaps that was KIS? A considerable body of research on drinking age changes in Australia and the United States shows that lowering the drinking age to 18 was associated with increased drink drive fatalities and injuries. When the United States returned to a minimum age of 21, alcohol related fatalities and crashes were reduced, particularly among new drivers, and lower alcohol consumption levels by teenagers have persisted in their early 20s... ...In 1984 the US Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act pressured all states into raising the minimum legal drinking age to 21 by withholding highway funds for non-compliance. This federal policy was based on research evidence after 29 states lowered their drinking age to 18 to match the right to vote. There were significant increases in alcohol related crashes among young drivers, with 10-30% increases among new drivers in some states. Later analysis of the effect of various policies to reduce road fatalities attributed a 5-6% reduction to the higher drinking age reintroduced in 1984. The higher drinking age was associated with lower alcohol use among US teenagers across all demographic variables, with this pattern persisting in their early twenties ...