Support 21, myths and facts.

Today, June 8, 2009, The Batavian asked, in its poll of the day, "What age restrictions should be placed on the drinking of alcohol?" Perhaps the question would have been better phrased "What age restrictions should be placed on the purchase of alcohol?"

It is legal in New York State for a person under 21 to drink alcohol with parental permission.

At GCASA we Support 21 and as the debate continues there is a lot of bad information out there. So, I am starting a series on Support 21 to dispel the myths. While people are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts.

The facts to maintain the age of purchasing alcohol to 21 are pretty compelling as a way to enhance public safety. In fact, a compelling argument can be made to raise the drinking age even higher, perhaps to 35, because people under 35 have much more negative consequences associated with alcohol than people under 35.

Since the age to purchase alcohol was raised to 21 in 1984, over 17,000 teen age lives have been saved. That's more American lives than were taken in 9/11 and so far in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Here is a quote from the Why 21 web site:

Around this time, the nation began taking a firm stance on the issue of drunk driving. And because it was apparent that a 21 drinking age law reduced alcohol-related fatalities and injuries, there was a groundswell to help decrease drunk driving deaths and injuries by raising the minimum drinking age to 21. President Ronald Reagan responded to growing evidence that a 21 drinking age law would save lives.

On July 17, 1984, President Reagan signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years. By 1988, all states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age, which is where it should remain.

Since that time, the 21 minimum drinking age law has saved about 900 lives per year as estimated by the National Traffic Highway Administration (NHTSA). (9-11) In short, there are more than 17,000 people alive today since all states adopted the law in 1988. That’s about as many people in a sold-out crowd at a professional basketball game or a medium-sized U.S. college.

In fact, the 21 minimum drinking age law has been heralded as one of the most effective public safety laws ever passed. It is also one of the nation’s most examined laws with countless studies that been conducted to measure the law’s effectiveness—all of which have come to the same conclusion: the law saves lives.

Kids still are killed from DWI crashes, alcohol poisoning, etc., but the deaths have been significantly reduced. Why people would want to reverse this public health trend and have more teens die escapes me.

This is article #1 in a series on Support 21.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 GCASA staff will be at GCC promoting Support 21

Tomorrow, October 28, 2008, GCASA staff will be at GCC from 12:30 - 2:00 PM to promote Support 21. See you at GCC.

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Andrea Wanat, Ex. Dir. of ECPASA supports 21

Andrea J. Wanat, the Executive Director of the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alchol and Substance Abuse had a great letter published in the 09/24/08 issue of the Buffalo News suporting keeping the drinking age at 21 and arguing against the drinking age reduction to 18. Here is part of what she writes in her letter:

In response to the article published in The Buffalo News on Sept. 17 about college officials’ opinions on lowering the drinking age, the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse firmly opposes efforts to reduce the minimum legal drinking age. An immense amount of research shows the positive effects that the current age of 21 has had on health and safety.

Many arguments are made to lower the drinking age. Some reason that since 18-year-olds can vote or go to war, why shouldn’t they be able to drink alcohol legally? The reason is clear: When the drinking age was lowered to 18 in the 1970s, significant increases in alcohol- related crashes involving youth ages 18 to 21 resulted.

Therefore, in 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the National Uniform Drinking Age 21 Act. The change helped to decrease fatal crashes by 59 percent between 1982 and 1998, saving thousands of lives in the process. In addition, a 1998 study showed 10 years after the age was raised to 21 in New York, 58 percent of people 18, 19 and 20 reported reduced drinking, while impaired driving rates decreased.

You can read the whole letter by clicking here.

Should the drinking age be lowered back down to 18?

There has been a lot of debate recently, precipitated by college presidents in particular about dropping the drinking age back to 18 from 21.

This is a bad idea.

Increasing the drinking age to 21 has saved lives by reducing drunk driving fatalities. It is estimated that 900 18 -20 year old lives are saved per year which is over 25,000 since the minimum drinking age was increased. Other problems such as assault, property damage, rape, suicide, homicide and poisonings have also decreased.

Further the physical damage that excessive amounts of alcohol does to the developing adolescent brain, the gastro-intestinal tract, liver, etc. is reduced.

The likelihood that if young people drink alcohol they also will move on to other drugs such as nicotine, pot, cocaine, etc. is increased.

The further reduction in classroom success, work absenteeism due to "hangovers" etc., increased medical costs, is estimated to cost New Yorkers $3.2 billion per year, and Americans $60.3 billion.

Raising the drinking age to 21 has provided many public health benefits and increased the quality of life for individuals and their families.

To read the Press Release issued on Friday, August 29, 2008 by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse click here.

Zero Tolerance for under age 21 DWI positively influences college students decisions to drink and drive

There has been a lot of criticism of the legal drinking age being 21 with a desire to lower it back to 18. The only problem is that from a public health perspective the drinking age of 21 saves thousands of lives. Here at GCASA we have a "Support 21" club which promotes the law of 21 being the legal drinking age.

I will post further information on this blog dealing with the 21 drinking age issue. Here is an abtract of a study in a recent Health Economics issue which found that the Zero tolerance laws for DWI for people under 21 definitely influence college students decisions to drink and drive positively.

Zero tolerance laws make it illegal per se for anyone under age 21 to drive with any measurable amount of blood alcohol. Although a link has been established between zero tolerance laws and lower motor vehicle fatalities, research has not produced strong evidence on how zero tolerance laws influence individual alcohol use and drinking and driving behaviors. Using a unique data set and a difference-in-difference-in-difference-type research design, we are able to analyze a number of pathways through which zero tolerance laws can work among an important underage population, college students. We find that zero tolerance laws reduce drinking and driving among college students. Further analysis of our detailed alcohol use measures suggests that zero tolerance laws are particularly effective at reducing the probability of driving after drinking for those who reported drinking away from home.

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