Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered?

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“Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” - Abraham Lincoln
Those words spoken by Abraham Lincoln are as true today as they were in 1840, and yet history and current policies show us that for a large part 174 years has done very little to change people’s attitudes. The legal drinking age in the USA has been a topic of contention and debate since the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ushered in the end of prohibition in 1933. (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prohibition-ends ) Add to works cited
The legal drinking age prohibition in the United States should be lowered from 21 to better align with existing rights and privileges of young adults and to promote open and honest conversations on responsible consumption.
The legal drinking age in the United States has been 21 since 1988 the last of the remaining states recognized the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (NMDAA). The NMDAA was introduced as a way for the Federal Government to pressure the individual states to raise the Minimum Legal Drinking Age to 21 (MLDA21) with the consequence of losing 10% of their federal highway funds, which would amount to about 8 million for the smallest states or 99 million for the largest states. As none of the states wanted to lose their federal funding, they all signed laws mandating a MLDA of 21.
Prior to the passing of the MDAA each state had a different MLDA which they set at the end of prohibition in 1933. State government has the power to set t...

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"Underage Drinking Costs." Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center .
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Sept. 2011. Web. 08 May 2014.
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United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Statistical Analysis of Alcohol-Related Driving Trends, 1982-2005. By Jennifer N. Dang. Springfield: National Technical Information Service, 2008. Web. .

"What the Research Says… Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs." Sexuality Information and
Education Council of the United States, Oct. 2009. Web. 08 May 2014.
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