Fact Sheets - Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age

Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age

 

A Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) of 21 saves lives and protects health

Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) laws specify the legal age when an individual can purchase or publicly consume alcoholic beverages. The MLDA in the United States is 21 years.  However, prior to the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal age when alcohol could be purchased varied from state to state.¹

Drinking by those under the age 21 is a public health problem.

• Excessive drinking contributes to more than 4,300 deaths among people below the age of 21 in the U.S. each year.¹⁰
• Underage drinking cost the U.S. economy $24 billion in 2010.¹¹
• There were about 189,000 emergency department visits by people under age 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol in 2010.¹²
•  More than 90% of the alcohol consumed by those under age 21 is consumed by binge drinkers (defined as 5 or more drinks per occasion for boys; 4 or more drinks per occasion for girls).¹³

Drinking by those below the age of 21 is also strongly linked with^9,14,15:

• Death from alcohol poisoning.
• Unintentional injuries, such as car crashes,  falls, burns, and drowning.
• Suicide and violence, such as fighting and sexual assault.
• Changes in brain development.
• School performance problems, such as higher absenteeism and poor or failing grades.
• Alcohol dependence later in life.
• Other risk behaviors such as smoking, abuse of other drugs, and risky sexual behaviors.

Alcohol-impaired driving

Drinking by those below the age of 21 is strongly associated with alcohol-impaired driving.
The 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey¹⁶ found that among high school students, during the past 30 days

• 8% drove after drinking alcohol.
• 20% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

Rates of drinking and binge drinking among those under 21

The 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System¹⁶ found that among high school students, 33% drank alcohol and 18% binge drank during the past 30 days.

In 2015, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 10% of 8th graders and 35% of 12th graders drank alcohol during the past 30 days, and 5% of 8th graders and 17% of 12th graders binge drank during the past 2 weeks.¹⁷

Enforcing the age 21 MLDA

Communities can enhance the effectiveness of age 21 MLDA laws by actively enforcing them.

• A Community Guide review found that enhanced enforcement of laws prohibiting alcohol sales to minors reduced the ability of youthful-looking decoys to purchase alcoholic beverages by a median of 42%.¹⁸

• Alcohol sales to minors are still a common problem in communities.

• For example, in 2014, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the New York State Liquor Authority found that more than half (58%) of the licensed alcohol retailers in the City sold alcohol to underage decoys.¹⁹

For more information on the prevention of underage drinking, visit our Underage Drinking Fact Sheet.

References

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Determine Why There Are Fewer Young Alcohol Impaired Drivers. Washington, DC. 2001.
2. Committee on Substance Abuse, Kokotailo PK. Alcohol use by youth and adolescents: A pediatric concern. Pediatrics. 2010;125(5):1078-1087.
3. DeJong W, Blanchette J. Case closed: research evidence on the positive public health impact of the age 21 minimum legal drinking age in the United States. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2014;75 Suppl 17:108-115.
4. Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Recommendations to reduce injuries to motor vehicle occupants: increasing child safety seat use, increasing safety belt use, and reducing alcohol-impaired driving [PDF-78 KB]. Am J Prev Med. 2001;21(4 Suppl):16-22.
5. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Lowering the Drinking Age is Not the Answer. 2014; http://www.madd.org/blog/2014/march/lowering-the-drinking-age-is.html. Accessed December 29, 2015.
6. Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving [PDF-2 MB]. Am J Prev Med. 2001;21(4 Suppl):66-88.
7. Serdula MK, Brewer RD, Gillespie C, Denny CH, Mokdad A. Trends in alcohol use and binge drinking, 1985-1999: results of a multi-state survey. Am J Prev Med. 2004;26(4):294-298
8. National Prevention Council, US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. National Prevention Strategy: Preventing Drug Abuse and Excessive Alcohol Use. 2011; http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/priorities/prevention/strategy/preventing-drug-abuse-excessive-alcohol-use.html. Accessed December 29, 2015.
9. Bonnie RJ and O’Connell ME, editors. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Committee on Developing a Strategy to Reduce and Prevent Underage Drinking. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2004.
10. CDC. Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application. 2013; www.cdc.gov/ardi. Accessed December 17, 2015.
11. Sacks JJ, Gonzales KR, Bouchery EE, Tomedi LE, Brewer RD. 2010 national and state costs of excessive alcohol consumption. Am J Prev Med. 2015;49(5):e73-79.
12. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. The DAWN Report: Highlights of the 2010 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Findings on Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits [PDF-410 KB]. Rockville, MD. 2012.
13. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Drinking in America: Myths, Realities, and Prevention Policy [PDF- 103KB]. Washington, DC. 2005.
14. Miller JW, Naimi TS, Brewer RD, Jones SE. Binge drinking and associated health risk behaviors among high school students. Pediatrics. 2007;119(1):76-85.
15. Department of Health and Human Services. The Surgeon General’s call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General;2007.
16. Kann L, McManus T, Harris WA, et al. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2015. MMWR Surveill Summ 2016;65(No. SS-6):1–174.
17. Johnston, LD, O’Malley PM, Miech RA, Bachman, J G, & Schulenberg J E. Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2015: 2015 Overview- Key findings on adolescent drug use[PDF-3.3 MB]. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.
18. Elder R, Lawrence B, Janes G, et al. Enhanced enforcement of laws prohibiting sale of alcohol to minors: systematic review of effectiveness for reducing sales and underage drinking [PDF-4MB]. Transportation Research E-Circular. 2007;E-C123:181-188.
19. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Alcohol & Health. 2015; http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/alcohol-underage-prevent.page. Accessed October 18, 2016.