Why is the drinking age (still) at 21?

37 comments

1. Given that tobacco and marijuana are both being set to 21 recently, it seems there’s little interest in dropping the alcohol age, especially if the federal government threatens highway funding

2. There’s no real momentum to change it. Young people have a few years of complaining, and then once they’re legal it’s an inconsequential issue.

3. Because there is no political will to change it. 18-20 year old make up a very small percentage of the voting block, and no politician wants to have their name associated with “18 Year old Drunk Driver kills family of 4” the night the ink dries on the new drinking age legislation they sponsored.

4. It was set at 21 in the 80s to reduce drunk driving.

   It seems to have succeeded and the only people who hate it are between 18 and 21, which just isn’t many people. Older people generally approve because we generally think teens have bad enough judgement even without making access to alcohol easier.

5. Because no one over 21 cares about the drinking age.

6. Because it’s been working fine.

7. I don’t see it changing in the near term. The Federal government tied highway funds to states adopting 21 y/o as the drinking age.

   At this point, I think many forget that 21 is an arbitrary age cutoff forced upon the states. I don’t see many political candidates running on a platform that includes lowering the drinking age.

8. Federal highway funding

9. MADD is why.

10. It was 18 when I was young. I could easily go to a bar at 16; carding wasn’t really so much of a thing.

    The extra few years (~18 – 21) keeps young and drunk people off the road. A lack of driving experience, coupled with a lack of life experience creates some horrible car crashes.

    Also, Federal highway funding.

11. Because bars are more enjoyable without 18 year olds.

12. Why is the rest of the world a bunch if alcoholics?

13. probably because everyone affected by it stops caring when they turn 21, there’s no real impetus to change it

14. If a state attempted to change it, they would lose funding from the federal government, which discourages each individual state from changing it.

15. The U.S. is, in most places, pretty car-centric. You need a car to get to school or to work. You have to be driving. Yes, there are some metropolitan areas with really good mass transit, but for most Americans, driving is a must.

    So if you have a culture where most people are going to be driving, you want drivers that have practice, and experience, in order for roads to be safe. In the U.S., people can start learning how to drive at 15-16, under certain conditions, meaning they can have up to two years of supervised practice to learn how to be a safe, good driver.

    Drinking alcohol affects judgement, motor skills, reaction time, co-ordination, and more. Knowing how alcohol affects you, (how much, how fast, how long) and learning how to consume alcohol in a manner that results in the kind of experience you want, is its own skill that takes experience and practice.

    Do we want, or even condone, driving while intoxicated? No. But it happens, and it happens quite a lot depending on where you draw the line on ‘intoxicated’. If your goal is *public health and safety*, then allowing drivers at least 3 years (and up to six) of practice learning how to drive **before** alcohol is introduced into the mix seems like a much safer approach than expecting young people to learn how to drive safely while also simultaneously learning how to consume alcohol responsibly.

    Other countries, that aren’t nearly so car-centric, have lower drinking ages, and that works fine for them.

16. Almost nobody over 21 wants people under 21 to be allowed to drink, so it will never change. I already might get hit by a drunk driver, letting some 18 year olds get drunk legally isn’t worth increasing those odds.

17. 1. The US is more car-focused than Europe and driving and drinking don’t mix well. Back when the legal age was 18 there was a much larger drunk driving problem and raising the age lowered death rates.

    2. After you turn 21 the drinking age doesn’t really affect you anymore so there isn’t much motivation to change it. 18-20yos also have garbage turnout.

    3. If you *really* want to drink, it’s not that hard to drink under 21.

18. I honestly think it’s a good thing. I think the legal age to be an adult should be 21

19. Because people under 21 have proven to be the only people who have a worse relationship with alcohol than 21 year olds.

20. The demographic that actually wants to lower it are a minority of the general population. Once you’re over 21, you stop caring.

    On top of that, there are studies that show that the reason it was raised, to lower the amount of deaths of teens and young adults in drunk driving accidents, was successful. Lowering it in such a car-centric culture just seems irresponsible at best.

21. MADD which is an effective lobbying organization.

    Also, through “fiscal federalism,” the federal government strong-armed (through threatening to deny the allocation of highway funds) to states if they didn’t raise their drinking age to 21.

    As the majority of voters are over 21, from a strictly political standpoint, I can’t see a politician taking this on and trying to lower the drinking age.

    Whether the drinking age should in fact be 21 is a whole different argument/question.

22. i don’t know about everyone else, but I changed A LOT between 18 and 20. Not even 21 yet and I’m sure I’ll keep making big changes to myself by november. i wouldn’t want to hang out at a bar with my 18 year old self

23. The answer to the “still” part is pretty straightforward: No one over 21 generally cares, and those who do are usually on the side of ***not*** wanting drunk kids in the bars.

24. Nobody over 21 cares. We also don’t care what the drinking age is in other countries. We don’t care that under 21 year olds complain about it either.

25. What’s wrong with it being 21? If the under 21 crowd want to drink, it’s not that hard to get alcohol. There’s always someone with an older sibling/cousin to buy it for you or an unscrupulous liquor store owner who will sell it to you. Back in the early 2000’s I even made my own wine from Welch’s grape juice and brewers yeast I ordered through the mail. It tasted like crap and gave one hell of a hangover, but it was cheap and easy to make 5 gallons of it and it got my friends and I shit faced every weekend for about a month.

26. No real political will to change it. Only 18, 19, and 20 year olds care. Once you turn 21 it suddenly doesn’t matter anymore. In fact, its nice to not have to share bar space with a bunch of kids.

27. Because by the time you are 25 you don’t care enough about it.

28. Because we end up with [less teenage drinking deaths](https://www.vox.com/2016/1/26/10833208/europe-lower-drinking-age)

29. Cause no one cares enough to change it.

    18-20 year olds who want to drink will usually still find a way. I mean when I was at a college, no one at parties was carding people at the door. As long as you’re not selling it and you’re not causing problems for other people you’re not generally gonna get in trouble for it.

    I mean my mother let me have some of her wine when I was 16. And she’s far from the most lenient of mothers.

    What I’m getting at is that reducing it to 18 won’t really change much.

30. i just ignored the drinking age when i was under 21 and i was never without alcohol when i wanted it

    for anyone with a rudimentary sense of ingenuity the drinking age is just a formality unless you mean drinking in establishments

    one thing about establishments

    they tend to be irritatingly loud and expensive to drink in

    thus if u are young and hate people you can drink cheaper on your own in a basement or patch of trees somewhere with minimum inconvenience

31. It’s because we still think 18 year olds are mature adults and therefore 21 year olds can drink and make smart decisions. Both have been repeatedly proven wrong All age limits, including drinking, need to be raised.

32. because it should be 21 for everyone,18 makes alcoholics, becasue they are in pubs /clubs way too much…too young at 18 cause their brains not funny formed

33. Because there is no desire to change it outside of a rotating five-year age group that holds no political power.

34. I know, right? We should raise it to 26.

35. It was raised to 21 to reduce drunk driving, and specifically teenage death due to drunk driving. And it worked incredibly well. There is little suspected benefit in raising the drinking age further, and no benefit in lowering it.

36. The same reason a parent of a 17 year old can force the child into a “take the gay away” camp. Younger people are thought of as property not people.

37. Why is your drinking age (still) X