Our Government needs to stop Treating Adults like they are Children
Prior to 1919 there wasn’t a national minimum age to consume or purchase alcohol in the United States. Some states had 21 years of age, many others had no limit at all. In 1919 the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified banning all alcohol. This amendment was a disaster and by 1933 it was repealed. For the next forty years states determined what the age to purchase and consume alcohol would be. Many states chose 21 which aligned with the national age to vote, others set the minimum at 18 years of age.
Due in part to political and social pressures arising from the Vietnam War in 1971 the voting age was lowered to 18 years of age with the passage of the 26th Amendment. As a result, from 1971 to 1983, many states lowered their drinking age to be aligned with this new ‘Age of Majority’.
Someone who is responsible enough at 18 years of age to vote, to fight (and possibly die) for our country, to be held responsible for debts and/or actions should be responsible enough to have a beer or a glass of wine!
This new ‘Age of Majority’ was short lived when in 1984 the United States Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This law required states to raise the age to purchase and consume alcohol to 21 years of age or non-compliant states would lose a portion of their federal highway funds. Basically Congress was forcing states by the power of appropriation (withholding money from Washington) to do what the Feds wanted them to do. Sounds more like something a middle school bully would do.
Definitely an affront to the spirit of the 10th Amendment and all that Separation of Powers.
By 1988 all 50 states had complied with the Minimum Drinking Age Act so as a reward Congress did it again. This time with the 2001 Department of Transportation Act. This law forcing states to accept a national 0.08% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level or the federal government would withhold federal funding to states that did not comply.
One might begin to wonder, how many times has the federal government violated the 10th Amendment? You know, that pesky little amendment of the Constitution, part of the original Bill of Rights, where powers not specifically designated to the federal government are reserved to the states …
… but let us not get diverted and get back to 18 year olds cracking open a beer before they vote for someone to send them off to war.
This National Minimum Drinking Act was primarily the result of a campaign against drunk driving championed by well intention special interest groups and spineless politicians. While eliminating drunk driving is something all of us would like to achieve, discriminating against a specific demographic solely because of their age is a violation of our fundamental freedoms.
So how does the United States compare against the rest of the world with drunk driving?
The overwhelming majority of countries have a minimum drinking age of 18 years of age. These include industrialized countries like Japan, France, England and Brazil. The United States joins a very few select countries like Egypt, Oman and Indonesia with a minimum drinking age of 21. Do our politicians honestly think Americans are less responsible than 90+% of the rest of the world? Sure treats our 18-21 year old citizens that way.
As mentioned above the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) standard set by the United States Congress was 0.08% Where are most European countries today? 0.05% or lower. Many countries like Norway, Portugal, Poland, Ireland and Finland have an even lower BAC level of 0.02%! Countries like Germany even have a zero policy (no alcohol detected allowed) for any new driver with less than 2 years experience. Looks like Europe wants to keep drunk drivers off the road. Not just its younger citizens who are politically under represented.
In the past 20 years only the State of Utah has lowered their state BAC rate from 0.08% to 0.05%. Every other state, District of Colombia and outlying territories has remained at 0.08%. What is the incentive for change? State politicians can easily blame the ‘Federally sanctioned 0.08% BAC rate’ for their inaction.
The biggest deterrent of driving drunk in Europe verses America are the severity of fines and imprisonment. While in America the first offense might be a $250 fine and a long weekend in jail a first offense in Europe could be the equivalent of a $5,000 fine and 3-months in jail. Second or third offense in Europe? Don’t even think about it!
So who has been more successful in reducing drunk driving? America or Europe? After all isn’t that the objective?
Almost 40 years after raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 the United States can claim to be the third worse country for drunk driving. The worst country for DUI is South Africa followed by Canada. Even though individuals in countries throughout Europe consume up to 50% more alcohol each year than in the United States European countries have much lower drunk driving rates.
How much has alcohol related driving in the United States improved? According to an August 17, 2023 article from Forbes, in 2019 the greatest number of drunk drivers in the United States were: 27% between age 21 and 24, 25% between age 25 to 34. This article also stated 24% of young drivers aged 15 to 20 who died in car crashes had a BAC of 0.01% or higher. Sounds like raising the minimum age to 21 wasn’t very successful.
In conclusion, the United States’ drunk driving laws are not working.
Current laws discriminate against a group of its citizens based solely on age (18 to 21 years old). Current laws past by the US Congress violate at least the intent of the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Current laws do not adequately restrict nor penalize dangerous and deadly repeat offenders.
Congress should immediately repeal the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Act and 2001 Transportation Act. Acknowledge over reaching federal laws should not infringe on the 10th Amendment. States should lower the drinking age to 18 years of age for all alcohol purchases and consumption, lower the Blood Alcohol Content level to at least 0.05% (preferably 0.02%) and greatly increase both the monetary and incarceration penalties for drunk driving. Same laws should be applied for cannabis and other drugs.
In today’s world of Uber and other taxi services there is NO EXCUSE for ANYONE to drink and drive. If you do you should pay the price, not the innocent. No exceptions.