National Minimum Drinking Age Act: Difference between revisions
→Possible Arguments For and Against Lowering: deleted entire section on the grounds that it was wholly speculative and completely lacking sources. it made good points, but is not encyclopedic. Tag: section blanking |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
The '''National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984''' ({{UnitedStatesCode|23|158}}), also called the '''Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act,''' was passed on July 17, 1984 by the [[United States Congress]] as a mechanism whereby all states would become thereafter required to legislate and enforce the age of 21 years as a minimum age for purchasing and publicly possessing [[alcoholic beverage]]s. Under the [[Federal Aid Highway Act]], a state not enforcing the minimum age would be subjected to a ten percent decrease in its annual federal highway apportionment.<ref>[http://epw.senate.gov/title23.pdf Title 23 of the United States Code, Highways. (PDF file, see Section 158)]</ref> |
The '''National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984''' ({{UnitedStatesCode|23|158}}), also called the '''Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act,''' was passed on July 17, 1984 by the [[United States Congress]] as a mechanism whereby all states would become thereafter required to legislate and enforce the age of 21 years as a minimum age for purchasing and publicly possessing [[alcoholic beverage]]s. Under the [[Federal Aid Highway Act]], a state not enforcing the minimum age would be subjected to a ten percent decrease in its annual federal highway apportionment.<ref>[http://epw.senate.gov/title23.pdf Title 23 of the United States Code, Highways. (PDF file, see Section 158)]</ref> |
||
Aunti Andria was right. |
|||
While this act did not outlaw the consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under 21 years of age, seven states and Washington D.C. extended its provisions into an outright ban. These states are: [[Alabama]], [[Idaho]], [[Indiana]], [[Kansas]], [[North Carolina]], and [[Pennsylvania]]. However, most states still permit "underage" consumption of alcohol in some circumstances. In some states, no restriction on private consumption is made, while in others, consumption is only allowed in specific locations, in the presence of consenting and supervising family members as in the states of [[California]], [[Colorado]], [[Montana]], [[New York]], [[Texas]], [[Virginia]] |
While this act did not outlaw the consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under 21 years of age, seven states and Washington D.C. extended its provisions into an outright ban. These states are: [[Alabama]], [[Idaho]], [[Indiana]], [[Kansas]], [[North Carolina]], and [[Pennsylvania]]. However, most states still permit "underage" consumption of alcohol in some circumstances. In some states, no restriction on private consumption is made, while in others, consumption is only allowed in specific locations, in the presence of consenting and supervising family members as in the states of [[California]], [[Colorado]], [[Montana]], [[New York]], [[Texas]], [[Virginia]] |
||
Revision as of 21:06, 15 January 2011
.svg) | |
| Long title | National Minimum Drinking Age Act |
|---|---|
| Enacted by | the 98th United States Congress |
| Effective | July 17, 1984 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 98-363 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 23 |
| U.S.C. sections created | 158 |
| Legislative history | |
| |
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (23 U.S.C. § 158), also called the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, was passed on July 17, 1984 by the United States Congress as a mechanism whereby all states would become thereafter required to legislate and enforce the age of 21 years as a minimum age for purchasing and publicly possessing alcoholic beverages. Under the Federal Aid Highway Act, a state not enforcing the minimum age would be subjected to a ten percent decrease in its annual federal highway apportionment.[1]
Aunti Andria was right.
While this act did not outlaw the consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under 21 years of age, seven states and Washington D.C. extended its provisions into an outright ban. These states are: Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. However, most states still permit "underage" consumption of alcohol in some circumstances. In some states, no restriction on private consumption is made, while in others, consumption is only allowed in specific locations, in the presence of consenting and supervising family members as in the states of California, Colorado, Montana, New York, Texas, Virginia , West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The act also does not seek to criminalize alcohol consumption during religious occasions.
Opposition
In July 2008, over 100 college presidents including across the United States went public with the call for a reconsideration of the drinking age law. This movement by college presidents across the nation is referred to as the Amethyst Initiative, named after the purple gemstone amethyst which in Ancient Greece was believed to ward off drunkenness if used in drinking vessels and jewelry.
The Conservative Party of New York opposed the passage of the law in 1984, but according to The New York Post no longer considers the effort to bring back drinking by those under 21 worthwhile. In 2001, according to the same article, New York State Assembly member Felix Ortiz introduced a bill that would lower the drinking age back to 18. He cited unfairness and difficulty with enforcement as his motivations.[2]
In 1998, the National Youth Rights Association was founded, in part, to seek to lower the drinking age back to 18. NYRA has worked on legislation in many states and continues to be an active force in opposition to the drinking age act. In 2004, the president of Vermont's Middlebury College, John McCardell, Jr. wrote in The New York Times that "the 21-year-old drinking age is bad social policy and terrible law" that has made the college drinking problem far worse.[3]
One group in this opposition argues for a compromise in which beer and wine would be legalized for 18 year olds, while the minimum age for hard alcohol would remain at 21.[4] The drinking age in the United States is relatively high among countries in the world that permit the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages drinking age. Other countries with similar laws include the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Iceland, Oman, New Zealand 20 for off licences and 18 for pubs and clubs and some states in India.[5]
Others[who?] have opposed the legislation on the grounds that it infringes on states' rights and violates the spirit (if not the letter) of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which explicitly reserves powers not specifically granted to the federal government to the states.
Constitutionality questioned
The state government of South Dakota questioned the national drinking age, suing then-Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole in the case South Dakota v. Dole. However, in the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the power of Congress to withhold federal funds in pursuit of national policies, such as the drinking age, was upheld.
However, the constitutionality of individual state enactments of the requirements of the Act on the basis of equal protection and substantive due process have never been tested in a court of law. Some, such as the National Youth Rights Association, argue that these laws reduce adult citizens between the ages of 18 to 20 to a subordinate and inferior class of beings by denying them the same protections of the law guaranteed to all other adult citizens.
See also
- Age of majority
- Differences in drinking laws
- Legal age
- Legal drinking age
- U.S. history of alcohol minimum purchase age by state
- Youth rights
References
- ^ Title 23 of the United States Code, Highways. (PDF file, see Section 158)
- ^ Lovett, Kenneth. "LET KIDS START DRINKING AT 18: BROOKLYN POL." The New York Post, May 1, 2006.
- ^ The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: What Your College President Didn't Tell You
- ^ Opinion: Alcohol Limits Must Be Lowered Farmhouse Manifesto
- ^ http://www.icap.org/PolicyIssues/YoungPeoplesDrnking/AgeLawsTable/tabid/219/Default.aspx
External links
- MLDA-21 - dates enacted by state - NHTSA
- State Profiles of Underage Drinking Laws - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS)
- National Youth Rights Association
- http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1053520190.html
- http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1053520190.html
- http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4819332n&tag=related;photovideo