Don't lower the drinking age

In response to the renewed debate over underage drinking, Pennsylvania SADD urges our community to oppose the initiative seeking to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18. We believe that lowering the current minimum-age drinking laws would likely do little, if anything, to reduce problematic drinking behaviors on college campuses. Instead, it would create a situation where more high school students have access to, and would use, alcohol. According to SADD’s national Teens Today research, students in grades 6-12 ranked the drinking age as the number one reason why they choose not to use alcohol. Pennsylvania SADD believes underage drinking is a difficult issue, but we do not think changing the drinking age to 18 is part of the solution. According to The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, alcohol use by young people is a leading contributor to death from injuries, plays a significant role in risky sexual behavior, increases the risk of assault, and is associated with academic failure and illicit drug use. Specifically, this report highlights that: -An estimated 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries; -Approximately 600,000 students are injured while under the influence of alcohol; -Some 700,000 students are assaulted by other students who have been drinking; and -About 100,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults or date rapes. In addition, impaired driving crashes kill thousands of young people each year and injure many more. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Youth Survey has provided the following data about alcohol use of Pennsylvania youth. In 2005, students recorded the highest lifetime prevalence-of-use rates for alcohol with 58% of respondents reporting using alcohol in their lifetime. It was also reported that 52% of 8th graders and 85% of 12th graders had used alcohol in their lifetime. Compared to the national lifetime use data from the Monitoring the Future Survey of 41% of 8th graders and 75% of 12th graders. Pennsylvania’s young people are using alcohol at alarming rates, higher than their peers nationally. Reducing the minimum legal drinking age would increase our public health problem with youth and alcohol. Pennsylvania SADD encourages the entire community to support efforts to maintain the current minimum legal drinking age of 21 years old. Felicity DeBacco-Erni State Coordinator, Pennsylvania SADD