Minimum Drinking Age

The Amethyst Initiative, a group composed of college chancellors and presidents interested in re-opening the debate on the minimum drinking age in the United States, has recently generated increased media attention.

The law that effectively established a national minimum drinking age of 21 was enacted in 1984 and can be found in Title 23, Part 158 of the US Code. This statute allows for the withholding of Federal funds from any state that does not have a law in effect that establishes a minimum drinking age of 21.

For some background information on 23 USC 158, take a look at the house report "Minimum Drinking Age" and the congressional hearings "Prohibit the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to Persons Under 21 Years of Age," "Measures to Combat Drunk Driving," and "National Minimum Drinking Age" (all available in microfiche at McHenry library). Also see these reports from the Congressional Research Service: "Drunk Driving and Raising the Drinking Age" (1983) and "National Minimum Drinking Age: Provisions and Analysis" (1984).

Congress continues to investigate underage drinking and alcohol abuse. For a more recent perspective, watch the webcast of the Senate committee hearing "Oversight Hearing on Effectiveness of Federal Drunk Driving Programs" held in October 2007 and read the hearings "Under the influence : the binge drinking epidemic on college campuses" from 2002 and "Underage drinking : research and recommendations" (also available in print at McHenry library) from 2003.

California established a minimum drinking age of 21 long before this federal legislation; section 25658 of the California Code of Business and Professions was enacted in 1953.

A number of government agencies, ranging from the Department of Justice to the Centers for Disease Control to the Department of Transportation have investigated this issue (see the GAO report: "Underage Drinking: Information on Federal Funds Targeted at Prevention"). Therefore, the following list of publications represents only the tip of the iceberg:

• For a law enforcement perspective, try "Underage Drinking" and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the US Department of Justice.


• For a traffic safety perspective, take a look at "Traffic Safety and Alcohol Regulation" and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.


• For alcohol related statistics, see the National Center for Health Statistics and the corresponding links to various surveys on alcohol use.


• For general information on alcohol and alcoholism, see the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website (particularly the publication "Alcohol Research & Health: Focus on Young Adult Drinking") and the Alcohol Policy Information System for information on State and Federal alcohol policies.

If you're interested in California-specific alcohol policies and statistics, try SafeState from the California Attorney General's Office and the California Alcohol & Drug Programs website where you can browse their publications.

For an international perspective on alcohol policies, check out the World Health Organization's page on Alcohol.