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Underage Drinking

Alcohol is the No. 1 youth drug problem in America and more young people die from alcohol-related causes than from all other illicit drugs combined. National Research Council, Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility

Underage drinking is a serious problem. The total cost attributable to the consequences of underage drinking was almost $62 billion per year in 2001 dollars. (Miller, et al, 2006) 

Drinking before the age of 21 is associated with:

  • Damage to growing brains (White, 2001; Kuhn et al, 1998; Giedd, 1999)
  • Alcohol dependence (Grant and Dawson, 1997; Grant, 1998; Hingson et al, 2003)
  • Violence (Hingson, et al, Fall 2001; Hingson and Kenkel, 2003)
  • Dropping out of school (NIDA, 1998)
  • Drinking and driving (Hingson, et al, Jan. 2001; Hingson et al, 2003)
  • Riding with drinking drivers (Hingson, et al, Jan. 2001)
  • Unplanned and unsafe sex (Cooper, 2002)
  • Fatalities and injuries from drownings, burns, falls, (Levy, July 1999) homicides, suicides, (Institute of Medicine, 2003) and crashes (Levy, July 1999; Hingson and Kenkel, 2003; Hingson et al, 2003).

Sign MADD's pledge in support of the 21 minimum drinking age lawThe 21 minimum drinking age law alone has helped reduce the incidence and harms of underage drinking. NHTSA estimates that these laws have saved an estimated 25,000 lives since 1975 (through 2006). In 2006, an estimated 890 lives were saved by minimum drinking age laws.

Underage drinking: not just a youth problem
Many underage people still have easy access to alcohol. Adults continue to allow those under the legal drinking age to drink – illegally – by selling alcohol to those under 21, providing or purchasing alcohol, looking the other way when teens openly talk about their drinking exploits and refusing to hold other adults and youth accountable for breaking the law. 

A nationwide report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) released in June 2008 estimates that 40 percent of underage drinkers received free alcohol from adults over 21. MADD believes adults should be held accountable for providing alcohol to those under 21 for the very reasons mentioned in this report. Parents and adult caregivers are the key to preventing underage drinking. Read MADD's statement on the SAMHSA report.

Over 94 percent of twelfth graders and almost 68 percent of eighth graders report that alcohol is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get. (Johnson, et al, 2003)  This is due in part to loopholes in the 21 minimum drinking age law.  Fifteen states do not prohibit the consumption of alcohol by those under 21. This forces law enforcement to prove that the underage person possessed the alcohol before drinking, which makes enforcement more difficult. Additionally, 15 states do not prohibit attempts to purchase alcohol by those under 21. In these states, underage potential drinkers can attempt to purchase alcohol at any number of stores with no legal sanction as long as they do not use fake identification.

While the 21 minimum drinking age law has significant effect because of the illegality (Tyler and Huo, 2002), enforcement is very important and these loopholes make the minimum drinking age harder to enforce.

Take action!
Join the fight against underage drinking in your state by contacting your governor, senators and representatives and urging them to support science-based legislation to combat underage drinking.

Contact your representatives and urge them to preserve the 21 minimum drinking age law.

Sign MADD's pledge in support of the 21 minimum drinking age. 

 

Studies

  • Cooper, M.L. "Alcohol Use and Risky Sexual Behavior Among College Students: Evaluating the Experience." Journal of Studies on Alcohol Supp. 14 (March 2002): 101-117. (Click here)
  • Giedd, Jay N. et al. " Brain Development During Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study." Nature Neuroscience 2, no. 10, October 1999. 
  • Grant, Bridget, "The Impact of a Family History of Alcoholism on the Relationship Between Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey." Alcohol Health and Research World no. 22, 1998. 
  • Grant, Bridgett and Deborah Dawson. "Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and Its Association with DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence." Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey.  Journal of Substance Abuse 9 (1997): 103-110.
  • Hingson, Ralph, et al.  "Age of Drinking Onset, Driving After Drinking, and Involvement in Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Crashes."  DOT HS 809 188.  Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, January 2001.
  • Hingson, Ralph, et al.  "Age of First Intoxication, Heavy Drinking, Driving after Drinking and Risk of Unintentional Injury among US College Students."  Journal of Studies on Alcohol 64 no 1 (2003), 23+.  (Click here)
  • Hingson, Ralph, Timothy Heeren, and Rhonda Zakocs. "Age of Drinking Onset and Involvement in Physical Fights after Drinking." Pediatrics 108(4) (2001): 872-7.
  • Hingson, Ralph and D. Kenkel.  "Social and Health Consequences of Underage Drinking."  In press.  As quoted in Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies.  Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O’Connell, eds.  Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility.  Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.
  • Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies.  Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O'Connell, eds.  Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility.  Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003. 
  • Johnston, L.D., P.M. O'Malley, and J.G. Bachman.  "Monitoring the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2002."  NIH Publication No. 03-5374.  Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2003.
  • Kuhn, Cynthia, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson.  Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy.  New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1998.
  • Levy, David T., et al. "Costs of Underage Drinking." Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation. The Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Updated Edition, June 1999.  (Click here)
  • Levy, David T., et al. "Underage Drinking: Immediate Consequences and Their Costs." Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation, working paper, unpublished (July 1999).
  • Miller, Ted R. et al.  “Societal Costs of Underage Drinking.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 2006 Jul; 67(4):519-28. (Click here)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse.  "Volume 1: Secondary School Students", National Survey Results on Drug Use from The Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1997. Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services, 1998.
  • Tyler, TR and YJ Huo.  Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts.  New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.
  • White, Aaron M. "Substance Use and Adolescent Brain Development: An Overview of Recent Findings with a Focus on Alcohol." Durham, NC: Duke University Medical Center, 2001.