MYTH: Drinking is just a phase all kids go through; they’ll grow out of it.
Actually, many don’t. In fact, the earlier someone begins drinking, the more likely they are to be alcohol dependent in later life. More...
Archives: Statistic
MYTH: Lowering the drinking age will encourage young people to be responsible consumers rather than drink at uncontrolled, private parties.
Many youth drink with the goal to get drunk. They are not “wired” in the brain to assess risk and to be responsible...
MYTH: The law only makes youth want to drink because it’s a “forbidden fruit.”
When the “forbidden fruit” is no longer forbidden, youth simply drink more. In states where the drinking age was 18, young people drank...
MYTH: Alcohol is not that big of a deal anymore. Shouldn’t I be more worried about other more dangerous drugs?
Teen alcohol use kills 4,300 people each year – that’s more than all illegal drugs combined. References Sacks JJ, Gonzales KR, Bouchery EE, Tomedi...
MYTH: Europeans let their kid drink at an early age, yet they do not have the alcohol-realted problems we do.
Actually, in Europe, young people have higher intoxication rates than in the United States, and less than a quarter had lower or equivalent rates...
MYTH: Shouldn’t MADD focus more on drunk driving prevention with teens instead or innocent underage drinking?
Kids who start drinking young are seven times more likely to be in an alcohol-related crash. MADD knows that by preventing underage drinking today,...
Can’t parents teach their teens how to drink alcohol responsibly by giving them small amounts-under supervision-before they reach 21?
Some states permit parents to do this with their own child (rarely, if ever, with someone else’s child), but there’s no evidence that...
Would lowering the legal drinking age make alcohol less of a big deal, and less attractive to teens?
History says no. When states had lower legal drinking ages in the U.S., the underage drinking problem was worse.3 For example, before the 21...
Why do we make young people wait until 21 to drink alcohol?
Many activities have ages of initiation. A person must wait until age 16 to start driving, age 18 to marry without parental consent,...
In 2017, there were four male alcohol-impaired drivers involved in crashes for every female alcohol-impaired driver involved (8,022 vs. 1,944)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2017: Alcohol-Impaired Driving.” Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2017. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812630