Statistic Category: Myths & Facts

MYTH: MADD says kids shouldn’t have access to marijuana, but marijuana isn’t as bad as alcohol, I mean at least it is not addictive.

Marijuana is very addictive!  In fact in 2016 over 4 million people were diagnosed with substance use disorder due to marijuana use.  Marijuana...

MYTH: If I’m old enough to go to war, I should be old enough to drink.

21 is the minimum age because a person’s brain does not stop developing until his or her early to mid-20s. Drinking alcohol while...

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...

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,...