MADD+Group

Setting the legal drinking age to [|21 saves lives!!!] Having the legal drinking age set to 21 saves a lot of lives of teenagers. Between the year 1983 and 1989 (the year all states adopted the 21 year old drinking law), the amount of drivers ages 16 to 24 with a BAC of .10 decreased a total of 50%. The CDC researched 49 high quality, peer-reviewed places to study and found that the 21 drinking age decreases fatalities by 16 percent. By evidence, lowering the drinking age saves lives.
 * __21 is this country's minimum__**

[|Statistics on underage drinking by MADD] brings the gravity of the situation into play with more depth. In 2007, around 13,000 people died from drunk crashes with a BAC over the legal limit, which was a decline from 2006. In 2007, seat belts saved about 15,000 lives which drunk drivers don't think to put on when driving. 1.5 million drivers in 2006 are arrested for driving intoxicated. In 2007, 5,000 people under 21 died from alcohol or alcohol related injuries. These facts bring the idea of drinking into a whole new level and makes ignorant people aware of what's occuring with teenagers. [|21 is the minimum limit]and saves lives according to experts and mothers.
 * __Alcohol related statistics that depict its effects__**

The [|history of M.A.D.D.] has been outstanding throughout their campaign to stop drunk driving. Tons of lives can be saved by following the [|Unites States drinking law!]In 2005, having the law set to a 21 minimum drinking age saved the lives of 25,000 American people. In the early 1980s, the number of people killed in crashes due to drunk drivers 21 years old has been split over half.
 * __M.A.D.D. and achievements made from its work__**

Underage drinking can put [|harmful affects on the brain!]Research has shown that the brain continues to develop into the early twenties. The pre-frontal cortex, the part that controls reasoning and cognitive ability takes the longest to mature. This is why drinking, especially heavy drinking, before the brain finishes development affects memory and damages this pre-frontal cortex regions (Crews et al. 2000; Spear and Varlinskaya 2005; White and Swartzwelder 2005)."//Former Acting Surgeon General Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H."//
 * __Brain damage and effects done by drinking__**

[|Australia, which has a lower drinking age,] has the same problems that we have with underage drinking. It is significant because Australia has a lower drinking age and they still have just as much underage drinking problems as our country. It is more of a danger there too because they are drinking much younger and can lead to more dangers for life in long-term effects. [|Understanding why kids drink underage] even though they realize it is illegal. "Alcohol is the drug of choice among youth. Many young people are experiencing the consequences of drinking too much, at too early an age. As a result, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in this country. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings (1–5). " (Alcohol Alert)
 * __Other countries and how they function with the limit__**

[|Why 21] is exactly the question that needs to be asked because we are the only country that has the limit at that age and we still feel that is too young. "Why21.org offers the straight truth on why the MLDA law is important to you regardless of your age and describes how it saves lives. For almost 40 years, most states voluntarily set their minimum drinking age law at 21. But at the height of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, 29 states began lowering their drinking age to more closely align with the newly reduced military enlistment and voting age. And of those 29 states, no uniformity in age limits—drinking ages varied from 18 to 20 and sometimes even varied based on the type of alcohol being consumed (e.g. 18 for beer, 20 for liquor). by 1983, 16 states voluntarily raised their drinking age back to 21—a move that brought about an immediate decrease in drinking and driving traffic fatalities incidents." (Why21.org)
 * __The reason that the limit is 21 in U.S.__**

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