The National Minimum Drinking Act of 1984

Growing popularity of alcohol is one of the many problems in the community, especially among those who are younger than twenty-one years old. Underage Drinking is a complex problem that has emerged to the society. Legislative laws limit the consumption of alcohol to youths under age of twenty-one. Though many teenagers start drinking during their high school years and continue throughout college. Also, the proportion of the underage drinkers in the United Sates is increasing at a huge rate. It may seem normal to many people. Yet, drinking at a younger age can cause a tremendous effect not only to the consumers, but also to the community. Thus, underage alcohol abuse should be reduced by more effective strategies in order to prevent the negative effects.

The Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Act in 1984. It restricted all the states from allowing any purchase, possess, or consumption of alcoholic beverages to people below twenty-one. The extensive lobbying of public campaigns like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) made it possible for this act to be passed. However, most states still permit underage consumptions of alcohol in certain circumstances. .
< Eight different exceptions to the Minimum Legal Drinking Age. >
1. On private non alcohol-selling premises, with parental consent (29 states)
2. On private, non alcohol-selling premises, without parental consent (6 states)
3. For religious purposes (26 states)
4. For medical purposes (16 states)
5. For government work related purposes (4 states)
6. For educational purpose (11 states)
7. When reporting medical need due to under age drinking for another minor (17 states and DC)
8. On alcohol-selling premises, with parental approval (10 states)
With the exceptions of th...

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...among drinkers, those who were first drunk before the age of 13 were twice as likely to have unplanned sex and more than twice as likely to have unprotected sex. Considering all the effects, consuming alcohol at a young age not only can ruin the consumer’s life, but also destroys others, too

Frequent consumptions of alcohol are followed a number of potential health risks. This is more critical to the young body that is still growing. New research has shown that consuming alcohol can negatively impact the physical developments of brain structure. Youths who were influenced by an early drinking were not able to perform as well as nondrinkers in memory-test. Furthermore, the early drinkers may experience a direct effect on brain functioning. The negative effect includes decreased ability in planning and executive functioning, memory, spatial operations, and attention.