RAISING THE LEGAL DRINKING AGE. VOLUME 1

A pressing question facing the South Carolina Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (SCCADA) is the issue of the legal drinking age. Should the age be raised to 21, to 20, or to 19 for all alcoholic beverages or should this state maintain the existing legal age of 18 for the purchase of beer and wine and 21 for the purchase of distilled spirits? In focusing on this issue, alcohol's relationships to highway safety, damage to property and to the health of South Carolina citizens must be addressed. This paper, then, will look at the question of the drinking age relative to the issue of highway safety and health promotion. It will provide South Carolina data, findings from other states which have either raised or lowered the drinking age, and a brief history of the drinking age issue in the United States. It also presents an array of arguments for and against raising the legal drinking age.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Issues in Alcohol and Drug Abuse, first published February 1983; principals John Bond and Bunny Jones.
• Corporate Authors:

  South Carolina Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse

  Division of Prevention, Education and Intervention
  Columbia, SC  United States  29204
• Publication Date: 1984-1

Media Info

• Features: Tables;
• Pagination: 24 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohol use; Alcoholic beverages; Alcohols; Highway safety; History; Legal drinking age; Loss and damage; Property; Public health
• Uncontrolled Terms: Beer; Property damage
• Geographic Terms: South Carolina
• Subject Areas: Highways; History; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00452222
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: Reprint, HS-038 627
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 31 1986 12:00AM