Minimum Legal Drinking Age: What Conversation Should We Have?
Over the past several months, there has been a lot of talk about the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA). Should it remain at 21, or should our country consider lowering the drinking age to 18 years old?
Those who support lowering the MLDA to 18 suggest that the current MLDA supports a culture of underage binge drinking. But what the data show-- and what we at CDC support and believe-- is that the current 21 MLDA helps support a culture of safer driving. The evidence supports the fact that it saves lives.
Many organizations have Web resources
that offer details on why keeping the MLDA at 21 makes
sense, including
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the
Governors Highway Safety Association(GHSA), the
National Transportation Safety Board, the
American Medical Association, and the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The MADD-developed
site,
www.why21.org, is a one-stop resource that includes
a history of the drinking age law, links to recent news
on the MLDA topic, and resources to help everyone
prevent underage drinking. Posted by: Ileana Arias, Friday, Dec 19, 2008, 11:00 am ETT
Injuries Are Not an Acceptable Risk of Growing Up I don’t like to use the word “accident.” Accident implies that what happens is unpreventable and the resulting injuries are inevitable. That’s a false assumption when it comes to our children. CDC science shows that most unintentional childhood injuries can be prevented. Injuries do not have to be an accepted risk of growing up. Posted by: Ileana Arias, Thursday, Dec 11, 2008, 09:00 am ETT |
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Page last modified: December 22, 2008