While the drinking age law and the culture it promotes have had unethical and detrimental implications for young adult Americans and American society, the effects can be mitigated through policy change, which in turn will affect the drinking culture.

McCardell’s proposal should be implemented on a national level because it attacks the downfalls of the current law head-on and will improve the drinking culture on an individual and a societal level. The policy changes should include lowering the drinking age to eighteen, the establishment of drinking licenses, better enforcement and drinking education, which will function on multiple fronts to counteract the underage and binge drinking culture of American society that the current law perpetuates. Lowering the drinking age will allow for young adults to learn how to drink responsibly rather than in clandestine and risky settings, and the enactment and strict enforcement of a drinking license will reinforce the legitimacy of the law and promote mature and legal drinking.

While many of the existing solutions to underage and binge drinking have been reactionary – including the loss of leadership positions among high school students who are caught drinking underage, legal repercussions for young adults and parents, and forced participation in alcohol support groups – this multifaceted solution represents a preventative approach. Signing onto McCardell’s proposal to lower the drinking age to eighteen and establish a system of drinking licenses is the first step towards inciting change to improve the fiasco that is the United States’ drinking age law and culture. 

In this video, 60 Minute’s Lesley Stahl examines the controversial idea of lowering the drinking age in the U.S. to 18.