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From UMassWiki

I have decided to write a letter regarding lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 for my Unit 3 paper. At the age of 18 one is declared an adult, you are "on your own." One can legally move away from their guardian, buy a home, go off to college, buy ciggarettes, buy lottery, and even join the army. Yet one is not legally able to consume alcoholic beverages. I believe lowering the legal age will help in decreasing the drinking problem within this age group. If one is able to consume alcohol at a younger age, one will not feel pressured to binge drink in college. The drinking age is a very controversal topic that I am looking forward to learning more about. I will need to decided whom I will write the letter to. Jessica 12:17, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

Internet Resources:

http://mercury.utdallas.edu/1999/v19n27/ldrink.html Allday, Taylor. “Letter: Legal drinking age should be lowered.” UTD Digital Mercury. 19 April 1999. 7 Nov. 2006 -This article believes that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 for the fact that many first year college students have not had much experience with alcohol. If the age was lowered then students would be able to start experiencing drinking while they are in their senior year of high school. I will be able to show another point-of-view with this article seeing as students will be able to learn from the experiences outside of college before they enter.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/20060830114748.html Buell, John. “Facing the Grim Facts of Teen Prohibition.” Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. Alcohol Controversies. 31 Oct. 2006 -Buell attempts to compare breast feeding to parents introducing their children to alcohol. It begins with how children are dependent on their mothers for their milk in order to be nourished but yet when it comes to alcohol and the facts parents are not as reliable. This article will help to show the lack of education that children get about alcohol because parents only tell kids that it is bad or tell them horrifying stories to maybe scare them away.

http://www.icap.org/portals/0/download/all_pdfs/ICAP_Reports_English/report4.pdf. “Drinking Age Limits.” ICAP Reports 4. 1998. International Center for Alcohol Policies. 6 Nov. 2006 -Drinking Age Limits focuses on the different legal ages one is allowed to consume or purchase in different countries. It discusses issues that pertain to different types of governments in these countries. This will help me in my paper to show the facts and figures of the different countries in comparison to the United States. The charts that are given show a visual that will help to organize and differentiate between each country.

http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/fruit.html Engs, Ruth Clifford. “Forbidden Fruit.” Vermont Quarterly. Winter 1999. 7 Nov. 2006 -Forbidden Fruit discusses how the drinking age should be lowered so that 18 and 19 year-olds would be allowed to drink in controlled environments. This would reduce students from the enticing ‘forbidden fruit’ as a symbol of adulthood. This article hits upon many components of reasons why the legal drinking age should be lowered in which I will be able to use all of them successfully. These points will assist in my own point of view about this issue.

http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/react.html Engs, Ruth C. and David J., Hanson. “Reactance Theory: A test with Collegiate Drinking.” Psychological Reports, 64: 1083-1086, 1989. Reactance Theory: A test with Collegiate Drinking. 7 Nov. 2006 -Reactance Theory touches upon the issue that arose right after the drinking age was raised to 21. It claims that more people in the age range of 18-20 were found to drink more then before to rebel against the new law. By telling someone that they are not allowed to do something such as drink that person is more inclined to want to do it. Having an article that deals with when the law came into effect will aid in my paper because of the time difference that I can compare between then and now.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1099068588.html Hanson, David J. “We Would All be Better off if the Drinking Age were 18.” Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. Youth Issues. 31 Oct. 2006 -Dr. Hanson points out facts such that University faculty does not wish to enforce a law for drinking when not too long ago students and faculty would enjoy a glass of wine together. He also says that if our nation sends people as young as 18 years old to Iraq then people at age 18 should be legal to drink. To have someone such as the President of Dartmouth College saying that the age should be lowered will help in my argument that not only teens want this law changed.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1053520190.html Hanson, David J. and Dr. Engs. “The Drinking Age Should be Lowered.” Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. Youth Issues. 9 Nov. 2006 -Dr. Engs is questioned about her thoughts on the issue of the drinking age in which she feels it should be lowered. She finds that it is unfair that a 20 year old that just got married is not legally able to have a glass of champagne at their own wedding. Through her beliefs people should be able to drink at any age under the complete supervision in their homes by their parents. This will help to show that our system does not make sense in the fact that someone who marries before the age of 21 is not allowed to celebrate with some type of alcohol.

http://www.house.gov/olver/welcome.html Congressman John W. Oliver. Serving The 1st Congressional District Of Mass. -This is who I will write the letter to. He is our state representative and he is in charge of looking over ideas for new laws.

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110221/legbill.html Legislative Branch. What is a Bill? -An idea is given to a state Representative (John W. Oliver) who introduces it as a bill. Then the Senate studies the bill and then sends it to the President. The President can either sign or veto the bill.If he signs the bill, it becomes law. If he veto's the bill then Congress can take another look at the bill. Now it's Congresses turn again. Congress can now overturn the President's veto by a Two-Thirds majority of the Senate voting yes.

Books:

1.) Boyd, Gayle, Alcohol Problems Among Adolescents, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1995.

2.) Rivinus, Timothy, Alcoholism/Chemical Dependency and the College Student, New York: The Haworth Press, 1988.

3.) United States House Of Congress, Committee on Public Works and Transportation, Article: “National Minimum Drinking Age Law,” Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986

4.) Wechsler, Henry and Bernice, Dying To Drink, St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

5.) Wechsler, Henry, Minimum Drinking Age Laws, Lexington Massachusetts : Lexington Books, 1980.

6.) Williams, Paul, Alcohol, Young Persons and Violence, ACT: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001.

Jessica 20:58, 18 April 2007 (EDT)