The Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age Law

Currently, all 50 states limit alcohol purchases to people aged 21 and over. But that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, it was July 17, 1984, when President Ronald Reagan signed the national 21 minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) legislation into law, saying, “ . . . raising that drinking age is not a fad or an experiment. It's a proven success. Nearly every State that has raised the drinking age to 21 has produced a significant drop in the teenage driving fatalities.” At that time, only 23 states had minimum alcohol purchasing ages of 21 years old. The legislation called for withholding federal highway funds from the remaining 27 states if they did not follow suit. By 1988, all states had set 21 as the MLDA.

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