Law that restricts people below the age of 21form drinking alcohol actually saves lives, a latest study suggests.
A meta study of earlier research since 2006 showed that minimum drinking age of 21 results in lesser drunk driving cases among American youth. It also reduces the risk of health-related problems such as dating violence, unsafe sex and suicide.
"The evidence is clear that there would be consequences if we lowered the legal drinking age," lead researcher William DeJong, Ph.D., of Boston University School of Public Health, said in a press release.
A 2011 study found that 36 percent of U.S. college students admitted to binge drinking within the past two weeks of the survey. Compare that to 43 percent college students in 1988, the first year that all states had a legal drinking age of 21. The decrease in binge drinking among high school seniors was more, from 35 percent to 22 percent.
The review was published in a special supplement in the March issue of the 'Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.'
Some argue that minimum age limit for drinking should be set lower. One such argument is that young people indulge in illegal drinking. DeJong responds that the law deters people from indulging in drinking and also people are afraid of breaking laws
"Just because a law is commonly disobeyed doesn't mean we should eliminate it," DeJong noted. Previous studies have shown that college towns strictly following laws make students drink less. "Some people assume that students are so hell-bent on drinking, nothing can stop them," DeJong said. "But it really is the case that enforcement works," DeJong said.
