This report updated previous reports on the impact of raising and lowering the legal drinking age. The legal drinking age for beer in Virginia was lowered from 21 to 18 years in 1974. The percentage of all crashes that were alcohol-related increased significantly after 1975 for persons under 16, 16 to 19 years, and 20 to 24 years. Such increases were not noted for other adults. The data indicated that lowering the drinking age for beer from 21 years to 18 years had a selective and deleterious effect on persons under 21. In July of 1981, the age at which a person could buy beer in stores for off-premises consumption was raised to 19 years (the age for on-premises sales remained at 18). The percentage of all crashes which were alcohol-related began to decrease in 1982, the first full year in which the age change was enforced. Alcohol-related crashes in 1982 and 1983 were significantly lower than expected given trends which existed after the drinking age was raised for both adults and persons 16 to 19. These data indicated that while raising the drinking age to 19 years for the off-premises sale of beer may have resulted in reduced alcohol-related crashes for the affected age groups, something else not specifically related to age reduced alcohol-related crashes for all ages. In July of 1983, the age at which a person could buy beer on-premises in restaurants and taverns was also raised to 19 years. Not enough time had passed to provide data concerning the impact of this change.

On July 1, 1974, an amendment went into effect which lowered Virginia's legal drinking age for beer to 18 years; the minimum drinking age for wine and hard liquor was kept at 21. This move to extend adult drinking privileges to persons of military age had already been made in one form or another in about 30 other states. The most common practice among these states was to allow the purchase of all alcoholic beverages at one particular age. Virginia is the only state which discriminates between beer and wine/hard liquor in its treatment of minimum ages. While it is recognized that the possible effects of lowering the legal drinking age may be far reaching, the sole purpose of the research reported here was to examine the effect of reducing the legal drinking age on the highway safety environment in Virginia. This was accomplished through a review of the literature and an examination of Virginia crash data. It was found that lowering the legal drinking age resulted in increased alcohol-related accidents for young persons, and it was concluded that a more protective stand should be taken toward persons 18 to 20 years old with regard to the legal drinking age in Virginia.

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Rorabaugh has written a well thought out and intriguing social history of Americas great alcoholic binge that occurred between 1790 and 1830, what he terms a key formative period in our history....A pioneering work that illuminates a part of our heritage that can no longer be neglected in future studies of Americas social fabric. A bold and frequently illuminating attempt to investigate the relationship of a single social custom to the central features of our historical experience....A book which always asks interesting questions and provides many provocative answers.