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congress adopts the 21st Amendment
Congress adopts the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repeals the 18th Amendment and ends Prohibition. After Prohibition ends, almost all states that restrict youth drinking designate 21 as the minimum legal drinking age. -
Numbers and percentages go up
The number of teenagers who drink alcohol rises to 63 percent. -
Alcohol Awareness
• Congress passes the National Minimum Drinking Age Act which requires all states to legislate and enforce a minimum drinking age of 21 or be subjected to a reduction in their federal highway funds. • The first annual National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week is launched by BACCHUS. -
Drinking age
• The minimum drinking age is raised to 21 in all 50 states. -
Drinking Programs
Congress appropriates $25 million to initiate the Combating Underage Drinking program to facilitate comprehensive and coordinated enforcement and alcohol use prevention programs at the state level. The program is administered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). -
53 bilion dollers spent as a result of drinking behavior
• The National Academy of Sciences releases a report that indicates the U.S. spent $53 billion in 2002 as a result of drunken behavior and violent crimes by adolescents who drank alcohol. The academy calls for measures such as cracking down on merchants who sell alcohol to teens, reining in glamorous depictions of drinking in movies and music, and increasing excise taxes on liquor. • The Center for Science in the Public Interest announces its "Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV." The -
drinking problems and costs on damage go up.
• President George W. Bush signs the Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act. The major provisions of the STOP Act include a $1 million annual national media campaign on underage drinking; $5 million in grants to help community coalitions address underage drinking; $5 million in grant funding to prevent alcohol abuse at institutions of higher education; requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to produce an annual report on state underage-drinking prevention and e -
Goverenment and doctors takes more action
• John M. McCardell, Jr., college professor and president emeritus of Middlebury College, founds Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that seeks to "stimulate informed and dispassionate public discussion about the presence of alcohol in American culture and to consider policies that will effectively empower young adults ages 18 to 20 to make mature decisions about the place of alcohol in their own lives." • The U.S. Surgeon General's office releases its Call to Action To Preve