Since 1984, the federal government has enforced a legal drinking age by threatening federal highway funding. Arguments about the fairness or unfairness of this law have raged for years. An Alaska lawmaker has suggested a significant switch to the law, however. Members of the military would be exempted from the regulation, if the newly-proposed bill passes. Post resource - Alaska drinking age reduction proposed, not likely to pass by Newsytype.com. Alaska drinking age being reconsideredMany people would have the age of drinking lowered in Alaska if a bill were to pass. Currently, twenty-one is the age of drinking in Alaska, just like all other states. Vietnam Veteran Rep. Bob Lynn is an Anchorage representative. He suggested the age of drinking should be at 18 for everyone in the military service. All 18 year old service members would be able to get cigarettes and alcohol legally as long as they show a valid military ID. Committee has the bill now. The whole legislature will not vote on it, more than likely.Changing the drinking age could trigger changesA lot of reasons contribute to the fact that the Alaska drinking age will most likely stay at twenty-one. This would cost Alaska $17 million in financing that has gone to highways and the federal government while it is something military leadership is against in Alaska. Even if it were legal for underage soldiers to drink, they would not be able to on military base. About one out of every three behavioral incidents on Alaska's military bases involves alcohol, and the concern is that a lower drinking age would increase the number of incidents.Argument for billThe argument most people have for lowering the Alaska age of drinking as Rep. Lynn suggests is that you need to be able to drink if you are old enough to fight and die for your country. Some say that responsible use of alcohol might be encouraged if the negative stigma on alcohol were reduced. There was a University of Minnesota analysis that found how bad a higher age of drinking is. Drinking is hardly ever reduced with it. Alcohol car accidents are reduced though. This is not by much though. The study explains:
The magnitude of effects of the age-21 policy may appear small. ...However, even modest effects applied to the entire population of youth result in very large societal benefits."
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In 1984, the U.S. Federal government passed a law requiring states to set their age of drinking to 21 or lose federal highway funding.
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