“Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control man's appetite through legislation and makes a crime what is not a crime... A prohibition law affects a strike the very principles on which our government was founded.” - Abraham Lincoln Those words spoken by Abraham Lincoln are as true today as they were in 1840, yet history and current policies show us that largely 174 years have done little to change people's attitudes. The legal drinking age in the United States has been a topic of contention and debate since the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and marked the end of Prohibition in 1933. (http://www.history.com /this -day-in-history/prohibition-ends ) Add to works citedThe legal prohibition on the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 to better align with the existing rights and privileges of young adults and to promote open conversations and honest about responsible consumption. The legal drinking age in the United States has been 21 since 1988, the last of the remaining states recognizing the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (NMDAA). The NMDAA was introduced as a way for the Federal Government to pressure individual states to raise the minimum legal drinking age to 21 (MLDA21) resulting in them losing 10% of their federal highway funding, which would amount to around 8 million for the country. smaller states or 99 million for larger states. Since none of the states wanted to lose their federal funding, they all signed laws mandating an MLDA of 21. Prior to the passage of the MDAA each state had a different MLDA that set at the end of Prohibition in 1933. The state government has the power power to fix t...... middle of paper...... Geneva: WHO, 2011. Web. 7 May 2014.f>."Costs of alcohol consumption by minors." Training center for the application of the rules on alcohol consumption by minors. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, September 2011. Web. 08 May 2014..United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Statistical analysis of alcohol-related driving trends, 1982-2005. By Jennifer N. Dang. Springfield: National Technical Information Service, 2008. Web. “What the Research Says… Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs.” Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, October 2009. Web. 08 May 2014..