Figure 13 shows trends in youth tipping for the Central-East-North-East countries. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio were below the national average of 21 per 100,000 population in 1982, declined somewhat until the 1990s, and have remained more or less stable in the 5 to 10 year range since then. Ohio has reached the lowest rate in the region, as it has been relatively consistently close to the 5 per 100,000 rate for several years. Wisconsin started the period above the national average, declined fairly steadily until 1996, and increased again in 1997 and 1998. Tables 2 and 3 show that virtually all countries have seen a significant decline in the rate of young drunk drivers in fatal crashes. The median percentage of decline was more than 65 percent, and eight states saw declines of 80 percent or more. The states in this region were all in the bottom half of the states in terms of percentage declines in adolescent alcohol levels, and some were among those with the smallest declines (Table 8). Iowa changed its MLDA from 18 to 19 in 1978 and to 21 in 1986. Kansas went from 18 to 21 in a single stage in 1985. Minnesota increased its MLDA from 18 to 19 in 1976 and to 21 in 1986. North Dakota had a minimum drinking age of 21 starting in the 1930s and Missouri had been 21 since 1945. Nebraska changed its MLDA from 18 to 19 in 1980 and then to 21 in 1985.
South Dakota went from 18 to 19 in 1984 and 21 in 1988, one of the last states to do so. Minnesota was the first state in the region to pass a zero-tolerance law in 1993, while South Dakota was the last in 1998. Among the states in the Central-Northeast region, Ohio and Wisconsin experienced the largest declines in adolescent drinking rates, while Illinois, Indiana and Michigan were below the midpoint of the 50 states (Table 7). Illinois passed MLDA 21 in 1980, which was raised beginning at age 19. Indiana had been 21 years old enough to drink since the 1930s. Michigan was the first state to change its MLDA from 18 to 21 in a single step, having done so in 1978. Ohio changed its MLDA from 18 to 19 in 1982 and to 21 in 1987. Wisconsin went from 18 to 19 in 1984 and to 21 in 1986. Michigan and Ohio passed zero-tolerance laws in 1994, Illinois in 1995 and Wisconsin in 1997. Figure 16 shows the evolution of adolescent drinking rates in the Mid-West and Southern states from 1982 to 1998.
Each of the four states started the period at rates well above the national average. Each state generally posted declines that continued into the 1990s. Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas appear to have settled in the range of 10 to 15 people per 100,000 people, while Arkansas could still be in decline. The repeal of prohibition by the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933, allowed each state to establish its own laws on alcohol consumption. At the time, most states set the legal drinking age (MLDA) at 21. Table 4 shows the percentage change from 1982 to 1998 in drunk drivers aged 16 to 20 per 100,000 population for each of the New England states (hereafter referred to as the “teen drinking rate”) and their national ranking by this measure. The table also shows the year each state adopted a legal drinking age (MLDA) at 21, and the year each state passed a zero-tolerance law at 0.02 BAC or less for those under 21. Figure 10 shows the evolution of the rate of young alcohol drivers in each country over the period 1982-1998.
While employees must be at least 21 years of age to sell spirits, wine or mixed beverages in a bar, employees of a licensee are permitted to sell beer in a bar if they are at least 19 years of age. As of May 19, 2015, local licences that derive less than 50% of their gross revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages may employ a person under the age of 18 as a cashier for transactions related to the sale of alcoholic beverages if the beverages are served by a person 18 years of age or older. From 1976 to 1983, several states voluntarily raised their purchasing age to 19 (or, less frequently, 20 or 21), in part to combat drunk driving deaths. [ref. needed] In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required states to raise their purchasing and public ownership age to 21 in October 1986 or lose 10 percent of their federal funding for roads. By mid-1988, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had raised the age of purchase to 21 (but not Puerto Rico, Guam or the Virgin Islands, see additional notes below). South Dakota and Wyoming were the last two states to serve the 21-year term. The current drinking age of 21 remains a point of contention among many Americans because it is above the age of majority (18 in most states) and above the drinking age in most other countries. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is also considered a circumvention of the Tenth Amendment by Congress. Although the debates were not widely publicized, some states proposed legislation to lower their drinking age,[5] while Guam raised the drinking age to 21 in July 2010.
[6] Alcoholic beverages are beer, spirits and wine with an alcohol content of one-half percent or more by volume.