For the Future. Ryan Fassak. April 17 th, The Hidden Costs of Underage Drinking. The History

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1 For the Future Ryan Fassak April 17 th, 2016 The Hidden Costs of Underage Drinking Milton Friedman, a famous economist, was the first to theorize, There s no such thing as a free lunch. The basic economic principle focuses on the idea that there are payoffs and consequences for everything. For example, even if a person does not have to pay for the food, he or she is still surrendering time in which they could accomplish an infinite possibility of other tasks. The theory holds true for many different scenarios, including the topic of the national drinking age and underage drinking. Despite the minimum drinking age being a hot topic for debate, there have been significant benefits, to changing the minimum age to 21. An estimated 900 lives are saved annually, among drivers under the age of But at what cost? Underage drinking costs taxpayers $61.9 billion per year 2. The National Act of 1984 helped save lives, but beneath the benefits are hidden costs to society. The History Prior to 1984, the minimum drinking age, like the minimum driving age, was a state issue. Drinking ages ranged from (shown on the right). Before the Vietnam War most states held the bar at 21 years of age. This all changed once the military draft was enacted and the question of why a person who can fight for their country, also is not allowed to consume alcohol. This argument led to states lowering the minimum age 3. The movement towards the nationalizing the drinking age began in 1982, when President Reagan addressed the growing concern and issue of drunk driving. He created the Presidential Commission Against Drunk Driving. The goal of this commission was to spread awareness of the ongoing dangers of driving under the influence along with helping urge states to raise their minimum drinking age up to 21. Reagan even incentivized states by offering more highway funding to states that set their minimum age at 21 4.

2 Two years after the commission was created, Reagan signed into effect the National Minimum Drinking Age, which made the national drinking age 21 years of age. By the year 1987 all 50 states had implemented the new drinking age. The Growing Dangers of Binge Drinking As a result of the elevated minimum drinking, a new issue has come into the light, binge drinking. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, binge drinking is defined as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dl. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men in about 2 hours. Binge drinking is much more dangerous because it entails dangerous quantities of alcohol consumed in a small period of time. It is unproven and unclear if the increase in minimum drinking age ushered in binge drinking, but it has continued to increase in college campuses across the country. Many colleges have spent millions on programs and added security to try and reduce underage drinking. When Syracuse University was labeled as the #1 party school in the country in 2014, the school took drastic steps to eliminate that rank. This included increased police force to the point where some referred to Syracuse as a Police State. 5 There was a societal cost to both the students and to the community. While the community may benefit from having more limited drinking, the added police comes with a hefty price, most likely through taxes. The students were outraged with the rule changes and increased security. Both citations and arrests sharply increased at Syracuse following the release of the #1 party school ranking. The intent was to create a safer drinking community, however despite these actions more Syracuse students have gone to the hospital because of alcohol related reasons then before the rankings were released. In this case the hidden costs outweigh the benefits. While consumption of alcohol has become a problem on college campuses across the country; it is not a top priority in terms of crime. However, allocating police presence towards prevention of underage drinking sacrifices student safety. Elana Berusch, an Ohio State junior, claims that, police have decided to prioritize valuing student safety over strict alcohol enforcement. 6 Ohio Casual Drinker (%) Does Not Drink (%) State ranks #28 on the most recent Party School rankings 7. Some believe that increased punishment and alcohol enforcement actually make it more unsafe arguing that, Punishing students for underage drinking causes them to hide their participation rather than limit it, thus minimizing the ability of universities to monitor their safety. 8 In addition, taxpayers don t have to pay more to attempt to solve a complex issue that is nationwide Frequent Binge Drinker (%) Frequent Binge Drinker (%) Casual Drinker (%) Does Not Drink (%) 2

3 Health Hazards One of the main hazards of binge drinking is the long-term effect and toll it takes on the body. Short terms effects of binge consumption can lead to dangerous actions. This includes drinking leading to driving under the influence, which was a main reason why the National Drinking Minimum Age Act was passed. According to DrugFreeWorld.org 9, 1.4 million drunk driving arrests were made in Furthermore, there were 12,998 alcohol related deaths in the same year. This is caused by decreased motor skills along with decreased reaction time 10. While the short-term effects can prove to be dangerous the long-term effects are much more taxing on the body. These effects include: Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning Intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence Increased on-the-job injuries and loss of productivity Increased family problems, broken relationships Alcohol poisoning High blood pressure, stroke, and other heart-related diseases Liver disease Nerve damage Sexual problems Permanent damage to the brain Vitamin B 1 deficiency, which can lead to a disorder characterized by amnesia, apathy and disorientation Ulcers Gastritis (inflammation of stomach walls) Malnutrition Cancer of the mouth and throat Some effects are more common than others, however long-term heavy consumption can have an even greater impact on a person s social life and appearance. As seen with schools like Syracuse, underage drinking is inevitable, however spreading awareness of the potential long-term effects can have a positive impact and help encourage safe and smart drinking. Parallels With Marijuana The hidden costs of alcohol enforcement may not be in the national spotlight, but marijuana-use monitoring has been. Similarly to underage consumption of alcohol, the use of marijuana was illegal in all 50 states, except for medical reasons. However, recently recreational use has been legalized in the states of Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Alaska along with Washington D.C. The driving arguments were not 3

4 that marijuana had benefits, but rather the concern regarding the waste of resources in an attempt to control a minor issue. From the years , 440,000 related marijuana arrests were made in New York City. However, it came at the cost of 1,000,000 police hours. That s about 100,000 police hours a year dedicated to policing marijuana use and not towards keeping the streets of New York safer 11. This is very similar to police enforcement of alcohol, especially on college campuses. The cost of added patrols and police hours that goes towards monitoring alcohol consumption takes away from prevention of other crimes. On college campuses, police hours are better spent helping prevent crimes such as robbery or sexual assault, instead of trying to catch students whom are underage drinking. The Cost The ongoing debate about how strict law enforcement should be with underage drinking is a balance. What is often overlooked is the cost, not on the individuals who consume alcohol, but the community around them. What does it cost them? According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, police spend on average 50 million dollars per year responding to alcohol-related crimes 12. That is enough to pay 1,000 full time employees at the Bureau 13. While police funding is different by both state and county, it gets large portions of their its funding from the government, therefore indirectly from taxpayers. This impacts communities around the country, with their safety being comprised at the cost of policing underage drinking. Safer drinking environments do remain a concern but at what cost? It comes at the cost of 50 million dollars. Conclusion With underage drinking drawing a national level of attention, many theorize with extreme changes. Some argue that lowering the drinking to age 18 would give people experience with alcohol at a younger age therefore allowing them to learn to drink responsibly. Others argue that the binge drinking issue applies to a window of ages and lowering the drinking age would merely shift the window down to a lower age group. However, what is overlooked in the ongoing debate is the hidden costs of drinking. Colleges and universities are attempting to crack down on underage drinking, however in doing so they are ignoring the cons. Added police allocation towards preventing or limited underage consumption takes away from more important issue. On college campuses crimes such as sexual assault and theft are common, bringing to light the question of at what cost is worth to fight underage drinking. Although there are a number of injuries and deaths that are correlated with binge drinking, it s important to not overlook the cost of sacrificing resources necessary for the benefit of the community in an attempt to fight that battle. 4

5 Endnotes 1. Bidwell, Allie. "The Debate Is Over-Higher Drinking Age Saves Lives." US News. February 24, Accessed April 14, "Underage Drinking and the 21Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) Law." Madd.org. Accessed April 14, "Legislative Analysis of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act." National Youth Rights Association. Accessed April 14, "History." Choose Responsibility McMurtrie, Beth. "Why Colleges Haven't Stopped Binge Drinking." New York Times. December 14, Accessed April 15, "Underage Drinking Laws on Campus." Huffington Post. August 07, Accessed April 14, "Top Party Schools." Niche. Accessed April 14, "Underage Drinking Laws on Campus." Huffington Post. August 07, Accessed April 14, "The Truth About Alcohol." Drug-Free World. Accessed April 17, Ibid 11. "One Million Police Hours." Drug Policy.org. Accessed April 15, lice_hours.pdf. 12. "The Cost of Police Time Spent Dealing with Alcoholrelated Crime in NSW." NSW Government. September 17, Accessed April 14, The cost of police time spent dealing with alcohol-related crime in NSW.] 13. Ibid, 5