“Prohibition... goes beyond the limits of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes that which is not a crime a crime ...A prohibition law deals a serious blow to the very principles on which our government was founded. -Abraham LincolnThese words spoken by Abraham Lincoln are as true today as they were in 1840, and yet history and current politics show us that, for the most part, 174 years have not done much- something to change people's attitudes. The legal drinking age in the United States has been a matter of contention and debate since the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and marked the beginning of the end of Prohibition in 1933. (http://www.history.com /ce-jour-de-l'histoire/fin de la prohibition) Add to works citedThe ban on drinking alcohol in the United States should be lowered by 21 to better align with the existing rights and privileges of young adults and to promote open and honest conversations about responsible drinking. The legal drinking age in the United States has been 21 since 1988, the last of the remaining states to recognize 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 the loss of 10% of their federal funds. for roads, which would amount to about 8 million for the smallest states or 99 million for the largest states. Since no state wanted to lose its federal funding, they all signed laws requiring an MLDA of 21. Before the passage of the MDAA, each state had a different MLDA that it set at the end of Prohibition in 1933 .The state government has the power. power to set the...... middle of paper ...... Geneva: WHO, 2011. Web. May 7, 2014.f>. “Costs of underage drinking.” Training center on combating underage drinking. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, September 2011. Web. May 08, 2014..United States. Ministry of Transport. 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. May 8 2014..