ABSTRACT
This chapter explores three case studies however all consist of changes in the minimum drinking age, or the minimum age at which individuals can consume alcohol. The first case study explains when prohibition ended in 1933, many US states enacted legislation setting a minimum drinking age of 21 years; however, in the 1970s some of these states began to lower their minimum ages to 20, 19. By the 1980s, however, concern about alcohol's social harms and, in particular, the harm of alcohol-involved traffic accidents among young people had increased. The second case study describes that the US state of Michigan initially lowered its minimum drinking age from January 1, 1972, and then raised it again, first to 19 years on December 22, 1978, and then to 21 from January 1, 1979. The third case study explains that in 1999, New Zealand's government reduced the minimum age to purchase alcohol from 20 to 18 that contrasts sharply with the American examples.
