Peter White
Talisha Haltiwanger
CO150
17 April 2013
Stakeholder Analyses As most people living in the United States already know, the national minimum age for purchasing alcohol is twenty-one. However, prior to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, some states lowered the drinking age below 21 (mainly as a result of the lowered voting age). The Drinking Age Act was put into place as a result of a correlation between young drinking and motor vehicle fatalities. Under the provisions of the Act, any states with a minimum drinking age below 21 are subject to a 10% cut in highway funding from the federal government. The United States is one of only a few countries with a drinking age as high as 21; the majority of countries …show more content…

Although they do not promote drinking directly to minors, they often advertise with them in mind. By advertising sweeter, smoother, and better tasting drinks, these companies can target the taste buds of underage drinkers and increase their sales. The final stakeholder group is the universities. Surprisingly, 100 presidents from some of the most well-known universities in the United States, “are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus” (Pope). Unfortunately, the position of these university presidents does not address the problem of driving under the influence and motor vehicle fatalities. Their main concern lies with the conduct of students on campus. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) criticizes these presidents for not taking motor vehicle fatalities into account. Nevertheless, both sides view excessive underage drinking as a problem and are working to reduce the negative impacts. Overall, there is no easy answer to the question of lowering the drinking age to 18. It is clear that the adult population between 18 and 20, universities, and alcohol companies are the stakeholder groups that favor a drinking age of 18. However, universities and the government (heavily influenced by Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have the common goal of preventing dangerous underage drinking. The difference between the two is that university