Underage Drinking
This guide begins by describing the problem of underage drinking, and reviewing factors that contribute to it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local underage drinking problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice. Young people use alcohol more than any other drug, including tobacco. Underage drinking—that is, drinking under the age of 21—is prohibited throughout the United States. Despite a historical lack of vigorous enforcement, minimum-drinking-age laws have been very effective in reducing many of the harms associated with underage drinking, such as traffic fatalities and alcohol-related injuries, as well as assaults and other crimes.