South Dakota Drinking Age Initiative (2008)
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The Drinking Age initiative is an initiated state statute that would lower the South Dakota drinking age from the current 21 year old to 19 years old.
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Status
This initiative failed to make the ballot.
Support
The sponsor of the initiative is a Flandreau lawyer, N. Bob Pesall. He believes that if one is considered an adult at 18, then they should receive the privileges of being an adult including drinking. Also--a majority of minors and adults under 21 blatantly ignore drinking laws, making them unenforceable.
"The federal government simply has no business trying to regulate the age at which people in any given state can purchase alcohol," Pesall said. "Constitutionally, the regulation of alcohol is a matter reserved to the individual states, and it should be treated this way."[1]
Research supporting lowering the drinking age
Federal government
Federal statistics show that from 1984 (when the national minimum legal drinking age was enacted) to 1998, drunk driving fatalities caused by people under 21 dropped by 61%, and dropped 58% for people aged 21-24. The 3% difference is statistically insignificant.
Asch and Levi
According to experts Asch and Levi's federally-funded study, the "legal drinking age has no perceptible influence on fatalities," and has slightly accelerated the decrease in alcohol-related fatal crashes among people under 21 that's occurred since the 1970's. Asch and Levi show that this acceleration is compensated for in fatal crashes caused by people aged 21-24.
Dee and Evans
A 2001 American Economics Association paper by Swarthmore and Maryland University professors Dee and Evans support Asch and Levi's findings. Their report says:
The nationwide increases in the [minimum legal drinking age] have merely shifted some of the fatality risks from teens to young adults.
Opposition
The Rapid City Journal wrote an editorial condemning the initiative, believing it to be "bad fiscal policy, bad public safety policy and bad social policy."[2]
See also
- South Dakota 2008 Ballot Measures
- South Dakota Initiative and Referendum Law
- Campaign finance requirements for South Dakota ballot measures
- South Dakota signature requirements
- Petition drive deadlines in 2008
External links
- Status of 2008 Ballot Measures from the South Dakota Secretary of State
