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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDAA) of 1984 was passed in every state in the United States of America to increase the drinking age from eighteen years of age to twenty one. The Act declared that any state that allowed any person under the age of twenty one to drink would be punished. The federal government enforced this act with some restrictions, punishing any state who decided not to increase their drinking age to twenty one, by reducing their annual federal highway funding by ten percent. After a few years every state raised their drinking age to twenty one ending the age of teen alcohol consumption. Today there is much discussion on the topic, asking the question: will the drinking age ever be lowered again? “Advocacy groups have been fighting against this law for nearly 30 years now, claiming it is a gross violation of civil liberties and must be repealed. They claimed the law is absurd and unjust that young Americans can vote, marry, enter into contracts and serve in the military at 18, but cannot buy an alcoholic beverage." The controversy is real, and as teens reach their age of adulthood it becomes more apparent that they are being restricted of some of their adult-like duties, including having the right to drink. Many of the states agree that lowering the drinking age has actually caused more harm than good and have tried to test the theory. Some states have tried by requesting government approval, but are shut down by threats of losing federal funding. "If Congress would grant a waiver, the states would be willing to try something, and at least then we could get some evidence and see whether things are better or worse," said former Middlebury College president John McCardell. McCardell brings up a point that in order for this issue to be resolved the federal government has to be willing to allow states to make allegations of their own. Once these claims are made then the sates can prove or disprove them with pure evidence. The Government views that “Politically, it's a hard sell, in part because there are other public health hazards associated with excessive alcohol consumption, not just highway fatalities.” The government provides assumptions that could be true but these causes have other factors as well, besides the usage of drinking involved with teens. One of the reasons the NMDAA act was put into effect was due to the public’s concern for teenage drinking, which was thought to have an effect on drunk driving. Many agree that the rate for drunk driving has not decreased since the passing of the act in 1984, some even claim that it has gotten worse. There is evidence that lowering the drinking age has caused little or no effect and there are others that say it has increased the outcome of drunk driving accidents. The federal government also defends their passing of the act trough some scientific evidence stating that “Prior to passing NMDAA of 1984, there were many studies conducted on the effects of alcohol on younger people. Several studies determined that a youth’s brain is not fully developed until around age 21, and alcohol affects youth’s brains differently than it does adults.” Understanding the effects of alcohol is a crucial part when taking this issue into effect. Both levels of government have defensive positions on the NMDAA and why or why not it should be adjusted. I feel that in order for our country to recognize which option is best we have to test the results. Each state should be allowed to choose their own drinking age and adjust to the circumstances of the outcome. If states are allowed to reinterpret the act I think that there will be a different reaction from the public involving drinking which will ultimately over time justify the choices from both the federal and state governments. There are many other results that come from the passing of the act instilled in 1984, including the increased rate of teenage binge drinking that affects the health of our nation’s young people. Underage drinking still occurs now and it will most likely never cease to continue, but if our society pushes to educate our younger generations on the effects of alcohol there could be more positive results in the future.