uropeancountries, that have young or no drinking age at all, the United States’ legal age to drink istwenty-one years old.American attitudes towards drinking have varied greatly throughout our history. In earlyPuritan colonies, the taverns were thought of as sinful, anti-Christian houses where the wickedconvened. Throughout the southern colonies and states of the 1700s and 1800s, alcohol was justas a part of everyday life as farming, lunch, or dinner. During the early 1900s, however,legislative attitudes started to change, and in 1917, the Eighteenth Amendment to theConstitution of the United States prohibited the “manufacture, sale, and transportation ofintoxicating liquors.” However, because so many Americans continued to drink alcohol,practically everyone was considered a criminal by law. In 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment tothe Constitution was ratified. It was brief and to the point: “Section 1. The EighteenthAmendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.” For the most part, thispretty much sealed the deal on alcohol ever being illegal in the United States (Thank God).Ethanol, the active intoxicant in alcoholic beverages, is a general central nervous systemdepressant. The degree of this depression is proportional to its concentration in the blood. Thereticular activating system of the brain stem is the most sensitive area to ethanol’s effects; thisaccounts for the loss of control of the brain’s higher functions while drinking. Upon drinking amoderate amount of alcohol, humans pass through a “stimulating” phase. Memory, the ability toconcentrate, and insight are affected next whereas confidence often increases as moods swingfrom one extreme to another. If the dose is increased, neuromuscular coordination becomesimpaired. It is at this stage where sleepiness must be fought off and operations such as driving avehicle and operating heavy machinery may become...
