We knocked on the door of the off-campus apartment, when it opened we were faced with the strong smell of alcohol. A little girl was passed out on the living room floor, a pile of empty beer cans filled the kitchen sink, and deafening music rattled the window panes. A group of girls managed to stumble past us. They greeted the host, who was offering drinks to my sister and me. It wasn't the first time I drank. In fact, they were all quite experienced, it is college after all. Half of the guests were completely drunk and I had no problems. That is, until late at night, when my sister locked herself in a room with a boy she had met just a week earlier. This prompted me to seriously consider the effects of alcohol. Would my sister have been able to see the danger of the situation if she had been sober? Would the absence of alcohol have prevented the events of that night from occurring? These questions, along with the vivid memory of that night, fueled my analysis of the complex social problem of underage drinking. In the 1960s, the drinking age was set at 21, to match the voting age. However, around the time of the Vietnam War, public opinion began to argue that if an 18-year-old was old enough to fight and die for his country, then he should be able to vote too. As a result, the voting age was lowered to 18. Between 1970 and 1976, 29 states also lowered the legal drinking age. In the words of Carla Main, author of Bulldozed and various other published works concerning law and society, the results were “catastrophic,” as “highway deaths among adolescents and young adults skyrocketed” (Main 33). Many states have begun raising the legal drinking age again. In 1984, under Ronald's supervision... half of the document... so, the focus should be on better applying the law, rather than changing it. Works CitedDeJong, William. “Should the drinking age be lowered to 18? NO." American Teacher 93.3 (2008): 3. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. Network. March 3, 2010. Main, Carla T. "Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age." Policy Review. June/July 2009: 33-46. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. Network. March 3, 2010.Martinez, Julia A., Miguel A. Munoz Garcia, and Kenneth J. Sher. “A New Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA)? findings to inform the debate. Addictive Behaviors 34.4 (2009): 407-10. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. 3 March 2010. Muhlenfeld, “In Search of a Debate on the Age of Drinking.” 11.10 (2008): 53-4. Academic Search Premier. 3 March 2010. "The 21 Club." Economist 392.8645 (2009): 26. Academic Search Premier. 2010.