If you live in the state of Wisconsin, here's some news for you. And, if you don't live in the state of Wisconsin, uh, just read it anyway. Come on now.
At the moment there's a bill moving through the Wisconsin state house that would lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 19. If you're wondering what the rationale behind this move is, the authors behind this proposal, Republican Representatives Adam Jarchow, Cindi Duchow and Rob Swearingen, (who's also the state's "former tavern league president") argue that the two-year age drop would reduce collegiate binge drinking.
If this bill were to pass Wisconsin could save "countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars," directed towards enforcing such underage drinking laws, Jarchow said to Wisc-TV. "I think generally speaking, consenting adults should be able to engage in these kind of activities without the government getting in the way. I see no reason why we can send young men and women off to war but they can't have a beer."
Jarchow also argues that lowering the age would decrease the likelihood of teens drinking to rebel by adding "The idea is if you prohibit people [from] doing something until they are 21, the natural inclination is to be a little bit rebellious when they're young, (and) then to overindulge."
Not surprisingly, Mothers Against Drunk Driving disagrees with the reps' two cents, as they told WTV that the changed law would increase the state's alcohol related vehicle accidents.
WTV further adds that the bill would only pass if Wisconsin wouldn't lose federal highway funds as a result. In 1984 the Minimum Drinking Age Act was introduced by Ronald Reagan, which was a federal law that could reduce money directed to a state if their minimum drinking age wasn't 21.
Jarchow is confident that the proposal can find a way around that statute and he reportedly plans on talking to the Department of Transportation about it. In case you're wondering, according to a study published in 2015, Wisconsin is the heaviest drinking state in the U.S.
You probably were not wondering that, but it's still some pretty interesting trivia nonetheless.
