Commentary on Callaghan etal. (2013): Minimum legal drinking age laws protect high school students from both crashes and alcohol abuse

摘要

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has just announced that in 2010, 552 lives were saved by the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws in force in all 50 states. The total savings reported by NHTSA dating back to 1975 is 28 315 lives [1]. Despite this major benefit, the MLDA has been under attack based principally on policy considerations [2]. Responding to this attack has been difficult because the strongest evidence for their effectiveness dates back to the 1980s, when states were enacting MLDA laws. During that time panel studies employing time-series analysis could pair states with and without MLDA laws.