Most Illinois Patch Readers Oppose Lowering Drinking Age To 18

ILLINOIS — After an Illinois Republican lawmaker recently introduced a bill that would lower the state’s legal drinking to 18, an overwhelming number of Patch readers who responded to a poll last week on the subject opposed the measure.

Illinois State Rep. John Cabello (R-Freeport) introduced House Bill 4021 earlier this month. The bill would amend the Liquor Control Board’s Act of 1934, which established the legal drinking age at the end of prohibition.

More than 4,000 Patch readers responded to a poll last week which simply asked if the state’s legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. Of the 4,044 readers who responded to the non-scientific poll, 86.2 percent voted that the state’s drinking age should not be lowered, while the remaining 13.8 percent responded that 18-year-olds should be able to partake in alcoholic beverages.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has previously stated that since the legal drinking age was set at 21, states that raised the legal age from 18 saw a 16 percent decrease in automobile crashes and that drinking being done by people between the ages of 18 and 21 decreased by 19 percent between 1985 and 1991.

Drinking by people between the ages of 21 and 25 also decreased from 70 percent to 56 percent in the same time period, according to the CDC.

The federal agency said that underage drinking contributes to the death of 3,900 people under the age of 21 each year and that it also contributes to death from alcohol poisoning, suicides, sexual assault and other incidents as well as cuts down on dependence on alcohol later in life, according to CDC guidance.

Cabello never responded to a request for comment from Patch about his reasoning for seeking to lower the state's legal drinking age.

Reader comments on last week’s Patch story ranged from calling Cabello’s bill “insane” to a “very bad idea." Other readers responded that based on the number of underage drinking arrests and deaths that are associated with crashes linked to underage drinking, lowering the legal drinking age would present numerous problems.

“It should stay 21,” one commenter wrote in response to the story. “(There are enough) problems out there (and) lowering the drinking age will just make things worse.”

Pat Tenuto, an Oak Lawn resident, wrote in response to last week’s Patch story that he worked as a police officer in the 1970s when the legal drinking age in Illinois was lowered to 17.

“All of a sudden, neighborhood bars, which were always quiet with local people going in, started having fights which we got called to,” Tenuto wrote. “This was happening all over town as well as local surrounding towns. After two years, the law got rescinded, and guess what? Yep! All the fights suddenly stopped. If this law passes, get ready for a repeat.”

Others who commented on the story said the legal drinking age should not only not be lowered, but should be raised to the age of 25. Other readers cited the maturity level of teenagers as a reason for opposing the lowering of the legal drinking age. Others also suggested that the legal voting age should be raised to 21 and that the legal age for drivers should be raised to 18, suggesting that younger teens are not ready for such responsibility.

Other readers, meanwhile, pushed for all legal ages for various activities should be waived all together as a way of making Illinois parents more responsible.

“How about we get rid of the minimum drinking age, and institute a law that will force parents to start parenting,” a Patch reader named Verbena from Highland Park wrote. “I know that this is a foreign concept for many...since many have forgotten what parenting means.”