Nation: Closing the Tap

The trend is against legal drinking by 18-year-olds

When the Massachusetts house of representatives last week took up Governor Edward King's request to raise the legal drinking age to 21, scores of college students crowded into the gallery. "Atta way, baby!" they shouted when the house watered down the measure. But King lobbied overnight, and the house and senate then overwhelmingly voted to set the age at 19. The two houses are expected to agree soon to move the limit to 21.

Massachusetts thus followed five other states−Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and Montana−in deciding that lowering the legal drinking age to 18 had...

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