when did the drinking age turn to 21 in nj
1983
title: Alcohol laws of New Jersey text: illegally consume it school, the state raised the drinking age to 19 in 1980. Citing statistics that indicated an increase in car deaths among drivers under 21, the drinking age was raised back to 21 in 1983. At the same time, the penalties for underage drinking were increased to include a mandatory driver's license suspension. In 1985, the state made it illegal for an adult to give alcohol to a person under 21, with exception for religious services and parents serving alcohol to their own children at home or in a private area. Historically, a few municipalities had ordinances against title: Alcohol laws of New Jersey text: take a Breathalyzer test, and so in 1966, the state authorized the suspension of a person's driver's license for refusing to submit a breath sample. In 1977, the BAC limit was reduced to 0.10%, but the law was modified to differentiate between the second and third offenses, with lesser penalties for first and second convictions. In 1983, the state established a "per se" rule wherein a person over the limit was considered drunk in all cases (that is, not merely a presumption). Nine years later, the 0.01% BAC limit for drivers under 21 was instituted, and in 2003, the 0.10% title: Alcohol laws of New Jersey text: their own children in a private location (such as a private home). New Jersey and all other U.S. states comport with the requirement of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which sought to set a national standard of 21 as the minimum age for purchasing and publicly possessing alcoholic beverages. To make states comply, Congress tied a state's failure to enact a drinking age at 21 to a punitive decrease in a state's apportionment of federal highway funding. Federal law requires colleges and universities that accept federal financial aid institute policies to sanction students who violate underage drinking title: National Minimum Drinking Age Act text: alcoholic beverages. However, these changes were soon followed by studies showing an increase in motor vehicle fatalities attributable to the decreased MLDA. In response to these findings, many states raised the minimum legal drinking age to 19 (and sometimes to 20 or 21). In 1984, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Act, written by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and influenced by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), required all states to enforce a minimum legal drinking age of 21 or else risk losing 10% of all federal highway construction funds. As the MLDA was still left to the discretion of the state, title: Alcohol laws of New Jersey text: underage person could possibly be prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor Furthermore, arrests and criminal prosecutions for underage drinking in bars or public areas were very uncommon before the 1980s. New Jersey's drinking age was lowered to 18 in 1973 as part of a broader legal change which reduced New Jersey's age of majority from 21 to 18. Much of the impetus for lowering the drinking age to 18 was to grant returning Vietnam veterans the right to purchase alcohol. Possibly because of concerns about 18-year-old high school students being able to legally purchase liquor, and then