The experts told members of a special House of Delegates committee on drug and alcohol abuse holding a hearing on underage drinking that not only should the drinking age remain 21, but that legislators should consider even tougher penalties for teenagers who break the law.

"The risk of a fatal crash increases with the first drink, especially for drivers aged 16 to 20," said James Fell, a senior program director at Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Little U.S. data are available on the issue, because the drinking age has been 21 across the nation for more than two decades. Fell cited reports from New Zealand, where the drinking age was lowered from 20 to 18 in 1999 and where teenage crash injuries increased soon afterward.

There is strong evidence that can back up those who oppose lowering the drinking age, and many people support this standpoint. But it can still be broken up farther into two more seperate standpoints. Those who are under the age of 21 and oppose lowering the drinking age, and those who are over the age of 21 who oppose lowering the drinking age.