It has been suggested that decreased availability of alcohol might lead young adults to increase their use of other drugs, but Table 3 shows that exposures to lower MLDA’s were associated with significant increases in the risk of current substance use disorders in later adulthood. In column two, the association between a lower drinking age and any current illegal drug use disorder is statistically significant, and even larger than the association between MLDA exposure and alcohol use disorder (OR 1.70, 95% ci 1.19, 2.44, p =.003. In column three, the net association between MLDA exposure and past-year substance use disorder is slightly stronger than the association with alcohol use disorder alone (OR 1.33, 95% c.i. 1.21 to 1.45, p<.0001). Again, there is little change in the estimate in models that include age of drinking initiation or current demographic outcomes
