preview

Argumentative Essay: Leave The Drinking Age To 18

Decent Essays

A US citizen at the age of 18 has the right to vote and serve in our military. If they have the right to vote of the potential leader of the United States of America's president they shouldn't be able to consume an alcoholic beverage? I will be discussing what alcohol is and if the legal age should she moved to 18. Along with that I will first discuss the benefits of moving the drinking age, then the effects on teenagers, and lastly I will have a general discussion over the topic. Alcohol is seen as the “forbidden fruit” to people under the age of 21. If the “fruit” wasn't forbidden then less people would be urged to try it. Isnt the United states the land of the free? Then why do other countries have more rights than we do? These are all …show more content…

According to “Mothers on drunk driving”http://www.madd.org moving the drinking age to 21 has saved 17,000 lives since it has been in effect. According to the “annual review of public health”http://www.annualreviews.org/journal/publhealth Alcohol has contributed to 1,700 deaths, 599,000 injuries, and 97,000 sexual assault cases. There's a part of the brain that rapidly changes throughout your teenage years. It's call the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex has to do with decision making and judgment. When it's not completely developed their is more of a chance to make the wrong decision, And being a teenager I know that I don't always make the right decisions in life but it's fine because everyone makes mistakes. Some seem to mess up a little more often than others. Consuming alcohol while your brain is still developing can the chance of having alcohol dependency. They might not develop right away as research states it usually happens down the road closer to the age of 25. Alcohol dependency is a previous psychiatric diagnosis in which an individual is physically or psychologically dependent upon drinking alcohol. There have been a fes rebel states that have lowered the drinking age for a small amount of time and they notice a increase in fatal crashes in the 18-20 year olds. Raising the drinking age to 21 has decreased crashes in 18-20 year olds by 13% which is approximately 27,775

Get Access