Arguments Against The Drinking Age

In 1984 Ronald Reagan proposed a new law that declared that the legal drinking age must raised up to 21 instead of the age of 18. The law was forced upon the states by threatening them by stating that the government will reduce their highway funding until the states passed the law. Of course all the states eventually change their legal drinking age to 21. Some critics believe that this law’s results have been very successful, however the law possesses many insecurities, but certain programs can be arranged to help educate teenagers on alcohol.

Over the past few years, there has been this big debate about whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or if it should stay at 21. Those in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 argue that someone who is old enough to serve their country should be allowed to have a drink. Those who are in favor of keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 because of consequences regarding psychological development and health problems later in life. However, there is a bigger problem concerning alcohol. The problem is the excessive amount of drinking or commonly known as binge drinking, done by primarily college students and by raising taxes on any and all alcoholic beverages can lead to significant reduction of dangerous binge drinking and simultaneously reducing the dangerous effects of binge drinking.

It has been a rising issue within the past century to have the drinking age set at 21, but many people are more in favor of having the age set at 18. For instance, “’Raising the drinking age to 21 was passed with the very best of intentions, but it’s had the very worst of outcomes,’ stated by David J. Hanson, an alcohol policy expert” (Johnson). Many people believe that having the drinking age set at 21 was a smart idea, but it has caused many more deaths and injuries over the years. Most of these fatalities are cause from people who are underage and choose to consume alcohol. Again, “Libertarian groups and some conservative economic foundations, seeing the age limits as having been extorted by Washington, have long championed lowering the drinking age” (Johnson). These groups see that keeping the drinking age set at 21 is dangerous as it causes more problems to the Untied States. If the drinking age was lowered, or set at 18, there would not be such unforgiving outcomes, like deaths and lifelong injuries, which are usually caused from people who are under the age of 21 drinking alcohol. Although there are numerous groups that are fighting to keep the age

Society’s attitude towards the drinking age has been a major controversy in the United States. The attitudes regarding the drinking age have been based off statistics and society’s varying opinion. Alcohol is a toxic depressant that has a damaging effect on the human body. As a result, to prevent excessive alcoholic consumption, the ratification of the 18th amendment took place from 1919 to 1939. This established the Prohibition Act, which banned the transportation, manufacturing and selling of an alcoholic beverage. However, illegal production of alcohol continued to take place in secret. Gradually prohibition laws became difficult to enforce. As a result, the Prohibition Act was repealed in 1933. In 1984, congress mandated a law which would raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 through the National Minimum Drinking Age. Reasoning for mandating an older drinking age, was to enhance public safety and promote good health. In 1988, all 50 states enforced the drinking age to 21. The concern for the consumption of alcohol have targeted teenagers and young adults

With that being said, it is regularly contended by teenagers that the drinking age is excessively high. They accept that in the event that they are qualified to vote, they may be sent to war and possibly die for our country at the age of eighteen; then they should be able to consume alcohol. Then again, the United States government saw issues with youth drinking and they chose to raise the drinking age. As extra motivation to enforce the age significance, the government proposed to stop all government subsiding of roadways to the states whose drinking was short of what twenty-one.

Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 will delay underage drinking, as well as terrible injuries or deaths that result from such conduct. Keeping the drinking age at 21 is driving to more cases of binge drinking in a short time because it has become a ritual among this age group. However by lowering the drinking age to 18, the binge drinking practice will decline, because it will demystify the drunken experience therefore viewed the moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages becomes a disciplined behavior.

Alcohol has been a large part of society for many years. Currently out of the 190 countries in the world, 61% of them have drinking ages of 18 or 19. While 12 other countries have their drinking ages set at 21. In those 12 countries is the United States, who after 1984 raised their national minimum drinking age when Congress passed the Minimum Drinking Age Act. The drinking age in recent years has became a topic of controversy with people arguing that it showed be lowered back to 18 or 19. Their reasoning for this is that when a citizen in the United States turns 18 they are allowed to vote, enlist for the draft, serve in the armed forces, and get married, and serve on a jury. They are now considered adults in the eyes of the government. However while being considered a legal adult, individuals cannot drink. The argument for lowering the drinking age is that if an individual is treated as an adult and can die for their country, individuals should be able to drink alcohol legally. While there is support for lowering the drinking age, there is also support for keeping the drinking age where it is currently set. The common argument for keeping the drinking age at twenty-one is that the brain is not fully developed and alcohol usage before a developed brain can cause side effects. There are studies supporting both sides’ arguments for lowering the drinking age and keeping the drinking age.

Because underage drinking is a major problem for young adults, the drinking age has become a very controversial issue. In the 1990's, the drinking age was 18, but it was changed to 21 in 1984. The Federal Government informed states to choose between raising the drinking age to 21 or foregoing highway funding. This decision obviously affected 18 to 20 year olds who could no longer buy alcoholic beverages. As in every controversy, there are supporters on both sides. Some argue that at the age of 18, when young adults are able to fight in war and get married, they should be able to make the decision to have a drink. Others say that at the age

If you're old enough to fight in the military, be able to vote, smoke cigarettes, get married, sign legal contracts, have the chance to serve jail time, you should be old enough to drink. If you’re in the military, the United States allows you to specifically risk your life but won’t let you celebrate afterwards with a can of beer. Juries are allowed to sentence an 18 year old to life in prison without parole without them being able to ever legally drink a glass of wine or can of beer. Drinking and driving won’t be solved and fixed by restricting people’s freedom. As a society, preventing drinking and driving accidents/fatalities should be by educating teenagers better and teaching them from a younger age how to handle alcohol and not to abuse it.

Alcohol has been around in our country for thousands of years. The legal drinking age is twenty-one in some parts of the United States. This requirement makes it illegal for any minor to purchase alcohol or even drink it. In some states like Virginia, South Carolina, and South Dakota, the legal drinking age for beer and wine is eighteen, but liquor can not be consumed by a person until they are twenty-one. Alcohol consumption by minors is often looked down upon in our society. Maybe this should not be the case though. Our government should lower the drinking age to eighteen, because minors drink regardless of the law, there will be fewer drinking and driving fatalities, and the law states that once an individual reaches the age of eighteen,

The United States drinking age has a long history. It all started when our founding fathers created the amendments and made the eighteenth outlawing drinking entirely (The MLDA should be lowered). This caused several problems because people kept stealing alcohol and hurting people to get a hold of it. Then, the states started making their own laws. From 1969 to 1976 there were 30 states lowering

During the Vietnam War, that lasted from 1959 to 1975, the legal drinking age issue arose again. The main point was that if people were able to go to war at 18 years old they should be allowed to drink too. For this reason, a lot of states stated 18 years old as the permitted drinking age. Around the 80s though, Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, started to push for rising the drinking age. That was related to two different problems: drinking and driving, and studies that showed how brain is not completely formed until around 20 years old. As a result of this, Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, that stated 21 years old as the legal age for drinking. (Trex, 2008). Even if States didn’t need to necessarily to set it as a drinking age, if they weren’t doing it the government would have had removed 10% of annual federal highway funding from states that chose an age below 21. For this reason, everyone set 21 as the minimum drinking age.

Though the current drinking age is 21, much of the society is opposed. One of the largest arguments being when a person turns 18, they “receive the rights and responsibilities of adulthood”. He or she can “vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military-which includes risking one’s life” (ProCon). Many feel if a person is serving our country they deserve the right to drink. Upon turning 18, a person is granted the rights and responsibilities of adulthood, shouldn’t they be granted

I have always wondered why the drinking age was raised to twenty-one. I have looked and researched the following information but still don’t have a true explanation as to why it was raised to the age of twenty-one. The movement called Amethyst Initiative began recruiting university presidents to provoke national debate about the drinking age. College Presidents from about 100 of the nation’s universities, are calling on law makers to consider lowering the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen by claiming the current laws encourage dangerous binge drinking on campuses. These colleges include some of the popular one like including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State.

The topic of drinking alcohol around young people has been taboo among parents, usually because of aversion to their children consuming alcohol altogether. Though arguments against lowering the minimum drinking age are valid, I’d like to present reasons as to why a lower drinking age would be beneficial overall.