Drinking Age Vs 18

When it comes to an alcohol safety policy, the United States has never attracted more research and public attention than the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA). In the U.S., the legal drinking age is one of the highest worldwide. The MLDA of 21 is to control traffic fatalities, protect young teens from killing themselves while driving under the influence, and prevent damage medically to a developing brain of a young adult. Many Americans believe that the drinking age of 21 has not stopped teen binge drinking events in uncontrolled environments; however, studies have shown that teens have not yet reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly, thus the drinking age should remain at 21.

By lowering the MLDA, we are putting the lives of our young people at risk. Many studies have been done on the safety of a MLDA of 18 and several of those were about alcohol-related injuries and fatalities. Since the Uniform Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984, significantly fewer alcohol-related traffic accidents have occurred (Saylor 330). Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death in our country, so it can also be claimed that reducing traffic accidents will decrease the number of deaths from accidents. In fact, a 2010 article by Wechsler and Toben published in the American Journal of Public Health discovered a 58% drop in car crashes after the MLDA was changed from 18 to 21 (988). Fifty-eight percent is not a coincidence and never will be. Changing the MLDA to 21 has been so successful in reducing traffic accidents that the National Highway Safety Department stepped in to support the higher drinking age. A conservative estimate claims over 800 lives have been saved each year since the drinking age was

There has been a debate going on about the minimum legal drinking age, or “MLDA”. Some people believe it has no impact on our youth, and should thus be lowered to the standard age of adulthood, age 18. They refuse to acknowledge the true significance of this law, however, and continue to see it as a futile attempt to control the inevitable. Yet in reality, having an MLDA of 21 has many benefits, and stands for a healthier view of alcohol consumption, regardless of the way people perceive it. It is for this reason, that the minimum legal drinking age should not be lowered to age 18.

Throughout history, the United States has taken on several policies regarding the minimum legal drinking age that vary in age as well as in state and federal enforcement of the limit. To this day, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the subject because advocates of higher, lower, and limitless age regulations all provide decent arguments towards their suggested policies. Regardless of the policy, they all have the same aim: reduce alcohol addiction, binge drinking, drunk driving, and other alcohol related public health risks. The current minimum legal drinking age has made improvements in the number of alcohol related health problems. Times are changing, and advocates for a lower drinking age are on the rise, but with open

The U.S. gov’t has set an age limit on the consumption of alcohol, in order to lead safer and healthier lives. One reason it is believed to be safer if one cannot drink alcohol until the age of 21, is because the brain has not fully developed and the consumption of alcohol will interfere with that development. But is it really safer if the drinking age is 21, rather than 18? Many people will believe that it is safer, because that’s what the gov’t tells them, but those people will often fail to see the whole picture. Other than brain development,

Globally, many of the states hold the minimum drinking age laws have been initiated for decades and they have never been changed at all excepting one or two countries. One of the exceptions is the US. The minimum drinking age laws are much effective in the US. After the repeal of Prohibition in the US in 1993 the MLDA laws were established (David & Jon, 54). Very many countries at that time set the MLDA at the age of 21. Most countries lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18 in the year 1971 when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. As a result of an increase in alcohol-related crashes which involved very many youths between the age of 18 and 21 many countries that lowered the drinking age to 18, returned to an MLDA of 21 years. The earlier

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving called on congress along with Senator Frank Lautenberg, House Public Works and Transportation Committee Chairman Kim Howard, Congressman Michael Barnes, then-Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, Illinois Secretary of State Jim Edgar and representatives of the health and safety community to erase the blood borders between the states with differing ages by setting the nation’s minimum legal drinking age to 21. Therefore, “In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, NMDAA” (“Minimum Drinking Age” 12-13). The creation of this act raised the drinking age to what it is in United States of America today, 21 years old. Not only has this gotten rid of the patchwork of different states with differing

Without a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher MLDA helps decrease the risk of teen suicides, accidents and overdose deaths. However, this widely debated topic has inevitably brought attention to the plethora of supporting and opposing viewpoints. The minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one

Fatal car crashes have been an issue since the introduction of the automobile. Thankfully, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an article published March 21, 2017, “The percentage of teens in high school who drink and drive by more than half since 1991” This is in part due to the MLDA Act that has restricted many new drivers from getting drunk and recklessly driving through towns. In that same article the CDC also claims, “Young drivers (ages16-20) are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a blood alcohol concentration of .08% than when they have not been drinking.” Any change to the Act to lower the drinking age will only more likelihood to a fatal crash within that age group. At the Roanoke College, a private and liberal arts institute in Maryland, students complied a paper assignment with statistics of fatal car crashes due to drunk driving below the minimum drinking age. “…for the 19- and 20-year-old age cohort, after implementation of the age law, there was a startlingly and statistically significant decline (to the 4% level) in the number of driver deaths in single-vehicle nighttime accidents...” While adults and older teens would claim they could still drive sober and drink below the age of 21, the statistics show otherwise. No one can, in good thinking, lower

The legal drinking age in the United States was ruled to be 21 in 1984, setting the country apart from almost all other western nations. These past 30 years have contained as much problems regarding the consumption of alcohol as one of the country’s biggest failures ever, the 18th amendment, otherwise known as prohibition. Also, the legal drinking age in the United States can be considered violation of states liberties, as the national government, albeit with good intentions, has intervened and only made matters worse. The problem of a too high drinking age has been pushed to the side and overlooked by politicians because it only affects 18 to 20 year olds. Based on the increase in teenage binge drinking, the history of altering legal consumption of alcohol, and its unenforceable nature, the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to 18.

The United States’ minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of twenty one is almost a perfect example of a policy with unrealistic expectations and serious unintended consequences. The current policy that the United States has in effect criminalizes youth who consume alcohol at less than twenty one years of age. Young adults are going to drink under twenty one, so why shouldn’t the United States lower the MLDA to eighteen? Following Prohibition in 1933, many states made their MLDA twenty one. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, many states lowered it to eighteen to match the drafting age (Alcohol Policy MD). President Reagan passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public

The brain does not fully develop until the age of 25 or 26. This makes drinking at 18 very dangerous to the frontal lobe which controls memories, behavior, The drinking age has always been a very controversial topic in America. Some people believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, while others think that it should remain the current age of 21. We believe that the drinking age should stay the current number in order to save more lives and protect many people from getting harmed in any way. Cognitive defects of the brain, assaults in bars and nightclubs, and drinking and driving are three points that prove the importance of why 21 is the best number for drinking

People are dying more when it is lowered. The lower the legal drinking age the higher the fatality rates increase. The article “Legal Drinking Age” states that, “Those who favor maintaining twenty-one as the minimum drinking age point out the dramatically reduced number of traffic accidents and automobile related deaths among teen drivers” (Garcia) . This means that supporters are saying a lower legal drinking age means more fatal wrecks and vehicle accidents. The article "The Effect of Legal Drinking Age on Fatal Injuries of Adolescents and Young Adults " states that, “ A low legal drinking age ( LDA ) increases fatal injuries among adolescents” (Jones 112). This means that people are getting behind the wheel under the influence and causing wrecks and deadly wrecks. The article "The Effect of Legal Drinking Age on Fatal Injuries of Adolescents and Young Adults " , “A higher legal drinking age was also associated with reduced death rates for motor vehicle

The generations of people who were born after 1984 have only known the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to be 21 years old. But, it was not so long ago when the minimum legal drinking age was 18. In 1984 Congress passed the MLDA Act as a result of the rise in drunk driving accidents involving teens and alcohol related deaths. This Act ultimately made the states raise their MLDA to 21 from 18 for fear of losing federal highway funds. There have been many debates about it and whether or not it should be lowered again. Many organizations, like Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), an organization that works to help youth say “no” to drinking and driving among other things, believe that “any attempt to lower the legal drinking age…

While people want to lower the drinking age, they are right not doing so because this could cause more car accidents. In an article titled Study: Lowering The Drinking Age Increases Car Crashes Among Youth by Join Together Staff, the author states “Several studies in the United States have shown significant reductions in alcohol-related traffic crashes since the Uniform Drinking