Essay: Minimum Legal Drinking Age To 18

They further discuss that a policy that is forced by the government is guaranteed to fail, especially if it is already avoided and not supported by a majority of the people. All of these results uphold that the minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one does not support the benefits some people have claimed it has. Miron and Tetelbaum display their bias on this subject by stating that rather than producing benefits, the minimum legal drinking age supports irresponsible side effects such as binge drinking and disrespect for the

     Did you know that in the year 1980 the legal drinking age was only 18? In 1987 there was a law passed that said in order to drink legally and to buy alcohol a person had to be 21. At the age of 18 people are allowed to buy tobacco, vote, get married without parental consent, and even join the armed forces, so why can’t some one who is 18 by alcohol. This is a question I have; I believe that the legal drinking age should be 18. Dr. Ruth Engs, a professor of Applied Heath Sciences at Indiana University, agrees with me also. She states, “the legal drinking age should be lowered to about 18 or 19 and young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments.” (Engs) These controlled places include

When people turn eighteen they are finally considered an adult. They can join the army, vote, buy cigarettes or tobacco products, get a tattoo and even die for our country. Although everyone considers that person to be an adult, they are still not old enough to buy or consume alcohol. A person can be responsible enough to live on their own, make their own money, pay their own bills, and yet they are still not considered old enough to purchase or consume any type of alcohol. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would help prevent the crime and personal injuries that are caused by alcohol abuse.

"Adults under 21 are able to vote, sign contracts, serve on juries, and enlist in the military, but are told that they are not mature enough to have a beer?," said Ruth C. Engs, a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University (Engs). No matter what is done, teenagers and young adults all over America are going to drink if they want to. The question is, why can 't they start legally drinking when they enter adulthood? An alternative to simply lowering the minimum legal drinking age could be thought of, such as, having a learner 's permit for responsible drinking for people between the ages of 18-21. In other cultures where the minimum legal drinking age is lower, there is not as large of a problem with drinking. Lowering the minimum legal drinking age would stop criminalizing a large amount of people for the minor crime of underage drinking, which on your record makes it hard for young people to apply for jobs or apply to colleges.

This was a very controversial move by the government, as states had all had different drinking ages, and many people felt as if the government was over stepping their boundaries. (DrinkingMap.com) The National Minimum Drinking Age Act had loopholes that the states could utilize. For example, the NMDAA stipulates that people can not publicly possess and purchase alcohol unless they were 21, it did not say anything about drinking alcohol. So, 41 states have set their own allowances for when people can drink.

appropriations (Haevens). This is the main reason the legal drinking age has not been lower below 21 years of age.a large number of the general population desires a lower drinking age. In the 25 years since the legal drinking age was set at 21, seven states have tried to lower it. (Wechsier ).It is unfair for the federal government to withhold money from states if they exercise their rights to set the legal drinking age to what they think is right. Twenty-six states do allow underage drinking of wine at religious ceremonies ( "Drinking Age" 1). The legal age to drink alcohol should be lowered to 18 to allow for parental guidance, to help prevent binge drinking, and to help reduce the amount of drinking and driving.

Upon turning eighteen you are considered to be legal adult and receive all of the responsibilities that accompany the title. At the age of eighteen year olds you receive and are expected to use the rights and responsibilities to vote, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, join the military--which includes taking on the responsibilities of life and death--and be prosecuted as an adults in the court of law along with many other things. In 1984, the national government raised the drinking age from 18 to 21. Mothers Against Drunk Driving was a key contributing organization that influenced the change in the minimum drinking age. While there are arguments for both sides, it is said that if the national minimum legal drinking age is

As Tucker explains, the minimum legal drinking act does nothing to stop teens from drinking underage. It’s so easy these days for an underage person to get a fake ID to buy alcohol with or to ask another friend over 21 to buy them drinks. The large amount of people drinking age then causes another problem that people believe could be solved if the legal drinking age was lower, people having less respect for the law. People who drink underage know they are breaking a law, but they aren’t very worried about that, this may then lead into them breaking other laws as well as not having much respect for the law in

In 1984, the United States’ federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Under this act, the federal government gives highway funds to States that forbid people under the age of twenty-one years old from “purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages”(23 U.S.C. § 158). The incentive created a sense of a standardized minimum drinking age when legally there cannot be a federal minimum drinking age. Even though this Act has been in effect for decades, there are many debates on whether or not the age should be changed. The minimum legal drinking age should stay the same because it prevents a large number of drinking and driving accidents; it reduces overall alcohol consumption; and it has very horrible health effects on youth.

With the drinking age lowered to 18 years old, those at 15-17 (or even younger) may have friends who can purchase alcohol for them. That can create an even younger generation of drinkers who are most definitely not classified as old enough to consume alcohol by any means or by anybody. That will affect brain development, binge drinking, and create more DUI’s at an even higher level. Now instead of illegal alcohol activity being among the college setting, it is now heavier into the high school setting as well. When the legal drinking age is set at a certain age, people under that age of legality tend to drink less regardless. Since alcohol has been widely proven to not be entirely healthy for consumption and bad for brain development, it is best that the drinking age stays at 21 to reduce the amount of consumption in teens.

The minimum age limit has been a topic of debate for years even though the choice is simple. Did you know that most parents living in Kansas nowadays grew up in a time in Kansas when they could drink a little alcohol when they were only 18 years old? Many people believe that if we allow drinking at younger ages such as 18 or 19 it would get rid of the “forbidden fruit” effect on alcohol. This is a way of thinking for fools about the problem of legal age of alcohol consumption. The reasons why we shouldn’t change the drinking age to 18 are it damages brain development and it causes more social problems. This problem came about soon after the Prohibition on alcohol was repealed in 1933, it was left up to the state to decide what

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

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

First, it is necessary to question this law. Why is 21 the "magical" age that makes one intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol? Surely, some adults abuse alcohol and some teenagers would be perfectly able to drink responsibly. This seemingly arbitrary number is associated with adulthood, as if the day a person turns 21 they know everything and

The laws concerning the minimum drinking age in this country sometimes seem ridiculous and unnecessary. In this paper, I will discuss why certain laws are unfair and I will provide alternatives to certain problems concerning underage drinking and binge drinking.