Factors In Favor of and Against Khimley Young Critical Thinking and Problem Solving/ Hum 200 AOS Instructor Dr. Steven Mathews October 24, 2012 Lowering the Legal Drinking Age to 18: Yea or Nay Argument in Favor of Lowering the Legal Drinking Age The age of 18 is a transitional point in life. An 18-year=old can vote, marry, enlist in the military and buy cigarettes. To some it’s absurd that an 18-year-old can vote politicians into office and fight wars for the country but cannot legally buy and consume alcohol. Strong (It tells you everything that an 18-year-old can do) Like it or not alcohol is part of the fabric of American Culture. People drink at parties, weddings work functions and any other events. And medical …show more content…
By allowing more people to legally drink alcohol, it seems logical that the number of alcohol- related deaths would only increase. Weak (It speaks about the number of death that are related to alcohol) Alcohol is a legalized drug that clouds judgment and reduces inhibition, making it a common factor in automobile accidents, violent crimes (including child abuse) and the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Strong (It speaks on how alcohol can affect you) With such serious potential consequences legal alcohol drinking should be restricted to people with some adult life experience that can use wisdom in their alcohol use. Allowing 18-year=olds (just out of high school) with no previous adult life experience to add alcohol to their new found freedom can only result in trouble. Weak (there is some mature 18-year-olds) In most states, the legal driving age is 16. By 21, the average driver has approximately five years of driving experience. Allowing 18-year-olds to drink alcohol put more potentially intoxicated drivers with less driving experience on our roads. That would surely lead to a higher number of alcohol-related accidents and deaths, which claim just as many innocent lives as drunk drivers. Strong (This will put more intoxicated young people on the roads) While medical research does show some health benefits from
There are several controversies in the world today, but one that really catches my attention is on the topic of whether or not the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 to 18. Many people have debated about this topic for several years, and there are several different opinions on this topic. Some people think it is dangerous to lower the drinking age; some people support it. Some children think it is stupid to lower the drinking age; some children support it. However, I strongly believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 for several reasons, such as 18 year olds are allowed to do several other adult activities, other countries have the legal age at 21, and people who are under the age of 18 are still going to drink alcohol whether it is illegal or not.
While the brain of an 18 year old still has not completely stopped developing, they have multiple other life-altering choices to make. When someone turns 18 they legally turn into an adult. One now has the ability to vote, enlist in the military, purchase tobacco products, and get married without the consent of a parental figure. These choices have potential to greatly impact the lives of the people making these decisions. Whether they select who they wish to run the country, start a life with someone, or put their life at risk these decisions require the thinking and decision-making process of an adult. If one has the ability to act on these choices, they should also have the opportunity to participate in purchasing and consuming alcoholic beverages, if they choose to do so.
First, I will discuss why 18 year olds should be entitled to the right to consume alcohol when they hit adulthood, rather than waiting until the age of 21. When you turn 18 years old you’re allowed to vote in elections, get married, smoke, get tried in a court of law as an adult, gamble, get life insurance, and fight in the armed forces
Once an adolescent reaches the age of 18, they have the ability to join or be drafted into the military, vote, buy tobacco, get married, serve on a jury, sign contracts and be prosecuted as adults. They have all of these rights, so why is it that the only thing an 18 year old can’t do is drink alcohol? Once you hit the age of 18, you are an adult, and should be treated as an adult, so therefore you should be trusted enough that you can make your own decisions on how much alcohol should be consumed (Drinking Age).
Alcohol abuse has become one of the principal causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States causing more than 200,000 deaths every year (Hendey, Dery, Barnes, Snowden, &
Teenagers are irresponsible. Young adults can not handle real life situations. New generations do not know how to use things in moderation. These are all stereotypes of America’s youth, yet they all seem to refer to teachable things. They are all things that need to be learned. Most of the time, the young are looked down on for messing up in life, yet the reality is that anyone can screw up, it just is more likely to happen to someone who has less experience as opposed to someone who has more. The more time a person is given to learn about something, and the more guidance they have, the more experienced and reliable they will become. This applies to many things, but one specific example is alcohol. Typically teens are seen as too irresponsible to have access to substances containing alcohol, but if they were to legally have it in their lives, it may educate them sooner as to how to use it properly and in moderation. In the United States of America, the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen years old.
When people turn to the age of eighteen, they are finally considered an adult. They can join the army, have the right to vote, buy cigarettes or tobacco products, get a tattoo and even die for our country, but they aren’t allowed to buy alcohol? A person can be responsible enough to live on his or her own, make money, pay bills, and yet they are not old enough to purchase or consume any type of alcohol. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years. Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As being a teenager, these things are going on not only in college, but also in high school. There are a lot of factors as to
Many negative effects come with drinking alcohol. Since teenagers’ brains are not fully developed until they are in their mid 20’s, it is especially dangerous to them. The legal alcohol age should not be eighteen because it harms the teenage brain and body, it has negative (and potentially fatal) effects on school, and it has negative effects on driving.
One should also be able to legally consume alcohol at the age of eighteen, because they are an adult according to the courts, and if they are held liable for their actions they should be able to consume alcohol. Alcohol can be used as a form of stress relief, but if one cannot control their intake then they may get into trouble. One could also say that alcohol is social mechanism for college or other type students. If the consumption of alcohol is abused, for either stress relief or social interaction, then one should be held liable for their actions. (Lovitt, pg
Why can’t eighteen year olds drink an alcohol beverage? Ever wonder if they can even handle drinking alcohol these days? Lowering the drinking age can cause a lot of problems to eighteen year olds who are excited for their first beer or whatever they are getting their hands on. The biggest question that should be asked is why should it be lowered? If they are trusted drinking alcohol at the age of 18 what can happen when they are extremely intoxicated at the young age of eighteen. Most high school seniors who are eighteen will be drinking and may go to their classes intoxicated and will or can cause a disturbance towards other students and may get arrested. People may think that eighteen year olds should be able to drinking because that’s the
It seems like a double standard, young adults can start smoking at the age of eighteen, but cannot drink till the age of twenty-one. If one is able to use a substance like tobacco, he or she should be able to drink alcohol. Therefore, the drinking age should be lowered. Not only can one start using tobacco product at eighteen, one registers for the draft, and he or she may enlist in the armed forces. An eighteen year old may not be looked at as responsible enough to drink alcohol, but without any hesitation he or she can volunteer to risk his or her life for this country (Hirby). Each duty listed above takes a considerable amount of maturity. Some people may think that eighteen year olds are not responsible enough to drink alcohol, but they clearly have to be. At the age of eighteen, one is given the responsibility of taking care of him or herself. Eighteen is officially and legally the age of adulthood; therefore, eighteen year olds should be given their right to drink alcohol.
The media portrays messages that are designed to make people think that drinking alcohol is okay/ fun and that everyone else does it. What they don’t tell you, is that alcohol is in fact a drug that has harmful effects on our body and brain.
Secondly, regardless of age, people still tend to make bad decisions that ultimately lead to their downfalls. As a result, whatever the legal drinking age is, people will still be ignorant and follow their own ways instead of what is truly beneficial to them. According to Statistics Canada, in 2015, more than 72,000 incidents of drunk driving were reported by police departments around Canada at a rate of 201 accidents per 100,000 population. From this information, it can be concluded that people will still be irresponsible and will abuse their privileges in
Alcohol is something that has been part of human nature for thousands of years. It has been used by means of medical, social, religious, and cultural settings (Information about Alcohol, n.d.). Alcohol is going to be a product that will be a part of our lives for many years to come, definitely past our lifetime. A problem that we see today is the use of drinking and driving. This is one of life’s more dangerous and stupid activities, but people still decide to do it. People like to push their abilities to the edge, which could end up causing death to themselves and others. When we watch the news, there always seems to be at least one crash that involved a drunk driver. You have to remember that one incident happened in our city,
Alcohol in large doses can be very detrimental to not only the user but to people around him/her. For example, if a man was to go to a club and drink a lot of alcohol, in which his body cannot withhold; his heavy intakes will lead to dizziness, vomiting, and impaired breathing and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and coma that can lead to death. According to Caron, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in the United States. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of drinking: 1,900 from motor vehicle accidents, 1,600 from homicides, 300 from suicides, and hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. This shows that anyone on the road near an intoxicated driver is in grave danger as they can be killed or badly injured in an instant as the drunk driver has slight control over anything they are doing. Many reckless kills have been made by drunken drivers/people over the years resulting in many families to pay the price of losing a family member for no relevant reason at all but making alcohol increase death rates that could be provoked by intruding prohibition.