Essay on How Much is Too Much?

Every day twenty-seven people die as a result of drunk driving which equates to approximately 10,000 people a year. Driving under the influence is a crime when a person’s blood level of alcohol exceeds the legal limit of 0.08%. Standard penalties against first time offenders include: having their driver’s licenses revoked and paying a fine ranging from $500-$2,000. All drunk drivers should be imprisoned for eight or more months because they are likely to repeat the offense, they cause most automobile fatalities/injuries, and drivers can participate in rehabilitation programs while incarcerated.

Car crashes, sexual assaults, domestic abuse, and alcohol poisoning are just a few of the reasons why people under the age of 21 are devastated by the illegal use of alcohol. Alcohol is the first drug choice by the nation’s youth; which could often lead to consequences. The legal drinking age should stay at twenty-one because it betters brain development and lessens violent assaults.

The minimum legal drinking age was not always twenty-one; it has fluctuated between twenty-one and eighteen over the past few decades. In the article, “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” by Carla T.

The drinking age is kind of an experiment around the world. In many places around Europe, people who are below the age of twenty-one are allowed to drink by law. Many teenagers around the US find this law biased, because teens aren't given enough credit for how responsible they can be. In Northern Europe, people see alcohol as a culture issue. In many countries it is traditional to have a glass of wine or two during each meal. The drinking age in other countries vary but the normal legal age is between 16-18 years of age. A recent "study that compared DUI laws in the United States to those in comparable nations, such as the European Union States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Brazil, found that the United States had the highest proportion of traffic fatalities that were alcohol-related among the 12 countries reporting data." It was reported that the United States had "relatively lax enforcement" in comparison to other countries ("National Minimum Drinking Age-Choose Responsibility").

For many years, the debate about the legal drinking age has been prolonged. In the mid-1930s, under the 21st Amendment, the federal law to drink was age 21; however, states were given the option to set their own legal drinking age. During the 1970s, 30 states had a legal drinking age ranging from 18 to 20. Ten years in, the death toll rose from 10 to 40 percent in states that had lowered their drinking age (Barnhill, 2014). After many observations of traffic accidents involving drunk teenagers, the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving or (MADD) acted by educating the public of the dangers of drunk driving, and to speak for stronger drunk driving laws. This received so much publicity that President Reagan signed a bill into

Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities were 1,028 in 2008 for the state of California (Century Council). Of those deaths, 68% of the drivers were considered “Hardcore Drunk Drivers”; drivers who had a BAC level of 0.15+ (Century Council). Unfortunately, the drivers who got behind the wheel of those vehicles now have to deal with the fact that they slaughtered a person(s), because they made the choice to drive their car when they knew they had consumed alcohol.

It only takes one alcoholic beverage to lessen your ability to respond to things that happen abruptly while you are driving. Some effects of alcohol can include blurry or double vision, impaired thoughtfulness and slowed reactions. The amount of alcohol that one has consumed can be measured by the amount someone has in their blood. BAC is an acronym for blood alcohol concentration. Once you take a drink, there is no way to guess what your BAC is. In Canada, the maximum legal BAC fo is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (0.08). Driving with BAC over 0.08 is a criminal offence. The Zero BAC law means that certain drivers cannot have any presence of alcohol in their blood while they drive. These are all drivers age under 21 year of age, if caught your driver 's license will be suspended on the spot for 24 hours and if convicted, your driver 's license will be suspended again for at least 30 days and you will receive a $60-$500 fine.

First and foremost, the legal blood alcohol content while driving in the U.S. is currently at .08%. This is relatively high compared to many countries. A research article on Science Daily reports that “More than 100 countries around the world have limits set at BAC 0.05 percent or below”. Some may argue that this limit of .08% needs to be reduced, while some see it the other way around and they agree with this amount. In reality, blood alcohol content is very sensitive in the fact that just being a small margin above or below .08% can really make a difference regarding the level of impairment for the drinker. Studies at the University of California conclude that they “find no safe combination of drinking and driving -- no point at which it is harmless to consume alcohol and get behind the wheel of a car”. Their data from experimentation with intoxicated drivers also suggests and supports the idea of reducing the legal BAC in

In the United States, the minimum age required to legally consume alcohol is twenty-one years, being allowed in some states for young people under the minimum drinking age to consume alcohol under specific controlled circumstances. This particular age is controversial as it does not correspond to the age of majority of 18 years embraced by 47 states, which entitles the individual to vote, get married and join the army, among other decisions inherent to adulthood. It is thus seen as contradictory to consider a young person mature enough to take decisions of this nature, but not mature enough to drink alcohol.

The legal drinking age is the age at which a person can consume or purchase alcohol. These laws cover a wide range of issues and behaviors, addressing when and where alcohol can be consumed. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed by Congress 30 years ago. This law told states that they had to enforce the drinking age of 21 or lose up to ten percent of their federal highway funding. The idea that a person was fully an adult at age 21 relates to an English common law. 21 was the age where a person could vote and become a knight. If a person was 21, they could drink then, too. Franklin Roosevelt approved lowering the minimum age for the military draft from 21 to 18 during World War II. Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began pushing for the national drinking age to be set at 21. They thought it would keep alcohol out of the hands of 18-year-olds who they felt were less mature. As a result, President Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 to set the age at 21. Legislation concerning the legal minimum drinking age in the United States can be

The policy being addressed is Idaho Code§18-8004 which states that it is unlawful to drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol or any other intoxicating substances in the state of Idaho. In 1984, Idaho Code§18-8004 was adopted as a state policy in Idaho. Currently, the annual deaths and crashes due to driving under the influence are annually decreasing in the United States as well as in Idaho. The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending getting the legal BAC limit in all 50 states lowered to 0.05 percent, while Mothers Against Drunk Driving is recommending it stay at 0.08 percent. Bases on research, it is important that states and organization’s do as much as they can to get the legal BAC limit lowered to 0.05 nationwide.

At the beginning of the war, both the drinking age and the voting age was twenty-one. When the twenty-sixth amendment, passed in 1971, lowered the voting age to eighteen. Based on the reasoning that if an eighteen year old was old enough to fight in a war and vote, they were old enough to purchase alcohol, over thirty states lowered their drinking age too. In the next fifteen years, drunk driving arrests increased by 223 percent (Gale). By the mid-1970s, drunk driving was declared a public health crisis (Gale). Shortly after, activists and lobbyists against teenage drinking gained popularity.

The drinking age in the United States is a contradiction. At the age of eighteen, one can drive a car, vote in an election, get married, serve in the military and buy tobacco products. In the United States you are legally an adult at eighteen. An eighteen-year-old, however, cannot purchase alcoholic beverages. The minimum drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one in the United States.

Undoubtedly, the legal limit for drinking while driving desperately must be reconsidered. Driving after consuming any amount of alcohol is negligent and hazardous. The concern of drinking and driving is a state law; therefore, the rules and laws may vary among the states. Regardless, drinking while driving is an enormous concern in all 50 states and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming any amount of alcohol should not be tolerated under any circumstances. “The amount of alcohol in the bloodstream is called Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). It is measured in milligrams percent. In most states, drinkers are presumed to be legally impaired if they have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher. This is the same as one drop of alcohol in 1,200 drops of blood. While this may seem a small amount to worry about, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.30 can cause a person to go into a coma, while a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.40 could easily kill you” (Chaves County DWI Program). A surprising statistic to most people is, on average about three drinks will put an individual over the legal limit. One drink is considered 12oz beer, 3oz of wine, and 1oz of hard liquor (Arizona Department of Public Safety). Many people get behind the wheel, after having just a few drinks, believing that they have

Driving under the influence or DUI is the crime for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. To be charged with a DUI, you must have a blood alcohol concentration or BAC of 0.08% or more for drivers 21 years of age or older. If you are under the age of 21, a BAC of 0.02% can be cited for a DUI. States such as Arizona or North Carolina have a “zero tolerance” policy for underage drivers. In these states,