Legal Drinking Age

In conclusion by lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age, more positive outcomes exist than negative ones. A lower drinking age will allow for those of age to have a chance to learn a better sense of responsibility, decrease alcohol related incidents and provide several health benefits. As a legal adult those between the ages of 18 and 21 deserve the right to make the decision of whether they would like to participate in the consumption of alcohol or

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.

A lower drinking age law would save even more lives and also stop minors from drinking under the limit. Having it higher will result in more traffic injuries and fatalities among youth. A lower drinking age is effective in preventing alcohol-related deaths and injuries among youth. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heavy drinking age. According to John McCardell, founder of Choose Responsibility, the legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking. Although the legal purchase age is 21 years of age, a majority of college students under this age consume alcohol but in an irresponsible manner. This is because drinking by these youth is seen as an enticing "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority" and a symbol of "adulthood."Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits. “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” “Among drinkers only, 32% of underage compared to 24% of legal age are heavy drinkers.”

Stating that drinking at a younger age causes more health hazards proves that having the drinking age higher would be safer for oneself and the community as a whole. In addition, younger adults could easily become exposed to alcoholism. It is stated by the National Highway Institute in a study done on alcohol abuse among teens that “the overall risk for alcoholism decreases 14 percent with each year of age that drinking is postponed” (Boulard 52). The drinking age should not be lowered because the higher the drinking age, the less risk there is for alcoholism. Not only does drinking cause health related problems, but it also produces risks of injury or death. It has been proven that “youth alcohol use contributes to higher incidences of drunk driving, traffic accidents, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)…” (“Update: Alcohol Issues” 1-2). Not only is underage drinking illegal, but drinking and driving is as well. Therefore, maintaining the drinking age would prevent the number of accidents and deaths. However, some believe that drinking wine is good for the heart. This is only true for drinking in moderation. If one drinks more than a couple of glasses, this does not go into effect, and the number of bad health related consequences outnumbers the good. Studies have shown that “The lower death rate among moderate drinkers is due to the reduction in heart disease, specifically atherosclerosis or

If young adults under 21 are allowed to drink, then the revenues for businesses would intentionally increase. For businesses, it would be great for the law to lower the drinking age because it would increase their profits of young adults under 21 purchasing alcohol. Researchers found that if the drinking age lowers, industries are likely to make a huge amount of profit (Science Daily). According to Science Daily, more people to consume alcohol will likely increase the amount of money in the industries. In this context, the more the

According to Alexis Aguirre in The University Star, “Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits” (Aguirre). Sure enough, if the drinking age were lowered to 18 it would avoid the illegal, abused intake of alcohol by 18 year olds. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, “Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking” (U.S Department of Health and Human Services). A way of avoiding such tragedies is lowering the drinking age to 18, teaching younger

Sub point B: Drinking under the influence is perhaps the most detrimental subject when it comes to lowering the drinking age. Many are scared that these 18 year olds will take the streets and cause horrific accidents but According to www.chooseresponsiblity.org last accessed May 18th ,2014 "... twice as many 21-year-olds died in alcohol-related auto accidents as 18 year-olds.”

There are numerous problems involving alcohol in the world today, including alcoholism, drunk driving, and alcohol poisoning leading to death. Many of these problems involve minors and are linked to drinking underage. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one years old. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of danger: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and injuring the brain before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough for alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that reducing the drinking age to eighteen would influence our country in a positive

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.

Studies suggest that if the legal drinking age was lowered, then young adults would go about drinking safer due to it taking away the thrill of breaking the law. Binge drinking is often done at parties, but with the drinking age being lowered, parties would not be stopped. However, they would be more controlled. Lowering the drinking age would lead to young adults drinking in moderation (“Post Letter” 1). Main stated that before the drinking age was raised the drinking and driving rate among young adults skyrocketed (Main). Now with the increased awareness about drinking and driving that young adults are shown, studies have proven that the amount of people drinking and driving has decreased (“Why Colleges”

In other countries, the MLDA is low. Lowering the drinking age, would prevent other crimes from happening. Drinking age is not directly associated with the decrease in traffic fatalities. Body Lowering the drinking age, would decrease dangerous, unsupervised drinking

Reviewing these statists one may be able to analaze and see that even drivers between 21 to 24 were high at risk. What would make a person want to lower the drinking age to 18. Young adults at eighteen are new drivers and less expierenced then the 21 + drivers and logically would produce more fatal crashes.

In conclusion, the minimum drinking age should be lowered to the age of eighteen. The legal drinking age of twenty-one has not been effective and has not been fully enforced to stop underage drinking. With this in mind, lowering the drinking age will now allow underage drinkers to drink legally. At the age of eighteen the law claims to have many rights and privileges such as purchasing cigarettes, buying property, marriage, voting, and enlisting in the military but they are not able to consume and purchase alcohol. Young adults should be allowed to make their own decisions and the consumption of alcohol should be one of them. Not only will these young adults be able to drink legally, but also they will be more supervised. They are afraid of

Alcohol leads to other drugs and substance abuse, too. If the drinking age were to lower to eighteen, this would not change the actions of young partiers. “Alcohol should be forbidden to 18- to 20-year-olds precisely because they have a propensity to binge drink whether the stuff is illegal or not—especially males” (Main). Drinking alcohol usually leads to other illegal substances. “Youths who report drinking prior to the age of 15 are more likely to develop substance abuse problems, to engage in risky sexual behavior, and to experience other negative consequences in comparison to those who begin at a later time” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Report has shown that raising the drinking age reduced alcohol related teen traffic accident statistics and brought a 13 percent decrease in fatal traffic accidents for all ages. Additional studies have shown that denying alcohol to teenagers also causes a decrease in cigarette smoking and the use of other drugs. It's not a statistic popular with a lot of people, but nonetheless, it's been proven.Other laws have been passed