Essay on Lowering Drinking Age

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

What is the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793 on the United States foreign policy? The Neutrality Proclamation of 1793. Is a policy of the US in response to the war in Europe? The importance of developments in both America and Europe led to Neutrality Proclamation like the French Revolution. The French Revolution turned more violent with the beheading of the French King.

Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make a lot of sense in the world. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make more sense. It would be better for the teens that drink on college campus. The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because you can vote at eighteen, buy tobacco, it’ll reduce the thrill of breaking the law, evidence supports that early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse, and college people that are not 21 drink also.

Having the drinking age set at twenty one has many advantages. These advantages include less drunk driving accidents among sixteen to twenty year olds (Speak Up Coalition), a better protection of the developing brain (Alcohol Research Current Reviews), a decreased chance of developing alcohol dependency (Alcohol Research Current Reviews), and helping to ensure that high school students aren’t consuming while in sports or other activities. While this age has helped to end or minimize many crucial problems in the United Sates, there are many who wish to have this age lowered to eighteen or similar. Some disadvantages of having the drinking age at twenty one are that you can fight for our country but aren’t allowed to drink, you are able to vote in elections and are considered an adult but aren’t allowed to drink, and you are able to buy cigarettes at age eighteen but not alcohol. While keeping the drinking age at twenty one does present some disadvantages, its advantages far outweigh

A large portion of the youth in America have been lead to believe that having the drinking age lowered would save lives and reduce heavy drinking, but this reasoning does not hold up. I applaud the efforts of my opposition to try and create safer drinking environments, reduce binge drinking, and save lives, but lowering the drinking age to 18 is not an effective way to accomplish those goals.

It has been a rising issue within the past century to have the drinking age set at 21, but many people are more in favor of having the age set at 18. For instance, “’Raising the drinking age to 21 was passed with the very best of intentions, but it’s had the very worst of outcomes,’ stated by David J. Hanson, an alcohol policy expert” (Johnson). Many people believe that having the drinking age set at 21 was a smart idea, but it has caused many more deaths and injuries over the years. Most of these fatalities are cause from people who are underage and choose to consume alcohol. Again, “Libertarian groups and some conservative economic foundations, seeing the age limits as having been extorted by Washington, have long championed lowering the drinking age” (Johnson). These groups see that keeping the drinking age set at 21 is dangerous as it causes more problems to the Untied States. If the drinking age was lowered, or set at 18, there would not be such unforgiving outcomes, like deaths and lifelong injuries, which are usually caused from people who are under the age of 21 drinking alcohol. Although there are numerous groups that are fighting to keep the age

The national drinking age in the United States has been 21 years old since 1984. Most people support the law, but what are the real consequences if the minimum drinking age is lowered? In Henry Wechsler’s article called “Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths?”, shows both sides of the argument about whether the legal drinking age should be lowered.

One of the largest questions still up for debate is whether to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. We know that this issue is very mundane to you if you’re from the 70’s and 80’s. We can also recall learning about prohibition in the 1920s. Banning alcohol wasn’t the answer then and it isn’t the answer now. It is time America has lowered the drinking age. The push for this started by the founder of Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the increasing awareness of the harms associated with alcohol use among young adults. The United States is one of the only western nations left in which the drinking age is over 18. In most European cultures, drinking is perceived as a social activity. Therefore youths drink as

Underage drinking has been occurring since laws were set in place for age qualifications, but it is better serving American society by continuing it because we can’t accept lowering the national age? Ruth C. Engs, a professor for Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University, finds that the mandated drinking age should be lowered to 18 or 19. If young adults were legally allowed to drink in controlled environments, then responsible drinking methods could be taught, resulting in mature behavior when consuming alcohol (Engs, 1). By keeping the drinking age so high, students or young adults are forced to hide drinking and more often than not, turn to binge drinking, an unhealthy, addictive, and extremely dangerous form of drinking that often results in blackouts and alcohol poisoning. Engs states, “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” This is not the only issue that arises from underage drinking. Newsweek writer, Jeffrey A. Tucker, sees that this law is only causing “over-indulgence, anti-social behavior, disrespect for the law, secrecy and sneaking and a massive diversion of human energy.” To diminish these issues, people are turning towards the examples of other nations that have managed to maintain low drinking age laws, with low risk results. In other countries, alcohol is seen as a cultural norm and are taught at young age how to responsibly consume. However, it is treated the opposite in America, instead, it is seen as how Wil Fulton from the Huffington Post sees it, “forbidden fruit”. Fulton states through a claim made by the World Health Organization, that while Europeans tend to consume more alcohol, Americans still die from more alcohol-related causes. In efforts to change this law and hopefully encourage safe and responsible drinking, many are turning towards the Amethyst Initiative, a movement created by John

These statistics’ prove Engs theory that because Alcohol consumption is illegal for young adults tend to consume alcohol and abuse alcohol more often. If their theory was true the binge drinking rate for 21 to 25 years olds would not be 45.5% in 2010. Another statistic that proves Engs “forbidden fruit theory” wrong is the statistic noted by the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study, they found that a proportion of those 19- to 22-year-olds that binged drank two weeks prior to their surveyed in 1984 was 40.7% and their current study in 2006 found that only 38.1% binged drank 2 weeks prior to the recent survey, Which; proves that the 1984 act has decreased binge drinking by 2% in America. This drop in binge drinking rates may only be a small drop in binge drinking rates. Which, convey that Americans do have a high percentage of binge drinkers. This problem brings up another argument that supporters of lowering the drinking age bring up.

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 controversy on the proper drinking age is one that has been repeatedly discussed and researched over the years. Its common to hear the argument “If someone is old enough to take a bullet for their country, they should be allowed to drink alcohol.” But is that enough justification? Some would say no. “According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) it is estimated that in 2004 there were more than 1,700 student deaths, 599,000 injuries, and 696,000 assaults annually associated with excessive drinking” (Fennell 247). Given these numbers, would lowering the drinking age really be the best thing for America’s youth?

Many people can relate to the fact that some restrictions are for the greater good. Relatively, the drinking age is one restriction that should stand firm. Drinking alcohol, like tobacco, voting and choosing to enter the military is a privilege in the United States. One of biggest arguments of this generation that never seems to cease, is the argument over the drinking age laws of the United States. Some people argue that the drinking age should be lowered because if the right to marry, smoke, and enlist in the United States military are legal at eighteen, then the right to drink alcoholic beverages should also be legal at eighteen. In the United States of America, the minimum drinking age is twenty-one, meaning anyone under twenty-one who has consumed and/or is in possession of alcohol can be charged. Data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that underage drinking accounts for 4,358 deaths every year, not excluding homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, falls, and burns, and motor vehicle incidents (CDC). Alcohol can negatively affect young adults, more than often not. Alcohol has the ability to cloud judgement and impair individuals involuntarily. These involuntary actions can lead to life changing accidents that can ruin lives. For these reasons, the purpose behind the alcohol drinking age laws in the United States is totally logical and should remain unchanged.

The first reason for lowering the drinking age is that it would be better for the economy. More people would legally be able to drink in bars, restaurants, and other licensed establishments. Naturally, the people in charge of the establishment would be getting more money, and as revenue increases for the business owner, the government would

From the time I was little, all the way to where I stand now, I have seen first-hand how alcohol has affected my family members. From just a slight buzz that has created you to not be able remember all the fun of the family Christmas dinner, to the point where you have to live in a group home with similar alcoholics, away from your loving family is a fact imprinted in my brain forever. It is hard to see those family members so close to you go through something as rough as alcoholism, a disease that Mayo Clinic states as incurable. If the drinking age were moved down, we would only see these negative side effects begin earlier. Those who want the drinking age moved