Lowering The Drinking Age On The United States

Although there are many pros to the drinking age being lowered there are also many cons too. A lot of people in the United States want to keep the drinking age the same.They say that if we lowered the drinking age more teens will want to drink and it could cause bad things to happen (“Odyssey”). In many other countries the legal age to drink is under eighteen and they have proved that there are more people who consume a big amount of alcohol and they think

Realistically, teenagers are going to drink no matter what. The minimum drinking age debate in America seems to primarily revolve around one issue: drunk driving. The increased minimum drinking age does not solve the problem of drunk driving in any real way, it just shifts drunk driving deaths into a slightly older age group. Additionally, because teenagers are afraid of getting caught drinking, many end up drinking large amounts of alcohol in short

Lowering the drinking age to under 21 can cause young adults to be medically irresponsible. For example, young adults under 21 years old

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

There always has been controversy as to should the united states lower the drinking age to 18. Eighteen year olds should have the right to drink. By lowering the drinking age to eighteen it will give people supervision, teach responsibilities, and eighteen years olds are already considered adults; however, it may cause binge drinking, it will lead to more deaths, and drinking damages brains cells and especially the body itself.

According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not

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 legal drinking age should be raised to the age of 21. Raising the age to 21 will avoid drinking and driving. Drinking and driving is one of the massive reasons why there are many car accidents and road deaths. In fact, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism “Over 5,000 people die due to drinking and driving every year” ("Underage Drinking"). However, when an individual is 21 years of age or older they are considered more mature and responsible since they have a handful of responsibilities like family duties so they can create smarter and improved decisions and have the ability to identify what’s wrong and right by not drinking and driving at the same time. This way the rate of car accidents and road deaths

Getting to 18 years of age is an important milestone for a US resident because it is the legal age for independence, allowing the individual to make his or her decisions regarding tobacco smoking, driving and even joining the armed forces while being treated as an adult by the justice system. While this statement is essentially accurate, it is untrue concerning the ability to purchase and drink alcohol. This is because the US law has set the threshold for alcohol purchase and consumption at 21 years of age (Mistral 1980). The question then remains; if an individual is considered an adult at 18 years of age, is it not right to allow them to purchase and consume alcohol at the same age? Answering this question has been a matter of polarizing debate, with those in support of and opposition to lowering the drinking age presenting valid arguments. The present paper discusses the same argument with a subjective bias towards supporting calls for the US legislators to lower the legal drinking age to 18 years.

Teens that do the underage drinking can have many health problems. Health problems that can be caused by underage drinking is Death, serious injuries, impaired judgment, increased risk for physical and sexual assault, brain development problems. All of these health problems are serious, and they aren’t thought about by teens before they have a drink. (Underage) Impaired judgments can be considered irresponsible drinking. Significant increase were also found for other variables: “cutting class after drinking” jumped from 9% to almost 12%; “missing class because of hangover” went from 26% to 28%; “getting lower grades because of drinking” rose from 5% to 7% and “been in a fight after drinking” increased from 12% to 17%; these are examples of irresponsible behavior. (Dr. Ruth)

The things that alcohol can do to family is horrendous. According to an article from US News, “ Lowering the drinking age of those who have easy access of alcohol would shift the responcibility for under age drinking to high school parents and educators” (US News). The major thing here is that lowering the drinking age would allow high school students to be drunk or hungover at school, causing bad learning environment for other students that are not into drinking. If you’re drunk while in school the chances of learning anything are slim to none. The article goes on to state that, “Adolescent drinkers not only worsen academically, but are at greater risk for social problems, such as depression and violence” (US News). The main emphasis that goes right along with this is the fact that you will not learn anything if all you do as a highschool student is drink and party. You most likely will not have the same education level as other people that take caution when it comes to their learning. If you drink while in high school there will be problems with the way you’re able to comprehend things later in life as well as in high school and even

Now a day’s teens that are under the age of twenty-one are out in trouble and drinking. They know that they are not old enough to drink and that is what makes them want to drink even more. Teens drink when they are not suppose to, but they know that when they drink, they must stay out of trouble. Lowering the alcohol drinking age will keep a bunch of teens out of trouble. If teens can stay safe while drinking then they should allow eighteen year olds to drink. Eighteen year olds are young adults and are responsible for what they do so they know that they need to be careful while drinking. Even though people do not agree because alcohol is dangerous and some teens can’t control themselves, I personally think they can so they should lower the alcohol drinking age to eighteen. It will help teens stay out of trouble, stay safe, and learn how to be careful while drinking.

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).

Children can still be growing all the way up to even eighteen years old. Because minor’s bodies are still growing and developing, consuming alcohol can interfere with the development of a child’s brain. Consuming alcohol can interfere with the development of a young person’s brain. The teen brain is not as developed as twenty-one year olds, which can lead to risks and damages before they are even allowed to drink. As a result, this early set of drinking may lead to addiction, memory loss, violence, and suicide risk is even greater and it would also be medically irresponsible to lower drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. Select Federal Agencies discovered, “The brains and bodies of teens are still developing, and alcohol use can cause learning problems.” Children ate the future and we want them to grow up healthy and not have any health issues later on in life. People want them to succeed in life, but if the drinking age is lowered it will result in future health issues and they will not be able to live life to the fullest.

People can go across the world to fight for this country, but are not aloud to drink alcohol legally. Does this make sense? “Living in Harmony with Vegetarians” by Alison Green, and “Getting Stupid” by Bernice Wuethrich are two essays with strong words to help prove that the drinking age should be lowered. The prohibition era lasted only a little time and was proven as an unsuccessful mechanism to control the social practices of Americans. Eighteen year olds have the power to choose their political leaders, buy firearms and ammunition and even fight for our country but yet they are denied one simple right: the ability to purchase alcohol. A main fear of this country is accidents caused by alcohol consumption. In order to increase responsibility and to prevent more road accidents as best as possible, the drinking age should be lowered to the age of eighteen.