Persuasive Essay: Should The Drinking Age Change?

The drinking age was moved from 18 to 21 for a reason. The higher drinking age of 21 has saved many lives, helped reduce the amount of underage drinking, and therefore should not be lowered. Many studies from a large variety of sources have proven higher drinking ages have a positive effect on society.

Once a person turns eighteen, he or she receives many rights and privileges. One major right that all of these teenagers are missing is the right to buy and consume alcohol. The question is posed is whether lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen would be a better or worse idea. Jeffery A. Miron, a senior lecturer at Harvard University’s economics department, and Elina Tetelbaum, a law student from Yale University, write in their argumentative article in Forbes Magazine, “The Dangers of the Drinking Age”, in which they believe that the minimum drinking age of twenty-one is not working. After conducting studies, they found that the minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one has little or no effect on traffic fatalities. Lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen would likely have the same effects as the minimum age of twenty-one; it is reasonable to assume that underage teenagers may feel less rebellious knowing that they can legally buy and consume alcohol at the age of eighteen.

With the thought of drinking at a legal age, typically you will think about responsible adults. There are many reasons why raising the legal drinking age to 25 years old could help support this change. All things can change for the better.

     Did you know that in the year 1980 the legal drinking age was only 18? In 1987 there was a law passed that said in order to drink legally and to buy alcohol a person had to be 21. At the age of 18 people are allowed to buy tobacco, vote, get married without parental consent, and even join the armed forces, so why can’t some one who is 18 by alcohol. This is a question I have; I believe that the legal drinking age should be 18. Dr. Ruth Engs, a professor of Applied Heath Sciences at Indiana University, agrees with me also. She states, “the legal drinking age should be lowered to about 18 or 19 and young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments.” (Engs) These controlled places include

During the 1970’s and 1980’s older teens were allowed to drink in the U.S. Many other countries around the world still have this lower drinking age, placed at 18. The legal drinking age was set at 21 with the passing of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. According to the PeerJ article the Drinking Age Act was not the only reason the law was set at 21. It was also set to protect young people from adverse drinking situations (Cheng and Anthony 1). Like many of the acts passed in our country, this act greatly upset some of the population, but it seems it has been a success thus far in our country. The U.S was skeptical of raising the drinking age since many other countries were keeping the lower drinking age but decided that it would be best for our youth and the future of this

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.

Underage drinking is a worldwide problem that has been going on for many years. It affects teens in several ways and limits their memory, learning, and athletic abilities. While still being short of age, the brain has not yet fully developed, which may be easier to be affected by the consumption of alcohol. Teens are putting themselves in danger by drinking at a young age and not understanding the consequences of being under the influence. I believe that the people who are most affected by this issue, besides the individuals, are the parents. Parents, however play a major role in this issue and there are a lot of ways they can contribute in making a change in their children’s problems. The practice of underage drinking for teens is a nationwide dilemma; however, parents have the power to control and limit this life threating issue.

Drinking age should remain at 21 or should it be lowered. I believe that the drinking age should stay at 21 because you are a full adult and you brain is fully developed. Personally, I don’t not dislike people that drink more than people that don’t drink or even the young ones that enjoy breaking the law. Yes, I’m sure it happens everywhere but I’m nit for that binge drinking or waking up with a massive headache maybe not even remembering the night.

Thesis: I think that lowering the drinking age would be a great idea. 18 is a responsible age, and the underage citizens would react to it differently. We wouldn't have to do it illegally and we wouldn't have that rush of sneaking it around. Out of 190 countries, 61% of those have their drinking age to 18. There are only 11 not including the united states, who has their drinking age at 21. Why not change? Our economy would grow and increase by purchasing alcohol. I think if you are able to fight for your country at the age of 18, you should definitely have the freedom of drinking alcohol.

Politicians have been working to pass a law to lower the Minnesota drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age. People are trying to push this law because the country-wide description of being an adult is 18 years of age. At 18 people can serve in the military, buy tobacco, and yet cannot buy alcohol. Reasons for this is that high schoolers and middle schoolers have easier access to drinks.

The legal drinking age in the United States is the only age that is above 19 years of age. Everywhere else in the world the age is 19 and under and some countries don’t even have a drinking age. The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it will help all the problems that come with underage drinking. There is a numerous amount of reasons to change the drinking age to 18 and there are also many opposing thoughts on it as well. Three reasons

The United States drinking age throughout all 50 states has been the same since 1984 when a law was put in place by the U.S. Congress punishing all states who did not abide by the legal age limit of 21. Since this law was put into place, it has become one of the most widely studied laws in history. While there are many arguments and new bills being created to reduce this age, especially among college universities, all have failed to become law. Over half of adults agree that lowering the drinking age would increase binge drinking among teens, and 72% believe that it would make alcohol more accessible

Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 will delay underage drinking, as well as terrible injuries or deaths that result from such conduct. Keeping the drinking age at 21 is driving to more cases of binge drinking in a short time because it has become a ritual among this age group. However by lowering the drinking age to 18, the binge drinking practice will decline, because it will demystify the drunken experience therefore viewed the moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages becomes a disciplined behavior.

eighteen to twenty-one. Today, many teens wish that the drinking age was lowered to eighteen.

The drinking age in the United States has always been a topic of much debate. With the legal drinking age in the United States at 21 years old, it is the highest in the world. A major reason as to why the drinking age was changed in 1984 is because of the rise of drunken driving accidents. The older generation attributed the rise in the rate of alcohol related accidents to the younger generation being reckless when they drank. The government raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in hopes of lowering this rate, and hopefully saving lives.