Prohibition Of The 21st Century

The law that raised the drinking age happens to be very unstable. To begin with “a portion of the American public today is arguing that if a member of the U.S. military is old enough to die fighting for his or her country, then they ought to be mature enough to enjoy a beer” (“License”). An eighteen year old can die for their country, vote for politicians, and decide what they are doing with their future, but are not allowed to drink alcohol. It stands out that eighteen year olds can also obtain cigarettes that can lead to various types of cancer but cannot enjoy an alcoholic beverage. Continuing on, another reason that raising the drinking age is unjust is that binge drinking continues to occur, which is when one consumes 4 or 5 drinks in a row: “binge drinking is unchanged from its levels of 1979; that among non college women it has increased by 20 percent; and that among college women it has increased by 40 percent” (McCardell). If

As a result of Prohibition, the advancements of industrialization within the alcoholic beverage industry were essentially reversed. Large-scale alcohol producers were shut down, for the most part, and some individual citizens took it upon themselves to produce alcohol illegally, essentially reversing the efficiency of mass-producing and retailing alcoholic beverages. Closing the country's manufacturing plants and taverns also resulted in an economic downturn for the industry. While the Eighteenth Amendment did not have this effect on the industry due to its failure to define an "intoxicating" beverage, the Volstead Act's definition of 0.5% or more alcohol by volume shut down the brewers, who expected to continue to produce beer of moderate

Well, you are telling me that I can legally kill someone at the age of eighteen, while I sign up with the military and go to war but I can’t have a sip of alcohol. Due to this none senseless situation, age should be equaled. In other words, if voting and military sign up is eighteen, then drinking should also be eighteen. Besides at the age of eighteen you are legally an adult. Why can’t we drink then? Drinking age in Australia is eighteen, and in UK is as low as sixteen in restaurants. Studies have showed that those teens/adults are perfectly fine. In fact, Dr. Ruth Engs; professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington, uses this examples to propose the following: “……the drinking age be lowered to about 18 or 19 and permit those of legal age to consume in socially controlled environment such as restaurants and official school and university functions” (direct quote from Dr. Engs).

Thesis: Though the primary purpose of the Prohibition was to prevent harmful effects caused by alcohol and improve the condition of society, many unexpected adverse effects followed. Thus, when the nation legislates the law which regulates something addictive or harmful, it is necessary to be cautious and examine it carefully before executing it, for the situation can get worse and turn into catastrophe.

In the United States, 18-year-olds are considered adults. They can vote, get married and get a license for a gun yet they are not allowed to drink. Many people think that the drinking age should be 18, but others strongly believe it should be 21 for doing all kinds of things. Drinking in the United States has become a controversy for the drinking age; 18 or 21. There are many reasons why the drinking age should stay the same and many of why it should be 18. Even though many Americans think that people under 21 do not have the capacity to handle drinking, in my opinion, drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because teenagers at the age of 18 can make important decisions, so drinking should be a decision they can too decide whether to

Throughout the world, the age when a child becomes an adult is at the age 18. Most people gain the right to vote, start to work for themselves, drive in certain countries. All of this being said, an additional privilege is the ability for one to be able to legally drink. The United States is one of the only countries who´s legal drinking age is separate from the declared age of an official adult under the law. The idea of putting restrictions on a “legal” adult, makes the issue more complicated for that their are still restrictions that make an adult like a child. The legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to the age of 18 because it will not only give the full right of passage into adulthood, but it is important to keep on par with our international community in terms of underlying laws to each government and their respective cultures.

Lowering the drinking age to 18 in the United States has been a source of controversy in recent years. It has been a controversial topic because many people disagree, while many agree with the topic. For example, the people who disagree and are against lowering the drinking age to 18 believe we should not lower the drinking age because 18 year old individuals are not responsible enough to drink alcohol. While, the people who agree we should lower the drinking age, believe we should let 18 year old individuals drink responsibly because at age 18 you are considered responsible enough to smoke, join the army, be a legal guardian, buy a rifle, and vote. In my opinion, I believe the legal drinking

Some people find it hard to understand that at the age of eighteen you can fight and die for your country, but you cannot legally drink or purchase alcoholic beverages. Others find it hard to believe that there are people who want people under the age of twenty-one drinking. The important question is: should the drinking age be lowered to eighteen instead of remaining at twenty-one?

With that being said, it is regularly contended by teenagers that the drinking age is excessively high. They accept that in the event that they are qualified to vote, they may be sent to war and possibly die for our country at the age of eighteen; then they should be able to consume alcohol. Then again, the United States government saw issues with youth drinking and they chose to raise the drinking age. As extra motivation to enforce the age significance, the government proposed to stop all government subsiding of roadways to the states whose drinking was short of what twenty-one.

The third viewpoint on this subject has to do liberty and focus more on freedom than public safety. This argument states that a adult should be allow to drink at the age of 18, because that is the age where in America one becomes an adult. That is the belief Of H.G. Reynolds who is a law professor from the University of Tennessee. He states his argument in the article “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Drink” which was publish in the Wall Street Journal in Apr. 2011.This article was written in response to Alaska state senator fail to change the drinking age to 18 in his state. Senator Bob Lynn who was a Vietnam Veteran believes that if a person can choose to join the military he is responsible enough to drink alcohol. This law has been

It seems like a double standard, young adults can start smoking at the age of eighteen, but cannot drink till the age of twenty-one. If one is able to use a substance like tobacco, he or she should be able to drink alcohol. Therefore, the drinking age should be lowered. Not only can one start using tobacco product at eighteen, one registers for the draft, and he or she may enlist in the armed forces. An eighteen year old may not be looked at as responsible enough to drink alcohol, but without any hesitation he or she can volunteer to risk his or her life for this country (Hirby). Each duty listed above takes a considerable amount of maturity. Some people may think that eighteen year olds are not responsible enough to drink alcohol, but they clearly have to be. At the age of eighteen, one is given the responsibility of taking care of him or herself. Eighteen is officially and legally the age of adulthood; therefore, eighteen year olds should be given their right to drink alcohol.

Prohibition in the United States was a built up reaction to alcohol and illicit drugs from the Temperance and other religious organizations beginning in the 1840s and intensifying during the Reconstruction Period. By using increasing pressure on legislators, lobbying through Churches and, of course, embarrassing public officials into a stance, these organizations forced the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in January 1919. This law prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States" (Prohibition Wins in Senate). Congress also passed the Volstead Act in October 1919, a way to enforce the law. Ironically, this became a public debate and conundrum because most large cities had neither the interest nor the manpower to enforce the law. In some areas, alcohol consumption did decline, but in urban areas there was a backlash of increased organized crime, and rather than government receiving taxes from legitimate businesses, it was crime monopolies that profited from this cash "crop." (Blocker).

In December of 1917, Congress tested the 18th Amendment by sending it to all of the states. A year after the ratification, in January 1919, the sale, making and transportation of alcohol was banned. In 1919 the Volstead Act made all drinks containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol illegal once the 18th amendment went into use in 1920. Prohibition in America between 1920 and 1933 was made a law to reduce crime and corruption, solve social issues, and improve the health of Americans.

America’s love affair with wine began to blossom, but the rumblings of the prohibition are heard in 1846, with Maine being the first state to go completely dry. A little over thirty years later, US wines hit the world stage, with Gustav Niebaum Bordeaux-style wines, which were produced in the U.S., garnering international acclaim. As quickly as the US entered the world stage, it exited, as the prohibition began in 1920, and for the next thirteen years America was once again be thrown into obscurity. Thirty-five years later Robert Mondavi broke away from the Charles Krug estate to found his own winery and usher in the modern era of American winemaking. Later, in 1976 the famous Judgment of Paris turns the world's attention to California when

Should consuming alcohol under the age of 21 be legalized in the United States? It is one of the many questions in contemporary America that raises a great deal of opposition on both sides of the issue. Whenever this issue comes up in a classroom or group setting I hear the same statement almost every single time. “If a kid can enlist in the military and fight for his country at 18, then he sure as hell should be able to have a beer at 18”. I actually did feel this way at one point in my life not too long ago. However, like many other views of mine, the more responsible and educated I become, the more I tend to disagree with an original stance I have taken. While I understand the argument, I simply do not agree with it. Having served in the military myself, I do not think it would be the greatest idea to allow junior enlisted teenagers to openly drink. Are they still going to drink? Of course they are. However, concealing alcoholic consumption when you are underage is much different than openly drinking whenever you choose when you are underage. As a society we simply need to be more responsible when we weigh our options in regards to issues like underage drinking, an issue that will have an impact on society as a whole. I will not take a look at other countries and their policy on underage drinking in this paper because that is an entirely different issue in itself. The intention of this paper is to solidify why I think you must be 21 years of age to drink in the United