Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Legal Drinking Age To 18

There are several controversies in the world today, but one that really catches my attention is on the topic of whether or not the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 to 18. Many people have debated about this topic for several years, and there are several different opinions on this topic. Some people think it is dangerous to lower the drinking age; some people support it. Some children think it is stupid to lower the drinking age; some children support it. However, I strongly believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 for several reasons, such as 18 year olds are allowed to do several other adult activities, other countries have the legal age at 21, and people who are under the age of 18 are still going to drink alcohol whether it is illegal or not.

There has been a debate on lowering the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. There are many reasons why this policy should not be passed. At the age of eighteen in the United States one is considered as an adult to make there own decisions, vote, and are allowed to buy Tabaco. Drinking is not one of them. Studies have shown that there are scientific reasons this should not happen. First drinking can be very harmful to the body, causing severe symptoms. Second the drinking and driving rate would increase. Finally, eighteen year olds are not as mature as twenty-one year olds. They are not as fully developed as twenty-one year olds. All of these are factors that contribute to why the drinking age should not be lowered.

Today, people are aware that the law does not stop underage drinking, as illustrated by the thousands of deaths resulting from excessive alcohol consumption by people below the age of 21. A group called the Amethyst Initiative is now pushing for the lowering of the drinking age to 18. Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18, or would this have the same catastrophic results as in the 1970s?

Drinking is a serious problem in America. The current legal age is 21. But some people seem to disagree. Should the legal drinking age be lowered to 18? It’s a question that has been thrown around for years. I believe that the legal drinking age should stay at 21. There are so many more benefits and responsibilities you have at age 21. You don’t fully mature until you’re at least 20 years old. The amount of underage drinking fatalities that happen every year is ridiculous. If the law was to change to age 18 things would progressively become worse.

Ten thousand four hundred ninety-seven. This is the number of people who died in 2016 from drunk-driving related accidents (“Motor Vehicle Safety”). People have brought up the debate about lowering the drinking age once again. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 originally raised it from eighteen to twenty-one years old. The government convinced everyone to raise each of theirs by threatening to lower their state’s federal transportation funds. Some states have exceptions to this law in appropriate situations ("Background Of The Issue - Minimum Legal Drinking Age - Procon.Org."). Lawmakers should not approve of lowering the minimum legal drinking age because it would otherwise result in more deaths, higher risk for younger kids,

There has been continuous controversy and debate over the topic of lowering the already set legal drinking age from its current standing of twenty one to eighteen. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen would significantly decrease the amount of deaths of minors due to alcohol poisoning as a result of binge drinking.

The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in all 50 states is set at 21, but the question is if it should remain the same or should it be lowered. As said on the background information on ProCon.org many people who are for lowing the MLDA says setting it to 21 “pushes underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments which leads to more life thearenting behaviors. People who oppose lowering the MLDA says that teens are not responsible enough to handle alcohol and can bring harm to themselves. In the beginning states we allowed to set there own alcohol consumption laws but in 1976 the US Supreme Court said the difference of age violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Should the age drinking be lowered in the US to 18 years old? For the past 25 years there has been a lot of talk about changing the drinking age limit. Some States back in the 1970’s try this approach and weren’t successful. Evidence show that between 1970 and 1975, the states that lowered their minimum legal drinking age to 18 suffered significant teenage traffic fatalities. Young teens have not reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly and are more likely to harm themselves or someone else by drinking before they turn 21. This led to a movement to reestablish the minimum legal age drinking back 21. 16 states increase their drinking age to 21 between 1976 and 1983. In 1984 The Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act signed by President Ronald Reagan put a stop to all this changes. He threatened to hold back all highway construction funds from all the states that did not increase their drinking age. By 1988 all stated had a minimum legal drinking age of 21. Does the minimum legal drinking age help

This can easily be considered one of the most controversial and heated topics of the century, underage drinking happens every day in the United States and for some this might seem unacceptable but for most this is all because an unfair law put up by the government. The legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because, among other things; 18 is the age of adulthood in America and adults should have the right to make their own decisions, also traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers regardless of their drinking age; and, this law has not stopped anyone, teens continue to drink and consume alcohol regardless of the age restriction. There are many pros to modifying this law, definitely more pros than cons, and many argue that it is time for a change.

To first understand why the drinking age should be lowered you must first understand some history of how it got to what it was. First I will start out in 1920 when the 18th amendment was past declaring all sales of alcohol illegal. It wasn’t until 1933 that the 21st amendment was passed to abolish this law making alcohol legal again. At this point each state was to determine an (MLDA)

Eighteen should be the legal age of adults in United States for using alcohol. There are three reasons to support this contention. First of all, the development of people’s brain will not be completed until people become 25 years old. Therefore, although drinking alcohol may cause some affects the brain, there is no evidence of huge brain destruction, alcohol dependency, or alcohol misuse, which the experts tell us will be the undeniable result of the lowering the age in the United States. Moreover, the prohibition should not be imposed on young people because using alcohol is belong to a person’s consciousness, nor it is belong to an behavior. Second, there are fewer traffic accidents by drunk drivers in many nations with Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 18 (MLDA) than in The United States. In fact, many traffic accidents from driving do not come from drinking, they come from other reasons, which are speeding, distracted driving, and traffic occurrences. In addition, some States denied the lowering minimum drinking age because they will not have ten percents traffic funding from the government, so this purpose is not unfair for people who turn in to eighteen. As shown above, lowering minimum drinking age should be considered explicitly. Last, law of government allows people to go to the army at eighteen because they can sacrifice for their country. In fact, that young people are risking their life with other agents more dangerous than alcohol agents. People who are attending

The minimum drinking age should be raised because younger people tend to make more irresponsible decisions, many DUI's that occur involve people in their twenties, and drinking and driving causes more traffic accidents than anything else.

One of the biggest factors to prove this point is that lowering the legal age of drinking would diminish the thrill of breaking the law. Kids underage drink alcohol to prove a point that they are more mature then their age shows (telegraph.co). Understanding this point is something the Government needs to do. Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 will help not have as many kids underage drink. According to pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/ 78.4% of 18-20 year olds have drank alcohol in the last year, while 80.3% of 21-24 year olds have drank in the last year. People need to understand that whether the law says it's okay or it doesn’t, that people under 21 will still drink alcohol. Kids 21 and younger will not want to as much drink alcohol if the law is changed to make it legal for them because it not be defying the government or your parents.

In the United States once you turn 18 you are considered an adult, so why is it that we cannot drink until we are 21. Once you turn 18 you can vote, die for your country and do almost whatever you want to your body without your parents’ consent and drinking should be a part of that category as well. As we all know keeping the drinking age at 21 does not stop the consuming of alcohol with teens. It only makes teens drink behind closed doors or hind it from their parents or the police making for unsafe environments. It also encourages teen binge drinking because when they get an alcohol they consume it right away making them drink more to get rid of the alcohol so parents or cops don’t catch them with illegal beverage.

This statement raises concerns for many people. “The NHTSA estimates that raising the national legal drinking age from 18 to 21 has saved more than 500 lives each year.” (Griggs) MADD National President Jan Withers stated that, “When the law was raised to 21, alcohol-related deaths for young people decreased; when the drinking age was lowered, deaths increased." (CNN) Those are just a few of the cons about lowering the drinking age.