Responses to Arguments against the Minimum Legal Drinking Age

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

Society proposes at the age of eighteen an individual is mature and responsible to make decisions without the consent of a parent or guardian. In the United States an eighteen-year-old is considered a legal adult. By law you are able to fight for your country, vote, and buy cigarettes. Some impose, giving a newly young adult the privilege to consume alcohol would enhance their responsibility as an adult. Mary Cary from

In the article Save Us from Youth, by Bradley R. Gitz, Gitz points out that many things in the Amethyst Initiative discussing the legal drinking age is inconsistent for an adult between the ages 18 and 21. At the age of 18 you are given many rights and is considered an adult, you are given the rights to buy cigarettes, the rights to vote, the rights to enlist in the army. an be tried as an adult in court. Buying or consuming alcohol is not one of the rights given. “Ultimately, the most important issue at stake with respect to the drinking age is not whether 18-year-olds are responsible enough to consume alcohol, or even the consequences of such consumption in legal vs. illegal circumstances, but whether those who are old enough to be sued in a court of law, carry a gun into combat on behalf of fellow citizens and participate in our democratic process by

Once a person reaches the age of 18, they are allowed to tattoo their bodies, smoke tobacco, gamble and even enlist if they wanted to! As an adult, they want to be treated as one but how can they feel like an adult if hanging around with their friends and drinking beer while watching TV is illegal? Of course, that does not stop them, though. The United States is one of the few countries in which still have such a high minimum drinking age. Although most people think young adults (18-year olds) are irresponsible, the minimum drinking age should be lowered to 18 because they deserve to be recognized as adults in order to avoid illegal, uncontrolled drinking and other illegal actions.

First, I will discuss why 18 year olds should be entitled to the right to consume alcohol when they hit adulthood, rather than waiting until the age of 21. When you turn 18 years old you’re allowed to vote in elections, get married, smoke, get tried in a court of law as an adult, gamble, get life insurance, and fight in the armed forces

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.

There has been a debate going on about the minimum legal drinking age, or “MLDA”. Some people believe it has no impact on our youth, and should thus be lowered to the standard age of adulthood, age 18. They refuse to acknowledge the true significance of this law, however, and continue to see it as a futile attempt to control the inevitable. Yet in reality, having an MLDA of 21 has many benefits, and stands for a healthier view of alcohol consumption, regardless of the way people perceive it. It is for this reason, that the minimum legal drinking age should not be lowered to age 18.

Adults of this country are reconized at the age of eighteen. On a child's eighteenth birthday, the adult may want to go enlist in the army, buy a carton of cigarettes, or even vote for the next president of the USA. But they cannot purchase alcohol. What is worse; fighting overseas with machine guns with blood everywhere, or a beer? If the United States of America's government says that a child at 18 is a legal adult and move out on his/her own and start a family or do anything listed above, but they cannot purchase or legally consume alcohol. The

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.

Thus showing that 18 year olds acted more responsible when given the privilege to drink at 18. The man or woman is accepted into the adulthood at 18. If people are still treated like minors and not allowed to drink, That's when they start acting irresponsible. If you treat a person like a kid, they tend to act like a kid. According to the the US Army, a man or woman is allowed to serve in the military and protect our country. I believe that is one of the most responsible things you can trust a person at the age of 18 with. So by not allowing the man or woman to drink at the age of 18 is just being hypocritical. Saying we are accepted into adulthood and allowing

In the United States, when a person becomes 18, they are no longer considered to be a minor. The people are legally

Every day in the United States, almost 30 people die in motor vehicle accidents that are caused by or involve alcohol consumption (Naimi, 71). However, despite the cultural perception that young people and alcohol should not be mixed, there are other institutional forces that perhaps have illuminated the point that people as young as 18 should be allowed to drink and consume alcohol, and that the legal drinking age should be raised. However, simply because the US recognizes people who are 18 years of age as legal adults, and because legal adults are allowed to marry, vote, buy and smoke cigarettes, and register for the armed forces, does not mean that they should also be allowed to consume alcohol as well—as there current evidence that would

These problems are solved in establishing secure family life, not in legislating of an unfair drinking age limitation of 21. Denying an 18-year old the privilege of “having a beer” while applauding that same 18-year old’s participation in potentially mortal combat in an Afghanistan cave as an active duty soldier is an irony worth study. This unfair issue deserves national attention. Because Congress cannot effectively pass a law that establishes a secure family life for all Americans, it can at least “right a wrong” by repealing the 21-year old restriction. Passage of a national 18-year old drinking age law brings about essential fairness, finally permitting full adult rights to those now considered adults in every other way possible.

If we look at Vietnam War, half of the soldiers that fought in that war were under the age of twenty-one, and a lot of them were 17 to 19 years old. Yet that person still cannot drink alcohol. Also, we can smoke when we are eighteen. Smoking kills just as many people if not more than drinking. Smoking causes cancer, and many more conditions compared to drinking that causes liver problems only after sever abuse of it. Smoking has many chemicals including carbon monoxide which is so poisonous that we have alarms in our house that detect it, but we can smoke and not drink. We can vote when we are eighteen. We vote for bills and bonds that change our lives. We can vote for the senators and the entire Congress that propose laws that govern our society. We vote for the President who is the commander of millions of troops whom he can send to their deaths in a

The problem of drinking, brings up multiple different arguments and perspectives. Scientists argue between facts showing that alcohol can be harmful but also can help. Most parents of young adults worry that alcohol will impair their young adults judgement and it will cause damage and/or death. Lastly most citizens under the age of 21 argue that if they are old enough to be considered an adult at the age of 18 and they are able to go off to war and die for the country, they should be able to drink. Each perspective has crucial points that should not be over looked but deciding which is the the correct answer seems impossible.