Should The Legal Drinking Age?

For many years the debate of the age one can legally drink and purchase alcohol has continued. Those who believe the age should lower suggest 18 as the proper age. However a plethora of people argue an 18 year old does not withhold the maturity to drink. On the other hand many positive aspects of allowing 18 year olds to consume and purchase alcohol, both in health, safety, and maturity.

Today’s teenager are look down upon regarding their behavior and ability to control themselves around alcohol beverage. In the article "Perils of Prohibition," by Elizabeth Whelan argues that the legal age to drink is not set to the appropriate age because moderate drinking for teens will help them be disciplined and actually take control of their life. He hopes to persuade her readers to speak out in favor of reforming the drinking age in the United States. Whelan provided valid argument for teenagers under the age of 21 with disciplined attitude towards alcohol and provides some compelling insights on the success of moderate drinking.

Most people would concur that alcohol should not be given to teenagers. Despite the fact that we concede to this essential truth, underage drinking is still a noteworthy issue in our nation. Since adolescents need development and information with regards to liquor, they put themselves, as well as others in incredible danger when they decide to consume. Regardless of the risk, there are individuals out there who believe that the drinking age should be lowered.

An abundance of people start to drink during young adulthood. In the last 30 days roughly 39% of high schoolers drank some amount of alcohol (CDC). Alcohol has been around for tens of thousands of years and it’s always been an underlying issue. My question is, “Why should we lower the legal drinking age”? Current proposals to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18 would have some benefits like increasing revenue for bars and liquor stores. However the risks surpass the benefits. Many people think that if you’re 18 you’re portrayed as an adult, you’re old enough to serve your country, vote, and make your own decisions. In some cases this could be true, but lowering the drinking age would be way too risky for themselves and others. There was a telephone survey done in Princeton, NJ on July 12-15, 2007 that questioned 1,001 people 18 and older if the minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. The results were 77% of the people said that they would disagree with this proposal, and only 22% said that they would support it (Carroll). The minimum drinking age of 21 should not be lowered to 18, because 18 year olds tend to drink in a different way than more matured adults drink. They’re irresponsible when it comes to drinking because they drink to get drunk. As a result, there are more DUI arrests, the motor vehicle accident rate increases, and binge drinking raises health concerns.

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life than those who started at the legal age of 21 or later.

Should the United States follow other countries in their quest to end the debate on the drinking age? The United States can take a look at other States such as: Germany, the Netherlands and France, and see how successful they are. Many teenagers would jump on the bandwagon of lowering the drinking age just because they want to have the ability to drink, the argument of being able to die for the United States but can’t drink and it would take away the “Forbidden Fruit” of drinking. Much of the older generations would jump on the bandwagon of keeping the drinking age the same because they had to wait to drink, because drinking has adverse effects on the brain and drinking could lead to binge drinking.

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.

Presently, the drinking age is 21 for all of the United States with some exceptions. There are seven countries in the world that have the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) at age 21 such as Pakistan, Indonesia and, Sri Lanka which is higher compared to the Western world (Hanson, n.d.). On the other side of the spectrum, there are 20 countries that do not have a MLDA including Vietnam, Armenia, Norway, and Ghana (Hanson, n.d.). In the case North America, Mexico has the legal drinking age is 18 and in Canada, it ranges from 18 – 19 depending on which providence one is in (Carpenter and Dobkin, 2011). With that said, the overwhelming majority of countries around the world have a MLDA of 18 years of age, the worldwide

In the United States the legal drinking age is 21 years old, while quite drastically all over the world the drinking ages in many countries are 18. If these countries have lower drinking ages and statistically better education scores and crime rates it could be beneficial for the government to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, or it may be detrimental to the society.

Alcohol! Should the legal drinking age be lowered? The answer to the question is yes it should and here is why.The drinking age limit should be lowered because in the eyes of the law a person is seen as an adult at the age of eighteen, in other countries the lower drinking age works, and in college the drinking among students increased after the limit was raised to twenty one.

Alcohol is consumed by people for many different reason such as celebrations, peer pressure, anxiety, boredom, sadness, insomnia, and rebellion. These are just a few reason why people may consume alcohol. The category of people also includes teenagers. Many on-going debates have flagged this question whether drinking should be lowered to eighteen or not? Citizens have gave details regarding the affirmative and negative views of the minimum drinking age be lowered to eighteen. Do you think that it is wise to lower the minimum age? Would you look at the negative and positive impacts? Is it more important to give our citizens these full rights? Currently, in the United States the legal drinking age is twenty-one. But as we all know many teenages are involved in underage drinking. But the main question is why? Why do these teenagers drink illegally?

"This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn't reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, into the most risky and least manageable of settings,"(Debate) said John McCardell of “Choose Responsibility”. Choose Responsibility is a non-profit organization that is for lowering the drinking age to 18. Young adults can vote, fight and die for their country overseas, and purchase tobacco at age 18, but why cannot they have a beer? Drinking among the youth in the United States has escalated to dangerous levels such as binge drinking, reckless parties, and even death. The average age when kids take their first sip of alcohol is a staggering 14 years of age (Debate). The legal drinking age of

For many reasons, the drinking age has been set at twenty-one years old, but has the time come to lower the drinking age? Many argue that the drinking age needs to be lowered back to eighteen for many reasons; however, studies and statistics show that lowering the drinking age is harmful and even deadly. Some people believe that binge drinking can be solved by lowering the drinking age, but lowering the drinking age is not the solution to binge drinking. Many teenagers spend their weekends partying and getting drunk anyway, so lowering the drinking age will not stop young people from drinking. In fact, lowering the drinking age will increase the number of binge drinkers. Old and new studies both support keeping the

Should they lower the age of drinking to 18? They should not change the age of drinking. I think at 18 you're barely an adult. At 18 the person is just not mature enough to go out and drink. Why do they drink? People drink because of peer pressure, celebrations, anxiety, and sadness. Teens fall under the category of people, adults. They think if my parents drink that means I can drink. Teens have not yet reached an age where they can't handle alcohol responsibly, so they are more likely to harm themselves. Or they could make stupid decisions. Some colleges are banning drinking, because they are not responsible yet. Between 1970 and 1976, 30 states lowered their minimum legal drinking age to 21 from 18. All 50 states have set their minimum

The United States is one of only four nations whose drinking age is as high as 21. These three other nations are Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau. Our drinking age wasn’t always this way though. Before 1984, the minimum drinking age was set state-by-state and underwent numerous changes. Before the Prohibition Era that began in 1919, there wasn’t a minimum alcohol purchasing or possession age. During prohibition which was established by the 18th amendment, no one was allowed to consume, sell or make alcohol, but people were allowed to make their own personal alcohol up to a certain annual limit. “In early 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. It was ratified by the end of that year, bringing the