Should the Drinking Age Be Raised to 21?

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Many young people are facing the consequences of excessive drinking, at a too early age. Because of this issue, underage drinking is a leading public health problem. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking including about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings (1–5).

Alcohol has been severely damaging young individuals health both mentally and physically. Even though alcohol can be harmful at any age it is especially dangerous for teens as their brains are still developing and cannot cope with alcohol the same way as an adult can. When consumed

Is the media’s portrayal of adolescent drinking accurate? Yes, it is. To many individuals, Alcohol is only a drink, but it is a lot more than that, it's an addictive drug. 60% of young adults have tried alcohol earlier than the age of 14, and the numbers of under aged drinkers is rising. Adolescents begin drinking for a lot of reasons - given that they are bored, due to peer pressure, and quite simply because there is nothing else to do. The national Drug research Institute observed females aged 14 to 17 have been worse abusers of alcohol than 18 to 24-year old guys. In other records, it suggests that eighty percent of under 18-year-olds drink, 50 percentage binge drink. Also around 10 percent of 12 year olds drink.

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

Should the legal drinking age be lowered from 21? In all fifty states the legal drinking age is 21 years of age. Now there are exceptions to this law including drinking at home, under parental supervision and for medical reasons. Those who agree in lowering the legal drinking age believe that the set age at 21 has not stopped teens from drinking but encouraged underage drinking to less safe and controlled places. Those who are against lowering the legal drinking age believe that teens are not developed enough to drink responsibly which makes them more likely to harm or kill themselves or others.

The grouped vertical bar graph shows that, in 2013, less than 0.1% of teenagers aged 12–17 drank daily. This proportion increased with each age group to 14.6% for those aged 70 and over. The proportion of daily drinkers declined between 2004 and 2013 for all age groups. The grouped vertical bar graph shows that, in 2013, less than 0.1% of teenagers aged 12–17 drank daily. This proportion increased with each age group to 14.6% for those aged 70 and over. The proportion of daily drinkers declined between 2004 and 2013 for all age

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.

Consuming alcohol at 18 years of age can interfere with the development of the young adult’s brain and studies show “physical changes in the brain and evidence of impaired problem solving and other cognitive functioning”. This results in influencing the child’s ability to reach their full educational potential. An article from Oct 2015 ‘15 Shots of Vodka Killed Our Daughter’ by Andrea Todd explains the death of 17 year-old Shelby Allen and is just one example of the influence alcohol has on young adults. Shelby was at a party where she and her 18 year old friends had decided to take shots. Her friends state that they wanted to see how many shots it would take for them to pass out. Eventually 15 shots later, Shelby’s body was unable to comprehend the toxicity of the alcohol and had died. This article is just one of the many stories where young adults are clearly unaware of the dangers of alcohol and its alarming consequences. Through surveying different age groups of societies we were able to identify that young adults where greatly more unaware of the health problems associated with consuming alcohol rather than adults. This alone indicates that older adults of 21 years and over have better knowledge on the dangers of alcohol and its impacts. The need to increase the drinking age to 21 years of age is indicated through health studies,

When a person reaches the age of eighteen they are seen as a legal adult: “adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption”(Drinking Age). Legal adulthood comes with all different types of rights and responsibilities with drinking not included. Eighteen year olds are given the right to vote, to smoke, to have consensual sex, and to get married without parental consent. this give citizens the ability to make decisions for the future of the country, the ability to do something that could cause future health problems, the ability to do something that could result in a baby which is additional responsibility, and the ability to separate from a family to start a new one. The responsibilities of being a legal adult are having total responsibility for one's actions and being trusted to not break the law because of being able to be charged as an adult now. An eighteen year old is also possibly in charge of someone's life depending on the type of case they could serve as a jury member on if selected. An eighteen year old boy is required to sign up for a system that if selected he would have to possibly die fighting for the country(What You Can). If eighteen year olds are old enough to fight for their country and old enough to make decisions that affect the health of themselves and the life of another person then why are they not trusted to make their own decisions regarding alcohol?

In Australia and throughout other western countries, the misuse of alcohol by young people has been highlighted as a problem (Toumbourou et al 2003).

Several states like Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maine in the United States of America lowered their drinking ages to 18. As a direct result there was increase in alcohol related clashes. This clearly shows that the teenagers are not ready to be left to drink freely. This situation can be attributed to the fact that the

Annually, about 4,300 people under age 21 die from injuries involving underage drinking. Where I stand on this argument is that adolescent drinking is on the rise and is fast becoming one of Australia’s biggest problems. This problem is easy to see and it’s hard not to notice with the amount of TV coverage and social media trends. The amount of surveys showing that drinking more and drinking younger is what teenagers are doing.

After analysis from the teenager’s point of view, another factor is social and welfare organisations. Nutritionists and doctors are particularly worried because the trend seems to be that more and more teenagers catch onto drinking and that they choose stronger spirits, which poses particularly large problem both for themselves and the society. Since higher alcoholicity makes the teenagers get drunk sooner and most of the consumers are young women, it increases the possibility that teenagers get pregnant and violated after they loose their mind (Harvey, 2008.). Statics show that 8% increase of abortion in

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).

Alcohol consumption in the UK has a clear tradition of having moderate and heavy drinking as seen in Plant and Plant 's (2006) analysis of trends in alcohol consumption. It is also notable that most concerns about levels of alcohol consumption is directed particularly towards young people which most consider to be a link to crime and anti-social behaviour. As a result, there is no denying that a stigma has been attached to young people and alcohol. In the UK, general consumption is on a rise. Data from the British Beer and Pub Association (2006) indicate that the level of alcohol consumed has been rising over the last 50 years. There are noticeable differences in patterns of alcohol consumption in accordance with age. The highest level