Society 's Attitude Towards The Drinking Age

The national minimum drinking age in The United States is stated to be anyone under the age of 21 years can not consume or purchase any alcoholic beverage; this law was passed on July 17,1984 by President Reagan. Nearly 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Many People would agree that alcohol should not be present to children under the age of 21 years. There has been many debates on whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age. “Between 1970 and 1976, 29 states lowered their age for drinking alcohol. The results were catastrophic. Highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed. Immediately, states began raising the minimum

It has been a rising issue within the past century to have the drinking age set at 21, but many people are more in favor of having the age set at 18. For instance, “’Raising the drinking age to 21 was passed with the very best of intentions, but it’s had the very worst of outcomes,’ stated by David J. Hanson, an alcohol policy expert” (Johnson). Many people believe that having the drinking age set at 21 was a smart idea, but it has caused many more deaths and injuries over the years. Most of these fatalities are cause from people who are underage and choose to consume alcohol. Again, “Libertarian groups and some conservative economic foundations, seeing the age limits as having been extorted by Washington, have long championed lowering the drinking age” (Johnson). These groups see that keeping the drinking age set at 21 is dangerous as it causes more problems to the Untied States. If the drinking age was lowered, or set at 18, there would not be such unforgiving outcomes, like deaths and lifelong injuries, which are usually caused from people who are under the age of 21 drinking alcohol. Although there are numerous groups that are fighting to keep the age

In 1984 Ronald Reagan proposed a new law that declared that the legal drinking age must raised up to 21 instead of the age of 18. The law was forced upon the states by threatening them by stating that the government will reduce their highway funding until the states passed the law. Of course all the states eventually change their legal drinking age to 21. Some critics believe that this law’s results have been very successful, however the law possesses many insecurities, but certain programs can be arranged to help educate teenagers on alcohol.

The repeal of prohibition by the twenty-first Amendment in December of 1933 allowed for each state to set its own alcohol consumption age. After the passage of the twenty-sixth Amendment, which lowered the national drinking age to eighteen, thirty states had lowered the minimum drinking age to eighteen, nineteen, or twenty (“Prohibition”). In 1984, the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act prompted states to raise the legal age for purchase of public possession of alcohol to twenty-one or risk losing millions in federal highway funds. By 1988, all fifty states had raised the minimum drinking age to twenty-one. The United States is one, of just a handful of countries to have a drinking age as high as twenty-one. Of the one hundred and ninety nations, one hundred and fifteen, or sixty-one percent, of the countries have a legal drinking age starting at eighteen or nineteen. In some countries such as the Central African Republic, the drinking age starts at ten ("Minimum Legal Drinking Age"). The United States should follow suit with most of the other countries and lower the drinking age to eighteen.

I. Introduction: Starting in 1970 21 states reduced the minimum drinking age to 18. Another 8 reduced it to 19 or 20. However, these states noticed increases in alcohol-related fatalities among teenagers and young adults. As a result, of the 29 states that had lowered their drinking age, 24 raised the age again between 1976 and 1984. By 1984, only three states allowed 18-year-olds to drink all types of alcoholic liquor. The enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 prompted states to raise their legal age for purchase or public possession of alcohol to 21 or risk losing millions in federal highway funds. The states who raised it were given highway funding by the

We live in a nation that prides itself on being free, however a few Americans feel they do not have as much opportunity as they merit, such as the flexibility to drink lawfully at a more youthful age. For a considerable length of time, as far back as the times of Prohibition, truth be told, numerous legislators, scholastics, and guardians alike have occupied with the drinking age dispute regarding whether the lawful drinking age of twenty-one ought to be brought down to eighteen. I believe the lawful drinking age ought to be brought down to eighteen years old in light of the fact that at eight years old adolescent as a grown-up according to the law.

Today alcohol, is a huge problem that affects the entire world. In particular, in America it seemed a good idea to increase the legal drinking age to 21 years old, to lower accidents that may be caused by alcohol consumers. The issue is to understand if this decision actually helped, or if the USA should reconsider to lower the drinking age to 18 years old again.

Although alcohol is not completely outlawed like many other drugs in the United States, it is still regulated. In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed, in which forced all states to raise their minimum drinking age to 21 years of age. In addition to this, many other federal, states, and local laws, regulate alcohol in the United States. This would include the regulation on the manufacturing of alcohol, the sale of alcohol, who gets to drink alcohol, and the response to alcohol related problems. It should be noted, Congress controls the importation and taxing of alcohol, but through the 21st Amendment individual States also have control over alcohol sales, importation, distribution, and possession

Disallowance was the United States' eighteenth Amendment, banning the drinking, production, or offer of inebriating mixers. Liquor use declined forcefully in the 1920's, yet numerous individuals disregarded the boycott and delivered liquor wrongfully in their homes. In 1933, it was contended that the eighteenth Amendment was took away occupations and energized wrongdoing, in this manner Prohibition was revoked. Since 1933, liquor utilization has expanded drastically. In the 1970's numerous states brought down the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. As youth liquor utilization rose, so did related plastered driving mischance, suicide, and savagery. Presently the lawful savoring age every one of the fifty states is twenty-one. A few individuals

It is often said (and true) that once you turn eighteen by law you are an adult, and to me part of being an adult is making your own decisions. Once you turn eighteen you get to do things like joining the military, getting married, serving on juries, smoking cigarettes, and much more. The reason that alcohol consumption isn’t amongst this list is because when alcohol related tragedies

In spite of the fact that in order to drink an alcoholic beverage, legally, one must be above the age of twenty-one, those under age still consume just as frequently as those above the age. Even those younger than eighteen manage to get their hands on alcohol. There should be a strengthened system for those selling and providing alcohol to anyone making the purchase. Along with that those who are no longer considered a minor in the United States Government’s eyes should have the right to obtain, purchase, and enjoy an alcoholic beverage. In all reality, until thirty-two years ago, those above eighteen could consume just as freely as desired. This was changed when the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed changing the legal age from eighteen to twenty-one.

As of right now within the United States of America, the minimum legal drinking age is set at twenty-one. Some feel that twenty-one is an appropriate age to start engaging in the consumption of alcohol because an individual should be more responsible at the age of twenty-one rather than at the age of eighteen. Some of the main concerns within the country when considering lowering the legal drinking age includes vehicular accidents involving inexperienced drivers who are under the influence and critical health factors such as alcohol poisoning, or even death, due to lack of knowledge about appropriate alcohol consumption. On the other hand, some feel that since becoming eighteen not only makes an individual a legal adult, but also provides the right to vote, purchase tobacco products, and enlist in the military, then alcohol consumption should be legal as well. Although alcohol is now an extremely common substance throughout every inch of the country, this has not always been the case considering it was legally prohibited from the United States at one point. Throughout the continuance of time alcohol has been introduced legally, and ever since then there has not only been a national debate concerning the legal drinking age, but also fluctuation of the minimum legal drinking age ranging as low as eighteen and as high as twenty-one.

In America a minor is determined as an adult when they reach the age of eighteen. At the age of eighteen, one has many decisions to make. One decision they can make is to choose whether or not to break the law about the legal drinking age. In many countries at the age of eighteen, one may legally drink alcohol unlike in America the legal age to drink alcohol is twenty-one. In “Keeping Legal Drinking Age At 21 Saves 900 Lives Yearly: Study,” Bahar Gholipour opposes lowering the drinking age.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (July 17, 1984) changed the legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one (Moss,Stephen). This controversial bill punished every state by reducing its annual federal highway apportionment by 10%, if a state allowed people below twenty-one years of age to purchase and publicly possess alcoholic beverages (Moss, Stephen). The state government would punish any minor that got caught buying or drinking alcohol. There is a controversy in our society, debating that at eighteen, the body is not fully matured; thus the body should not come in contact with alcohol. This idea is irrelevant, because once reaching adulthood, many eighteen year olds go directly into the military. They risk their lives every day,

The drinking age set at eighteen was not originally an issue. In the late ‘60s, the voting age was changed to eighteen; privacy laws were enacted; and the drinking age, depending on each states’ decision, was lowered to eighteen as the new age that legally defined adulthood (Seaman 1-2). Then in 1984, Congress was influenced by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to pass a law that combined compliance of the states with federal-aid highway funds in exchange for the members’ support; forcing the states to raise the drinking age to twenty-one. “There is no doubt that the law, which achieved full 50-state compliance in 1988, saved lives, but it had the unintended consequence of creating a covert culture around alcohol as the young