The Drinking Age Of The United States Should Be Lowered

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

A lower drinking age law would save even more lives and also stop minors from drinking under the limit. Having it higher will result in more traffic injuries and fatalities among youth. A lower drinking age is effective in preventing alcohol-related deaths and injuries among youth. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heavy drinking age. According to John McCardell, founder of Choose Responsibility, the legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking. Although the legal purchase age is 21 years of age, a majority of college students under this age consume alcohol but in an irresponsible manner. This is because drinking by these youth is seen as an enticing "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority" and a symbol of "adulthood."Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits. “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” “Among drinkers only, 32% of underage compared to 24% of legal age are heavy drinkers.”

In the United States, 18-year-olds are considered adults. They can vote, get married and get a license for a gun yet they are not allowed to drink. Many people think that the drinking age should be 18, but others strongly believe it should be 21 for doing all kinds of things. Drinking in the United States has become a controversy for the drinking age; 18 or 21. There are many reasons why the drinking age should stay the same and many of why it should be 18. Even though many Americans think that people under 21 do not have the capacity to handle drinking, in my opinion, drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because teenagers at the age of 18 can make important decisions, so drinking should be a decision they can too decide whether to

In recent discussions of the drinking age limit, people have always said that the drinking age limit should be lowered. Some may argue that alcohol is not bad and that it can actually be beneficially. Many people would want the drinking age limit to be lowered so that it is legal for young adults to drink. If the drinking age limit were to be lowered there would be a drastic difference in society. In my perspective I will argue that the drinking age limit should not be lowered.

According to Alexis Aguirre in The University Star, “Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits” (Aguirre). Sure enough, if the drinking age were lowered to 18 it would avoid the illegal, abused intake of alcohol by 18 year olds. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, “Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking” (U.S Department of Health and Human Services). A way of avoiding such tragedies is lowering the drinking age to 18, teaching younger

However, their argument is weak, and when taken into consideration, I still firmly believe that the drinking age should not be lowered. Underage drinking can prompt an extensive assortment of issues including health problems, addiction, sexual assault, drunk-driving accidents, and death. Granting all this, the legal drinking age has been lowered and raised again. Underage drinking should not be allowed in this country. The risks are far too great and the pros are way too few.

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.

According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not

In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act made all 50 states raise the legal drinking age to 21(Dejong). The debate is on whether the age should be lowered or not. Statistically, having the age at 21 has been very helpful in keeping the nation safe. If there is not an issue with age now, would it make sense to lower the age and create unnecessary problems? In this case, the negative effects outweigh the positive. Simply because there is no good in lowering the age. The legal drinking age has been set at 21 for 30 years, lowering the age would only harm the nation with intellectual, physical, and social issues. First, drinking not only can harm the body and brain, but it puts the lives of others in danger as well. The nation should not be in favor of younger people drinking and losing control. Also, it would make the United States look bad socially. Considering that so many underage college students already drink illegally, it would not make sense to open the doors of drinking to that many people. Overall, there is not enough evidence to prove that lowering the legal drinking age would be beneficial to the United States. Beneficial means resulting in good. Therefore, if the legal drinking age were to be lowered, then nation would meet with disaster.

Ever since the end of prohibition in 1933 the United States government has placed the issue of minimum legal drinking age sensitively in the hands of the states, letting each decide for itself what the minimum age should be. At that time all agreed that the minimum legal drinking age should be 21, where it remained for all states until 1970.Between 1970, and 1975 a number of states played around with the idea of lowering that age to 20, 19, and

Over the years the drinking age or the drinking laws have been questioned and changed many times. For a few years now more recently question being, should the drinking age be lowered to eighteen? Or why shouldn’t it? In the United States, binge drinking has been a big problem. Its one of the top causes for traffic tragedies as well as other health issues that come along with it, especially among college students. However since the drinking age has changed from being 18 to 21 there has not been a change and or a decrease in deaths due to drunk driving accidents, suicide, homicide or delinquency. The drinking age should be lowered to eighteen because in the United States, eighteen is the age of adulthood and your mature enough to make these kinds of decisions.

However, some would argue that raising the drinking age was not the solution, but instead, making the drinking age congruent across state lines was (Fulton). Maybe having the same drinking age in all fifty states was the solution to drunk driving, but preventing teenagers from binge drinking would not have been solved. Drinking makes people more prone to making dangerous, risk-taking behavior, so who is to say that young adults under the influence would not make the decision to get behind the wheel of a car (ProCon.org). Therefore, arguments saying that the drinking age should be eighteen for all fifty states in order to decrease drunk driving cannot be proven because people who have been drinking can still drink and drive.

The United States’ minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of twenty one is almost a perfect example of a policy with unrealistic expectations and serious unintended consequences. The current policy that the United States has in effect criminalizes youth who consume alcohol at less than twenty one years of age. Young adults are going to drink under twenty one, so why shouldn’t the United States lower the MLDA to eighteen? Following Prohibition in 1933, many states made their MLDA twenty one. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, many states lowered it to eighteen to match the drafting age (Alcohol Policy MD). President Reagan passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public

When you turn the age of 18 in the United States, you are considered an adult. Becoming an adult comes with its rights and responsibilities you can vote, smoke cigarettes, get married, serve on juries, sign contracts, join the military, and be prosecuted as an adult (“Drinking Age”). However, there is one thing you can not do, and that is legally drink alcohol. As an adult, you should be able to make your own decision about drinking alcohol. Granted, there are many people who are twenty-one and over who are very irresponsible. When they drink, they do irresponsible things such as getting behind the wheel of a car. However, it doesn 't matter if you are eighteen or sixty-seven you can still drink and be irresponsible. On the other hand, there are many young people who would drink responsibly and be safe. It is unfair that as young

Some people are requesting for the drinking age to be lowered to 18. The drinking age had always been 21 until the late 60s and early 70s. The reason for this is that the military enlisting and voting age had been lowered. Right away the effects of this were shown and they weren't positive. Since only 29 states had adapted to the new law many teens would drive across the border to get drunk then they would come back and crash. 16 of those states increased to drink age back to 21 and those who didn't eventually did because a law was made that the official age for drinking would be 21 and all the 50 states had to have it. If the drinking age is lowered to 18 then that could cause more car accidents, violent behavior and health problems.