The Great Beer Abandonment : America 's Young Drinkers

The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition is a very interesting book written by W.J. Rorabaugh which anlyze the high prevalence of alcohol consumption in United States during the early 19th century. When he explains how he started writing the book, he said that when he was looking for a long essay in a particular subject he came across a lot of temperance pamphlets from the 1820’s and 30’s. That is the starting point of writing the book for him. He has stated in the preface Ix that Americans drank more alcoholic beverages percapita than ever before or since between 1790 and 1830. He has mentioned

2. MMBC is ignoring the shift in the consumer segment for beer companies. 21-27 year olds are spending more on liquor and most have not yet developed brand preference.

Society’s attitude towards the drinking age has been a major controversy in the United States. The attitudes regarding the drinking age have been based off statistics and society’s varying opinion. Alcohol is a toxic depressant that has a damaging effect on the human body. As a result, to prevent excessive alcoholic consumption, the ratification of the 18th amendment took place from 1919 to 1939. This established the Prohibition Act, which banned the transportation, manufacturing and selling of an alcoholic beverage. However, illegal production of alcohol continued to take place in secret. Gradually prohibition laws became difficult to enforce. As a result, the Prohibition Act was repealed in 1933. In 1984, congress mandated a law which would raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 through the National Minimum Drinking Age. Reasoning for mandating an older drinking age, was to enhance public safety and promote good health. In 1988, all 50 states enforced the drinking age to 21. The concern for the consumption of alcohol have targeted teenagers and young adults

Consuming alcohol is considered a rite of passage for the average young individual. The minimum drinking age required to legally consume alcohol varies in each country, ranging from it always being legal to drinking being illegal at any age, but most countries have set the age at 18-19. In the United States, as of 1988, the MLDA is 21 throughout its entire territory, while the age of majority starts at 18. This paper analyzes the arguments to lower the minimum drinking age and unify it with the age of majority. The factors discussed are alcohol-related traffic accidents, encouragement of unsafe drinking habits, and inconsistency between the perception of adulthood and the MLDA.

In the United States of America, there is a minimum drinking age of 21. The legal drinking age legally specifies the youngest age in which a person is allowed to consume and purchase alcoholic beverages. From country to country, there are varying ages of legal drinking ages. There is much debate in the United States on whether the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen from twenty one, or should remain the same. People in favor of lowering the drinking age propose that since eighteen is characterized as being an adult (legally and socially), one of the rights that should come along with that is drinking alcohol. Also, that if we were to lower the drinking age, less young adults would be

“Every year in the U.S., roughly 5,000 people under the age of 21 die from an alcohol-related incident including car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning and other related injuries” ( “11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse”). That is 5,000 more teens or young adults that could be saved from this plague in this society (11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse). Underage drinking and alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States, and as a society need to make a change with how everyone sees this problem. Adults and young teens take this topic too lightly, and it should not be taken lightly because of how many deaths there have been from poor decision making. There are many programs or events that could help this problem by fundraising, however people think this is not a very important problem. Underage Drinking and Alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States because it causes major health issues that can be very costly, personal life problems that can lead to more problems later in life, and major risks that have no benefit, but can put someone else’s life in danger.

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving called on congress along with Senator Frank Lautenberg, House Public Works and Transportation Committee Chairman Kim Howard, Congressman Michael Barnes, then-Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, Illinois Secretary of State Jim Edgar and representatives of the health and safety community to erase the blood borders between the states with differing ages by setting the nation’s minimum legal drinking age to 21. Therefore, “In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, NMDAA” (“Minimum Drinking Age” 12-13). The creation of this act raised the drinking age to what it is in United States of America today, 21 years old. Not only has this gotten rid of the patchwork of different states with differing

Those who want to see the legal drinking age was reduced from twenty-one to eighteen often argue that the legal drinking age in Canada and many European countries are in the middle of adolescence, and argue further that this "lower drinking age has not resulted in the dismantling of the social structure "(Heath 28). As some scientists and social researchers have pointed out, however, drinking habits of young people has changed considerably in recent years as the influence of American advertising and the availability of U.S. products has spread (Heath 231). Although the argument that a lower legal drinking age may be based on data from other countries, we must remember that the culture of alcohol are different in many of these countries and should not serve as a valid basis for a discussion of American matters. Once again, science and research should lead to an argument for reducing or increasing the legal drinking age.

The drinking age in the United States has always been a topic of much debate. With the legal drinking age in the United States at 21 years old, it is the highest in the world. A major reason as to why the drinking age was changed in 1984 is because of the rise of drunken driving accidents. The older generation attributed the rise in the rate of alcohol related accidents to the younger generation being reckless when they drank. The government raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in hopes of lowering this rate, and hopefully saving lives.

Alcohol has been a large part of society for many years. Currently out of the 190 countries in the world, 61% of them have drinking ages of 18 or 19. While 12 other countries have their drinking ages set at 21. In those 12 countries is the United States, who after 1984 raised their national minimum drinking age when Congress passed the Minimum Drinking Age Act. The drinking age in recent years has became a topic of controversy with people arguing that it showed be lowered back to 18 or 19. Their reasoning for this is that when a citizen in the United States turns 18 they are allowed to vote, enlist for the draft, serve in the armed forces, and get married, and serve on a jury. They are now considered adults in the eyes of the government. However while being considered a legal adult, individuals cannot drink. The argument for lowering the drinking age is that if an individual is treated as an adult and can die for their country, individuals should be able to drink alcohol legally. While there is support for lowering the drinking age, there is also support for keeping the drinking age where it is currently set. The common argument for keeping the drinking age at twenty-one is that the brain is not fully developed and alcohol usage before a developed brain can cause side effects. There are studies supporting both sides’ arguments for lowering the drinking age and keeping the drinking age.

“Everyday in the United States more than 4,750 kids under age 16 have their first drink,” according to study done at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That’s a lot of teenagers trying alcohol but wait; I thought the legal drinking age was 21 years old? If there are around 5,000 kids under 16 trying alcohol each day than why do we have a legal drinking age in place if people already are breaking it? I think if the drinking age was younger, less under aged kids wouldn’t be so tempted to start experimenting with drinking in the first place knowing that they didn’t have to wait until they turned 21 years old. Minnesota should lower the drinking age to 18 years old in bars and resturants because it will result in less binge drinking,

You know, a huge topic of discussion we hear a lot about at my age is about the drinking age. Some say it should be lowered and others say it should either stay the same or increase. Now, there is a lot of underage drinking that occurs in this time period because of the fact that it is easier for underage teens to get alcohol. Some steal their parents, fake id’s are harder to recognize, and some stores don’t id people and they just sell it to them. Also many people say that being allowed to drink or buy alcohol is a symbol of adulthood, and that lowering the drinking age to eighteen years old would increase the rate of drunk drivers. But what those people fail to realize

It’s only the first week of school and you’re already walking into your a college party. The moment you step in, suddenly the sounds of ear-piercing music hits you. No one telling you what to do, no one telling you what you can not do, and no parents watching over you. Now there is alcohol, a deadly poison. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol can interfere with the brain’s communication pathway keeping one from thinking straight and moving properly. California laws allow anyone with the age of 21 and older to buy alcohol. Because young college students purchase alcohol without thinking, the age requirement should be pushed back to 25. Pushing the age limit back could not only help a student’s health,

a) The consumers’ tastes were changing. According to the case, the beer consumption had declined by 2.3% due to the competition from wine and spirits-based drinks. What’s more, an increase in federal tax as well as health concerns also caused the decline of the sales of beer.

Recently, there have been increasing trends of younger customers consuming alcoholic beverages. With improvements in economies, education and technology, younger