The Importance Of The Legal Drinking Age

In conclusion by lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age, more positive outcomes exist than negative ones. A lower drinking age will allow for those of age to have a chance to learn a better sense of responsibility, decrease alcohol related incidents and provide several health benefits. As a legal adult those between the ages of 18 and 21 deserve the right to make the decision of whether they would like to participate in the consumption of alcohol or

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.”

Stating that drinking at a younger age causes more health hazards proves that having the drinking age higher would be safer for oneself and the community as a whole. In addition, younger adults could easily become exposed to alcoholism. It is stated by the National Highway Institute in a study done on alcohol abuse among teens that “the overall risk for alcoholism decreases 14 percent with each year of age that drinking is postponed” (Boulard 52). The drinking age should not be lowered because the higher the drinking age, the less risk there is for alcoholism. Not only does drinking cause health related problems, but it also produces risks of injury or death. It has been proven that “youth alcohol use contributes to higher incidences of drunk driving, traffic accidents, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)…” (“Update: Alcohol Issues” 1-2). Not only is underage drinking illegal, but drinking and driving is as well. Therefore, maintaining the drinking age would prevent the number of accidents and deaths. However, some believe that drinking wine is good for the heart. This is only true for drinking in moderation. If one drinks more than a couple of glasses, this does not go into effect, and the number of bad health related consequences outnumbers the good. Studies have shown that “The lower death rate among moderate drinkers is due to the reduction in heart disease, specifically atherosclerosis or

According to Drew K. Saylor, he writes that studies from a meta-analytic review showed that "Raising the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is associated with a 16% median decrease in alcohol-related crash outcomes while lowering the MLDA result in a 10% median increase in such crash outcomes" (332). The essence of this argument is that having the law of the drinking age to be 21 has a positive effect in the country because there is a decrease in car crashes. This is why the author Drew K. Saylor also agrees when he writes "A solution to this problem is not a simple as lowering the drinking age and asking young people to choose responsibility" (332). Saylor's point is to make the people understand that lowering the drinking age won't fix much because accidents will still happen, but with more frequency. Since in the past, the argument was deciding whether to raise or no to raise the drinking age to be 21 because of the danger youths had to live through if something happened to them. Drew K. Saylor argues that the drinking age has led to create a change in the people who are 18-20 years old because college students now a days tend to consume more alcohol than any others. When this happens among college students, it’s called binge drinking. According to Drew K. Saylor, a professor from the University of Virginia with a BA degree, he states that “Binge drinking is the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time”

If young adults under 21 are allowed to drink, then the revenues for businesses would intentionally increase. For businesses, it would be great for the law to lower the drinking age because it would increase their profits of young adults under 21 purchasing alcohol. Researchers found that if the drinking age lowers, industries are likely to make a huge amount of profit (Science Daily). According to Science Daily, more people to consume alcohol will likely increase the amount of money in the industries. In this context, the more the

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

The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, while in other countries the legal age ranges from 16-18. The argument in the United States is “Should the United States lower its drinking age?” There are many sides to this argument but research has given many good points to back up both sides of the question. First thing is the difference between a teen’s brain with alcohol and an adult’s brain with alcohol. Another thing is drinking at a younger age can help teach culture. Lastly the more alcohol exposed the increase in death rate. I believe that it is a good idea to keep the legal drinking age at age 21 because in our past we have had many problems with death increases due to the drinking age being at different ages and the research used uses pathos, logos, ethos and Kairos to help persuade the reader support that 21 should stay the legal drinking age.

I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18. I took this stance in my health class debate last year and it was a success. There are many reasons why the drinking age should be lowered that I will discuss in this paper. These reasons are very convincing and should be considered by the government. I will also look into what action is being taken on decreasing the yearly amount of DUI’s.

What do you think the legal drinking age should be? For years the question, “What should be the legal drinking age,” has been in the air. Many people have been arguing whether or not the legal age to drink should be raised, stay the same, or lowered. Save Us from Youth talks about how there is not a consistency of laws for an eighteen-year-old. As a young adult you are given many rights to be certified as an adult, yet are held back as youth because drinking is prohibited. Different appeals to logic and red herring are used in Save Us from Youth, to give the authors view on consistency of laws and being an adult.

This paper explores the debate over whether the drinking age should be lowered or raised in the United States. Multiple different sources are provided, each offering a different opinion. The article discusses the ethical, pathological, and emotional effects if the drinking age were to be lowered or raised. If the drinking age were to change, how would society react to this change and what would be the long term effects. Drinking has always caused negative effects, yet how would changing the age effect personal struggles. The sources describe different perspectives to each side, most wanting the age to lower, yet another source contradicts the debate on to lowering the age, and describes how the age works. The articles from Tracy (2008), Cloud (2014), and Engs (1998) all support the idea of lowering the age, yet Nagin (2012) opposes the idea of the lowering the age. All four sources and studies are essential to have a complete understanding of the topic.

If we didn’t keep the age at 21 imagine how many drunk driving accidents there would be. Lowering the age will increase the amount of consequences young adults will receive in their future. “The evidence is clear that there would be consequences if we lowered the legal drinking age”. A lot of young adults will go out and drink and not think about it sufficiently about what will happen if you enter a car with alcohol. The types of consequences these young adults will receive a DUI.

Here in the United States there is a law requiring you to be over the age of 21 to consume alcoholic beverages. This law has proved itself by saving many lives and overall just having a positive outcome in the community. People say that no matter what the age limit is kids will still drink? I completely disagree, believe it or not there’s endless ways in which it can be prevented while the drinking age remains 21. Parents make a big difference and can prevent this from happening and I have to agree 100% that the drinking age has saved hundreds of young peoples lives. As stated in Minimum Legal Drinking Age 21 and why it should stay there, “People who drink before they are 21 are also more likely to take part in risky behavior such as having unprotected sex.” The result of this is just numerous amounts of accidental pregnancies and STD’s being between many underage young human beings. There’s a reason for why they moved the drinking age to 21. it saved lives and reduces the amount of underage drinking, which has been proven by many studies that being the case drinking age should not and will not be lowered.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Report has shown that raising the drinking age reduced alcohol related teen traffic accident statistics and brought a 13 percent decrease in fatal traffic accidents for all ages. Additional studies have shown that denying alcohol to teenagers also causes a decrease in cigarette smoking and the use of other drugs. It's not a statistic popular with a lot of people, but nonetheless, it's been proven.Other laws have been passed

Was it a good decision to choose 21 as the legal drinking age? Research shows that “alcohol consumption, heavy drinking, and daily alcohol use has declined among young adults age 18-20 since the 1980s” (Wechsler). Along with the decline in consumption, the percentage of alcohol-related traffic fatalities has also dramatically declined from the 1980s until 1997 when it leveled off. (Wechsler).