The Minimum Legal Drinking 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.”

The government is conducting an idea to whether lower the minimum legal drinking age in the United States or not. Many Americans forbid the idea of legalizing the drinking age so that it would be profitable to the businesses. Likewise, there have been many advantages and disadvantages of why should the government allow young adults drink under the age of 21. To prevent this issue, many Americans have provided reasoning that will support the idea of keeping the minimum legal drinking age where it is now. The government should maintain the minimum legal drinking age in the United States at the age of 21.

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

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.

Every year, thousands of deaths occur as a result of drunk driving, and every day people are facing the consequences of irresponsible drinking. Because of the issues caused by irresponsible drinking, the US government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984 which raised the minimum drinking age to twenty-one to prevent drinking-related accidents and violence. Despite the intent of its passing, it was a counterproductive decision. Because of the higher age restriction, high school upperclassmen and college underclassmen see drinking as an exciting, rebellious act. Consequentially, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act resulted in an increase in dangerous and irresponsible drinking which continues to this day. Not only does the

The case to lower the minimum drinking age in Wisconsin, the self-proclaimed beer capital of the world, is emerging despite the majority of people who oppose it. Both the Republican and Democratic parties contain majority’s who oppose lowering the drinking age, yet conservatives are the least supportive when compared to liberals. The biggest opponent is the group that initiated the age increase years ago, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). On the other hand, people who tend to support lowering the drinking age, are regular drinkers and people who have a higher education, more specially obtain a postgraduate degree. Also, contrary to popular conception, younger adults are no more likely to support lowering the drinking age than older adults. The argument is critical because of what is at stake, lives and more uniquely, young lives. Therefore, the conversation of the minimum drinking age will not cease any time soon as the safety of the nation is paramount and directly influenced by the passage of drinking

Some people find it hard to understand that at the age of eighteen you can fight and die for your country, but you cannot legally drink or purchase alcoholic beverages. Others find it hard to believe that there are people who want people under the age of twenty-one drinking. The important question is: should the drinking age be lowered to eighteen instead of remaining at twenty-one?

In this article “Minimum Drinking Age: Should the minimum drinking age in the United States remain 21?” the author describes both sides of the argument with lots of evidence and facts to back up both sides. Just before that the article states some background information about the topic and what it was like in the 1970 - 2000. He says that before 1970 the Legal Drinking Age was lower than 21 but got changed because of an outcry of people complaining of a lot of drunk driving accidents. The first stars starting changing their laws in 1975. Ever since that date it has been a debate whether it should’ve changed back or not. The author then goes into the first argument. The first argument was what the supporters argue: what supporters say. The author

The United States has been debating on whether or not to lower the minimum drinking age or have it remain at 21 for several decades. Supporters argue that teenagers are not fully developed and ready to consume alcohol until their early twenties. Also, statistics prove that drunk-driving incidents among 18

The minimum drinking age became a hot topic ever since it was set to twenty one years old. It is a law not everyone welcomes with open arms, one that has the most impact in the lives of adolescents and if violated, one that can put a state at risk of forfeiting ten percent of its annual federal highway appropriation. John M. McCardell Jr., president of Middlebury College; founder and president of Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization, clearly states his desire for the National Minimum Drinking Age Act to be lowered to avoid binge drinking. On the other hand, Melanie Fonder and Misty Moise, among others, clearly express the benefits of this law and the

Minimum limited drinking age law in America was passed more than 30 years ago. Therefore, it needed to be altered to catch up with today’s world. Teenagers today are no longer the kind of teenager back in the 1980s. Now, they have access to information on the Internet, they were taught how alcoholic drinks affect to the body, they were supervised by their parents closely. Moreover, teenagers even have legal access to voting, driving, owning a car,...and they can be jailed up if they break the law, sentenced in prison if the crime was serious enough. Therefore, teenager should be able to control of their life and have access to alcohol as a right they supposed to have long time ago.

Government officials and citizens alike have debated whether the drinking age laws should be lowered to eighteen once again. MLDA twenty one does not work and is being ignored by minors and adults. Even lower drinking ages imposed in other countries are working, judging by their lower death rates. By enabling people eighteen and under to drink, the economy would grow. The minimum legal drinking age limit should be reverted back to the original eighteen years old.

United States is one of the few countries in the world with drinking age over twenty one years. In a country where eighteen years olds are allowed to vote, are allowed smoke, are allowed buy guns, are considered as adults and moreover are drafted in the military where they put their lives in danger for the safety of all of the citizens of this country, however, they are too immature to drink. All the adults should have the right to drink alcohol, and it should be legal for a person who is ready to take care of the country by not just being in military, but by voting in election, making choices that are best for him and the country, to drink when he is eighteen years of age.

Without a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher MLDA helps decrease the risk of teen suicides, accidents and overdose deaths. However, this widely debated topic has inevitably brought attention to the plethora of supporting and opposing viewpoints. The minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one

The study relied on the secondary analysis of qualitative data collected from journals and previous studies on the minimum legal drinking age (NDLA). In secondary research methodology, a research uses existing data to answer research questions. The key advantage of using the secondary research methodology is that it is an inexpensive method to extract already available information. The only limitation of this method is that information collected does not exactly address the research question as researchers must analyze qualitative data for recurring themes. The data collected was to compare and contrast rates of alcohol consumption, drinking and driving related deaths of people aged 18-21. This step allowed the researchers to narrow down research