The Minimum Legal Drinking Age

In the U.S. the minimum drinking age is at 21 and I believe it should be lowered to 18. People 18 years and older are considered adults and should be treated as such by being allowed to legally purchase and consume alcohol. Lowering the drinking age will not only give 18-year-olds the rights and recognition they deserve as adults, but will also obliterate a largely ineffective law that only serves to create more red tape. At the age of 18, a U.S. citizen can vote in an election, defend and possibly die for their country and make all kinds of decisions regarding their life and body. If I want to vote democrat, I can. If I want ink up my body, I can. If I want to fill my lungs with smoke, I can do that too. Going wine tasting with some friends,

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

In the 1980s, the United States raised the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) to 21, from 18, in an attempt to protect the nation 's youth. This placed the USA among the few countries whose drinking age is above 18. These countries include most of Canada, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Egypt, Indonesia, Micronesia, and Palau (Jernigan). Around the world, drinking ages vary; for example, in Slovenia, Italy, Portugal, Malta and Greece, you can drink before you turn 18, and in parts of India, you cannot legally obtain alcohol until age 25 (Jernigan; Mukherjee). This leads to an important question on whether our democracy should lower the MLDA. The facts on underage drinking, international data on lower drinking ages, current enforcement of underage drinking laws, as well as proposed implications of programs coupled with a lower drinking age provides provoking data pointing towards the ethical lowering of the drinking age. The democracy of the United States of America should lower the MLDA, but also adopt a mandatory alcohol education class, and a graduated licensing system.

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.

Once a person reaches the age of 18, they are allowed to tattoo their bodies, smoke tobacco, gamble and even enlist if they wanted to! As an adult, they want to be treated as one but how can they feel like an adult if hanging around with their friends and drinking beer while watching TV is illegal? Of course, that does not stop them, though. The United States is one of the few countries in which still have such a high minimum drinking age. Although most people think young adults (18-year olds) are irresponsible, the minimum drinking age should be lowered to 18 because they deserve to be recognized as adults in order to avoid illegal, uncontrolled drinking and other illegal actions.

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.

In the United States, the minimum age required to legally consume alcohol is twenty-one years, being allowed in some states for young people under the minimum drinking age to consume alcohol under specific controlled circumstances. This particular age is controversial as it does not correspond to the age of majority of 18 years embraced by 47 states, which entitles the individual to vote, get married and join the army, among other decisions inherent to adulthood. It is thus seen as contradictory to consider a young person mature enough to take decisions of this nature, but not mature enough to drink alcohol.

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life than those who started at the legal age of 21 or later.

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

After all that has been stated in the magazine Mental Floos, an article written by Ethan Trex titled Why is the Drinking Age 21, there are some historical contrarieties among the legal drinking age as for the U.S. The U.S has had a history of attempting to restrict and control drinking in America, especially during the 20th century with the examples of the Prohibition where no matter what, people found ways to drink. The Prohibition was nationwide ban of the transportation of alcohol beverages. After the end of this period, state governments had the power over the years to have fluctuating drinking ages, making it

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

Several states like Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maine in the United States of America lowered their drinking ages to 18. As a direct result there was increase in alcohol related clashes. This clearly shows that the teenagers are not ready to be left to drink freely. This situation can be attributed to the fact that the

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

Being a very big problem to the society and government at large, underage drinking may not be totally eradicated but can be reduced to manageable levels. To do this, a collective approach has to be used in implementing the various recommended prevention measures. The best approach towards reducing adolescent drinking is through numerous strategies which include school-based strategies, family, and community as well as extracurricular strategies (Komro and Toomey 3).

Teenagers are America’s greatest natural resource, and they need to be protected from some of the evils that lurk in the world. A subject that needs special attention is the abuse of alcohol by teens. Statistics show that there is a problem currently between teens and alcohol. There are many causes of teenage drinking and effects that prove that drinking is an important issue that needs to be dealt with to preserve American teenagers. Teenage drinking will become worse of a problem if it continues unchecked on its current path to destruction. Alcohol abuse among teenagers in the United States is a plague that is destroying the structure of American society.