The Pros And Cons Of Binge Drinking

In 1984, the United States’ federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Under this Act, the federal government gives highway funds to States that forbid people under the age of twenty-one years old from “purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages”(23 U.S.C. § 158). The incentive created a sense of a standardized minimum drinking age despite the fact that legally there cannot be a federal minimum drinking age. Even though this Act has been in effect for decades, there are many debates on whether or not the age should be changed. The minimum legal drinking age should stay the same because it prevents a large number of drinking and driving accidents; it reduces overall alcohol consumption; and it has very horrible health effects on youth.

Around the world new adults are flaunting their new found responsibilities consuming alcohol at the average age of 18. However, unlike most countries in the world the United States has determined to establish their drinking age to be set at 21 years of age. This antiquated position is unjust to many young American adults. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 should be revised and reconstituted to the legal age of 18. To provide a more suitable America that is secure and reasonable for all young adults. The drinking age needs to be lowered so that it can reduce traffic fatalities, reduce binge drinking, and allow young adults to understand an old ongoing tradition. It’s time to reconsider the drinking age to allow a safer environment for everyone.

In 1984, the United States’ federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Under this act, the federal government gives highway funds to States that forbid people under the age of twenty-one years old from “purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages”(23 U.S.C. § 158). The incentive created a sense of a standardized minimum drinking age when legally there cannot be a federal minimum drinking age. Even though this Act has been in effect for decades, there are many debates on whether or not the age should be changed. The minimum legal drinking age should stay the same because it prevents a large number of drinking and driving accidents; it reduces overall alcohol consumption; and it has very horrible health effects on youth.

Throughout history, the United States has taken on several policies regarding the minimum legal drinking age that vary in age as well as in state and federal enforcement of the limit. To this day, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the subject because advocates of higher, lower, and limitless age regulations all provide decent arguments towards their suggested policies. Regardless of the policy, they all have the same aim: reduce alcohol addiction, binge drinking, drunk driving, and other alcohol related public health risks. The current minimum legal drinking age has made improvements in the number of alcohol related health problems. Times are changing, and advocates for a lower drinking age are on the rise, but with open

Studies show that keeping the drinking age at twenty-one improves lives. When the United States raised the age limit to twenty-one in 1985, a shortage of drinking occurred at a whopping 40% by 1991. As a result, fewer students drop out of high school, less motor accidents occur, and suicides rates dropped significantly. However, lowering the drinking age to eighteen will bring serious consequences on young adults by reversing these statistics. Lowering the drinking age will cause significant health problems, draw youth to poor judgment situations, before they are even old enough to handle the responsibility of drinking.

One of the most controversial problems within the United States is the policy of the national minimum drinking age of 21. I believe that the raising of the drinking age to 21 years old has created more problems than solving them. America has had past experiences with a similar situation when they enforced prohibition. As we know, prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, which was a huge failure. America have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems. The first National Prohibition was during the 1920’s, and the state prohibition was in the 1850’s. These two laws were decisively repealed because they

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.

There has been an ongoing controversy in the United States on whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen like most of the world or if it should stay at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years, yet why is it not under control? Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As a teen I have proof that these things are going on not only in college but in high school as well. There are a lot of factors that come together to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen; the most obvious reason is too many people are drinking before they are twenty-one. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money and if they can get away with selling to underage teens then they will. A study done by the Academic Search Premier agrees that, ?By now it is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? (Michael Smith 1).

For two generations, Americans have needed to be 21 – or own an ID that states as such – to legally purchase and consume alcohol (Griggs, 1). According to The World Health Organization “the U.S. [is] one of only a handful of developed countries –Iceland, Japan, South Korea and Thailand are others – with a minimum drinking age over 18” (Griggs, 1). When Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984, its goal was to reduce less-mature adults from consuming alcohol and performing reckless acts (Cary, 1). However, despite the current drinking age, 17.5 percent of consumer spending for alcohol in 2013 was under the age of 21. It is estimated that “90 percent of underage drinking is consumed via binge drinking…with alcohol abuse becoming more prevalent among the country’s youth” (Aguirre, 1).

In today’s society it is legal for an 18 year old to vote, be enlisted in the military, serve jury duty, buy tobacco products, live on their own and support themselves. Yet after all of that responsibility, these young adults are still not given the privilege to enjoy a few beers here and there. The current drinking age in the United States is 21 years of age, a controversial issue for many. The issue is exceptionally debatable and many people believe the drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18. Many college and university presidents disagree with the current legal drinking age and have come to the conclusion that outlawing alcohol to students under 21 makes the drinking problem worse! The national drinking age should be lowered

The drinking age has been a controversial issue for many years. Each democratic country has imposed a certain legal drinking age. The government of the United States of America has an uncompromising and conclusive prospect on the matter; they insist the legal drinking age be 21. As set laws are typically imposed to serve a specific demographic, there will constantly be certain minorities or groups who possess conflicting views. Teenagers exploit the system in many ways by buying alcohol with fake identification cards, drinking illegally, and going into bars. There are multiple factors for the reason that the legal drinking age should be changed to 18. One of the most obvious reasons for changing the drinking age would the amount of people who

Alcohol; it’s something Americans enjoy, whether it is at a party, before meals, during the football game, with our buddies, so on and so forth. Alcohol has been a part of human civilization for hundreds of thousands of years and is linked but not limited to, pleasure, and sociability in many people’s minds. Up until 1984 the legal age for people to drink was eighteen, that age was then raised up to twenty-one in order to reduce the death rate of many teenagers who were dying because of alcohol related problems. Today, many people believe that lowering the drinking age back down to eighteen would reduce and or solve the problem of binge drinking among college students. A simple answer can be conjured up, no. What many people don’t realize

One of the largest questions still up for debate is whether to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. We know that this issue is very mundane to you if you’re from the 70’s and 80’s. We can also recall learning about prohibition in the 1920s. Banning alcohol wasn’t the answer then and it isn’t the answer now. It is time America has lowered the drinking age. The push for this started by the founder of Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the increasing awareness of the harms associated with alcohol use among young adults. The United States is one of the only western nations left in which the drinking age is over 18. In most European cultures, drinking is perceived as a social activity. Therefore youths drink as

When the health behavior within a population of students has the result of less than desirable consequences, the promotion of behavioral change that will improve this type of conduct must have consideration. The high use of alcohol that has become rooted in college culture, with particular attention to binge drinking, is a destructive practice of concern. Despite this high-risk indulgence being one of the major sources of physical injury among college students (Karam, Kypros & Salamoun, 2007), it would be remiss not to ponder the toll this takes on students academically as well. Through missed study time, absenteeism and poor effort on assignments, course work will invariably suffer. Perhaps worse of all, from an academic standpoint, binge drinking results in cognitive dysfunction (Kotler, 2005).

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking is defined as a pattern of drinking that elevates one’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. Alternatively, binge drinking can be defined as having five or more alcoholic beverages for males and four or more alcoholic beverages for females within two hours (NIAAA, 2017). Binge drinking exceeds the appropriate amount of time needed for the body to metabolize alcohol, which is approximately one drink per hour. One drink is equivalent to a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.25 ounce shot of liquor. There is one primary area of concern that has consistently ranked as the nation’s most common setting for binge drinking: college campuses. For many college students, alcohol use is a very important part of university culture. In the United States, many people equate the college experience with drinking and partying.