The Pros And Cons Of Keeping The Drinking Age

It must be recognized that young adults will drink alcohol, no matter what the legal age. As thought to be a gateway to more drinking problems, reducing the age to 18 can benefit our society. Prohibiting teens from drinking in bars, restaurants, and public locations has the effect of forcing them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties, which can be very dangerous. Lowering the drinking age would create a safer drinking environment, creating a higher chance of adult supervision who will promote more responsible drinking among intoxicated teens. As stated in the PostStar article for the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age, “When adolescents are not taught to drink in moderation, they end up binge drinking.”

In 1984 Ronald Reagan proposed a new law that declared that the legal drinking age must raised up to 21 instead of the age of 18. The law was forced upon the states by threatening them by stating that the government will reduce their highway funding until the states passed the law. Of course all the states eventually change their legal drinking age to 21. Some critics believe that this law’s results have been very successful, however the law possesses many insecurities, but certain programs can be arranged to help educate teenagers on alcohol.

Vivian Jones, the author of “Underage Drinking,” questions the drinking age limit, and wants to decrease the age limit for consuming alcohol from twenty-one years old to eighteen. Firstly, the author defines underage drinking as a danger to young adults and teenagers that are developing. Secondly, Jones states that raising the age limit for drinking is a controversial topic in society. Thirdly, Jones acknowledges that drinking underage is banned and as a result the young adolescents are more allured to drink alcohol and rebel. The author also states that more younger Americans are drinking in excess with comparison to the UK. The author writes that raising the drinking age will not stop the violence and crime, it would only help slightly. Also, Jones conveys that underage drinking is a major issue in today’s society. I disagree with the author, the drinking age should be twenty-one because it would first reduce crime, it would prevent death, and finally it would decrease medical problems.

The human body does not fully develop, both physically and mentally, until a person is in their early twenties. Several research organizations, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, have found that, “Excessive alcohol abuse can lead to permanent brain damage while negatively affecting a person’s memory, motor skills, and test-taking abilities,” (Minimum Drinking Age). Since alcohol has such drastic effects on the human body and its ability to function properly, we cannot allow teenager full access to it under any circumstance. Supporters of the 21-and-over drinking age are quick to get behind research that has discovered, “Alcohol use could severely damage teenagers more-sensitive livers,” (Minimum Drinking Age). I think teenagers need to have a better understanding of what they are putting in their bodies, especially if they are ingesting alcohol. If they don’t understand what the harmful ingredients and chemicals in alcohol can do to them, they could end up with serious health problems. The United States has been debating this topic for such a long time that we have lost sight of what is truly important: the safety of the younger generation and how we can maintain

All over the world many individuals consume alcohol, but the issue has been that teens have been intaking alcohol under the legal age. The legal age of twenty-one was placed up to prevent irresponsible, undeveloped adolescents from drinking and creating complicated problems(Brief History of the Drinking Age). Although there is a legal age those under the age of twenty-one still continue to drink anyways. Alcohol impairs the human body and can cause those who consumed it to do things they wouldn't do sober. The drinking age should remain at twenty-one in order to curb underage binge drinking, to prevent accidents involving drunk drivers under the age of twenty-one, and to encourage young adults to make intelligent decisions.

The drinking age in America has been a hot-blooded debate of whether it should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen, or if should remain twenty-one. In recent years’ many American citizens have argued that twenty-one being the legal age to consume alcohol is a useless tactic to stop underage drinking. That the current age has driven more teens to drink recklessly and behind closed doors. But are teens mature enough to learn to drink properly prior to twenty-one? Although some teens still drink regardless of the law, with a higher drinking age young adults can learn to drink responsibly and reduce harm to themselves and others.

Some people may argue that it shouldn’t be decreased because young brains keep growing until age 22, and if those brains are exposed to alcohol before 22, it could lead to greater health problems later in life. Most can agree that many teenagers are impetuous, brash, are sometimes reckless, and that’s why the drinking age shouldn’t be reduced. Although, most young adults have had alcohol before turning 22, even with complying with the legal drinking age. It’s easy to see why the drinking age shouldn’t be reduced like with an MLDA (minimum legal drinking age) of 21 there are fewer traffic accidents and fatalities according to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). A possible concern is that if the MLDA is decreased, then 16 and 17 year olds might find that since the age is reduced, then they can start drinking and won’t be caught, but there is the inevitable that underage teenagers will drink as stated by a 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 68% of 12th graders claimed that they had tried alcohol. Admittedly, there is always no guarantee that reducing the drinking age will help diminish underage

As a society, we have always been taught that you could not have an alcoholic drink till your twenty one. But there are people out there that think that we should lower that age to eight teen. A group of 129 college presidents are actually asking that there at least be a discussion to the argument (Lewis et al, 2008). They think that it would stop all the underage drinking at colleges and would teach kids at an early age how to handle alcohol (Lewis et al, 2008). In my option lowering it would not help all the problems we have with alcohol. I feel that it would just cause more alcohol abuse, but there is some good to lowering it.

Alcohol is a great way to suffer a slow and painful death, and sometimes a quick death in cases such as drunk driving, killing yourself and maybe another person. If the legal drinking age was lowered from 19 to 18 (the age that you become an “adult”), teens would acquire health problems, the suicide rate would increase, the families of the drinkers would become financially unstable, and crime rates would increase. By not lowering the drinking age to 18, there is one more year for teens to become mature and one more year to keep these teens and many other people around us safe.

At eighteen years of age a teenager becomes an adult. They can choose to move out of their parents home, vote, marry, joining the military and buy tobacco and lottery tickets, but it isn’t illegal to purchase alcohol. However, in twenty-nine states it is legal to consume alcohol at eighteen, but not to purchase alcohol. Becoming an adult has many responsibilities; therefore, citizens should be able to drink at eighteen. The United States should lower the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen because legally a citizen becomes an adult, less fatalities involving drinking, and help the economy.

People claim that the only way young people will learn their lesson is by having the age lowered, so they can feel a sense of independence. They believe that young people should have a right to drink legally at the age of 18; by modifying this law, it will help to gradually reduce the amount of teenagers breaking the alcohol consumption law because it has become legal. When

The legal drinking age shouldn't be lowered; parents should just have the responsibility to either let their children drink or not to drink. 72% of adults think that lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids, and nearly half believe that it would increase binge drinking among teens, according to a new Nationwide Insurance poll. Since the law widely enacted, the number of young people killed annually in crashes involving drunk drivers under 21 has been cut in half, from more than 5,000 individuals in the early 1980s to around 2,000 in 2005. A person’s brain does not stop developing until their early to mid-20s. During this period, alcohol negatively affects all parts

When teens turn 18 they deserve all the rights that come with being an adult, lowering the drinking age will not only cause teens to become more responsible it will also reduce drunk driving accidents as seen in other countries who have already implemented this law.

Underage drinking can lead to many problems such as physical behavior. Some people would argue that these actions would not be as big of a problem if the legal age was eighteen.They say teens tend to drink an excessive amount of alcohol at a time because they do not know when they will be able to drink again. Although many could understand this argument, experts believe that the age is set to twenty-one because of the maturity and health level at certain ages. These experts state “The age twenty-one policy for alcohol takes into account the fact that underage drinking is related to numerous serious health problems including injuries, deaths, car crashes, suicides, drowning, etcetera. ( US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) )

John McCardell believes that if the drinking age were lowered, 18 year olds who have, “completed high school, attended an alcohol-education course (that consists of more than temperance lectures and scare tactics), and kept a clean record,” could be allowed to drink with limited safety risks. David J. Hanson, Phd., a Professor of Sociology at State University of New York at Potsdam, corroborates that, “We should do with drinking what has proven successful with driving. That is, we should issue drinking learner permits to qualified adults age 18 through 20,” (Kiernan).