The Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Drinking Age

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.

There are several controversies in the world today, but one that really catches my attention is on the topic of whether or not the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from 21 to 18. Many people have debated about this topic for several years, and there are several different opinions on this topic. Some people think it is dangerous to lower the drinking age; some people support it. Some children think it is stupid to lower the drinking age; some children support it. However, I strongly believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 for several reasons, such as 18 year olds are allowed to do several other adult activities, other countries have the legal age at 21, and people who are under the age of 18 are still going to drink alcohol whether it is illegal or not.

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

There has been a debate on lowering the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. There are many reasons why this policy should not be passed. At the age of eighteen in the United States one is considered as an adult to make there own decisions, vote, and are allowed to buy Tabaco. Drinking is not one of them. Studies have shown that there are scientific reasons this should not happen. First drinking can be very harmful to the body, causing severe symptoms. Second the drinking and driving rate would increase. Finally, eighteen year olds are not as mature as twenty-one year olds. They are not as fully developed as twenty-one year olds. All of these are factors that contribute to why the drinking age should not be lowered.

Lowering the drinking age will result in life and death consequences. By keeping the drinking age at 21, the rate of fatalities for drinking and driving decrease drastically. During the short period during the late 1980’s when the drinking age was lowered to 18, the number of fatal car crashes involving young adults who were under the influence dropped from 61% to 31% (Wil Fulton). By bringing the age down to 18-years-old, alcohol would be more accessible to the lower age group. For example, an 18 year old, who is still in high school, is more likely to sell alcohol to a 16 year old than a 21 year old, who is away at college. In recent studies, researchers found that 77% of the population are opposed to lowering the drinking age to 18 (Brandon Griggs). MADD is supported by influential government companies such as the American Medical Association, National Transportation Safety Board, National Safety Council, International Association Chiefs of Police, Governor's Highway Safety Association, Surgeon General of the United States, and U.S. Transportation Secretary to name a few (John H. Barnhill, PHD). Overall, young teenagers lack the proper wisdom collected to make right judgments about alcohol. The 3 years between the age 18 and 21 are filled with change and responsibilities, making one more suitable to make appropriate

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.

Sub point B: Drinking under the influence is perhaps the most detrimental subject when it comes to lowering the drinking age. Many are scared that these 18 year olds will take the streets and cause horrific accidents but According to www.chooseresponsiblity.org last accessed May 18th ,2014 "... twice as many 21-year-olds died in alcohol-related auto accidents as 18 year-olds.”

The debate of the drinking age has been long discussed throughout America. The drinking age has been 21 for the last 22 years, and people around the country have wondered weather or not this was the right call. People say that 18 year olds may not be mature enough to drink alcohol and might not know when to stop. It isn’t that teenagers don’t know how to stop, but rather have not been properly taught when enough has been consumed or how to drink responsibly. Changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 years old will take the thrill that teens get from breaking the law while drinking, will no longer give them the idea that drinking is the final stage of adulthood and full maturity, and will no longer force teenagers to drink in unsupervised

The first reason that the drinking age should be lowered, and possibly the most obvious, is that an eighteen-year-old has the right to vote and serve in the military. If you are of the mental capacity to decide you will die for this country rather than let it be overtaken, as well as logically determine who you want leading the country, you should absolutely be able to drink alcohol. This is the easiest argument to make and there is not much of a counterpoint to contradict this specifically. A similar argument is that an eighteen-year-old is tried as an adult in court. Someone who is capable of making essentially every other decision in their life as an adult suddenly cannot decide whether they should drink or not. Logically, having one outlier like this does not make sense. It is a hypocritical stance and there simply should not be this disparity in age. A counterpoint often made here is that a higher drinking age has to do with one’s brain development. The simple fact here is that “There’s no magic that happens physically to

On July 17 of 1984 President Ronald Reagan signed to make the National Minimum Drinking Age Act a law. This law required all states to have a minimum drinking age of 21, if a state did not comply with this law they could face up to a 10% cut in funding for their federal highways (Tietjen). Since this act became a law there has been two distinct sides arguing whether they agree with the minimum drinking age, or whether they disagree. One side believes having a minimum drinking age makes alcohol seem like a “forbidden fruit” of sorts and because people always want what they can’t have, a minimum drinking age makes underage drinking an even bigger problem. The other side of this argument is basically that if a

There are numerous problems involving alcohol in the world today, including alcoholism, drunk driving, and alcohol poisoning leading to death. Many of these problems involve minors and are linked to drinking underage. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one years old. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of danger: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and injuring the brain before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough for alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that reducing the drinking age to eighteen would influence our country in a positive

But tighter enforcement of the minimum drinking age of 21 is not the solution. It's part of the problem.” (Paragraph 3). This statement was a bit eye opening as to what side the author was choosing to write from. The author clearly believes that the legal drinking age is too high and should be lowered. In my opinion the law should not be changed to a lower age but a higher one. The reasoning behind this is that if we raise the legal drinking age to 25 or 26 let’s say, then it would be harder for the younger college students to approach someone out of college to buy them the

In the united state, anyone after the age of eighteen is considered as an adult. They are expected to be counted as a responsible grown person, which means that one is responsible for making their own decisions, education, bills, and goals. Also, at the age of eighteen in the united state; a person can vote and enlist to fight and protect for the love of their home country, but they are not allowed to have a drink of a beer legally. In the article “The Gallup Briefing” by author Carroll agrees that if the government lowered the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen the number of young people who gets hurt from alcohols or other related accidents that happens due to fear of legal consequences would decrease lot faster. Even though, the government have ruled the drinking at twenty-one, personally, I strongly agree with the statement by author Carroll. For that reason, I will be discussing about the goods and bad of lowering the drinking age, and the consequences that has among people and surrounding.

The third viewpoint on this subject has to do liberty and focus more on freedom than public safety. This argument states that a adult should be allow to drink at the age of 18, because that is the age where in America one becomes an adult. That is the belief Of H.G. Reynolds who is a law professor from the University of Tennessee. He states his argument in the article “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Drink” which was publish in the Wall Street Journal in Apr. 2011.This article was written in response to Alaska state senator fail to change the drinking age to 18 in his state. Senator Bob Lynn who was a Vietnam Veteran believes that if a person can choose to join the military he is responsible enough to drink alcohol. This law has been

Should the age drinking be lowered in the US to 18 years old? For the past 25 years there has been a lot of talk about changing the drinking age limit. Some States back in the 1970’s try this approach and weren’t successful. Evidence show that between 1970 and 1975, the states that lowered their minimum legal drinking age to 18 suffered significant teenage traffic fatalities. Young teens have not reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly and are more likely to harm themselves or someone else by drinking before they turn 21. This led to a movement to reestablish the minimum legal age drinking back 21. 16 states increase their drinking age to 21 between 1976 and 1983. In 1984 The Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act signed by President Ronald Reagan put a stop to all this changes. He threatened to hold back all highway construction funds from all the states that did not increase their drinking age. By 1988 all stated had a minimum legal drinking age of 21. Does the minimum legal drinking age help