Right to Serve, Not of Age to Drink Before the year 1984 if a person was 18-years-old in the United States, they were once allowed in certain areas to be able to drink. However, after 1984 the Federal Government passed a law that made the whole nation raise the legal drinking age to 21 (Daniloff). From then on there have been two sides arguing this law. One side says that if a person is allowed to vote at the age of 18 they should be allowed to vote. That same side also says that if a person is allowed to join the military at 18, they should be allowed to drink. The other side of the controversy argues that 18 is still a very young age. Because of these disagreements the national drinking age has become a controversial issue. Despite both side arguments, there is common ground between the two sides, particularly in knowing the long term affects drinking has on a person’s body and strict policies on drinking and driving. Even though the two sides may be able to find common ground between this controversial topic, the best way to settle the outcome may be to change the age to 18. At the age of 18 people are given the right to vote and they also have the right to join the military. However, they are not allowed to drink alcohol. These people are giving their lives up but they are not allowed to enjoy a simple drink every once in a while. These people may need to relieve some stress by drinking, but they cannot do that legally for another three years when they turn 21. Why
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
Every year, thousands of minors die from the use of alcohol. Many young adults abuse the drinking age policy. It is put in effect for substantial reasons, which contribute in making the safest environment for all. Drinking underage is not only illegal, but also damages one’s health tremendously. Furthermore, drinking in large amounts is extremely dangerous and can cause detrimental things to occur. There have been numerous attempts to create a law to lower the drinking age, but none have gone through. In contrast to what some people may say, the drinking age should not be lowered because it would decrease maturity, promote poor behavior, and damage reputations.
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.
What do you think the legal drinking age should be? For years the question, “What should be the legal drinking age,” has been in the air. Many people have been arguing whether or not the legal age to drink should be raised, stay the same, or lowered. Save Us from Youth talks about how there is not a consistency of laws for an eighteen-year-old. As a young adult you are given many rights to be certified as an adult, yet are held back as youth because drinking is prohibited. Different appeals to logic and red herring are used in Save Us from Youth, to give the authors view on consistency of laws and being an adult.
Society’s attitude towards the drinking age has been a major controversy in the United States. The attitudes regarding the drinking age have been based off statistics and society’s varying opinion. Alcohol is a toxic depressant that has a damaging effect on the human body. As a result, to prevent excessive alcoholic consumption, the ratification of the 18th amendment took place from 1919 to 1939. This established the Prohibition Act, which banned the transportation, manufacturing and selling of an alcoholic beverage. However, illegal production of alcohol continued to take place in secret. Gradually prohibition laws became difficult to enforce. As a result, the Prohibition Act was repealed in 1933. In 1984, congress mandated a law which would raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 through the National Minimum Drinking Age. Reasoning for mandating an older drinking age, was to enhance public safety and promote good health. In 1988, all 50 states enforced the drinking age to 21. The concern for the consumption of alcohol have targeted teenagers and young adults
The legal drinking age in the United States will always be a point of contention. No one can settle upon a drinking age that everyone is in agreement with; should it be 18 or 21? Ages 18 and 21 are the most popular options, yet neither one has 100% of the vote. With the current legal drinking age in America standing at 21, meaning that people under the age of 21 cannot purchase or consume alcoholic food or beverages, there is the question of whether or not to lower it to 18 or 19 years old. This paper will argue that the drinking age should be lowered, and examine its impact on State University.
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.
In the United States, 18-year-olds are considered adults. They can vote, get married and get a license for a gun yet they are not allowed to drink. Many people think that the drinking age should be 18, but others strongly believe it should be 21 for doing all kinds of things. Drinking in the United States has become a controversy for the drinking age; 18 or 21. There are many reasons why the drinking age should stay the same and many of why it should be 18. Even though many Americans think that people under 21 do not have the capacity to handle drinking, in my opinion, drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because teenagers at the age of 18 can make important decisions, so drinking should be a decision they can too decide whether to
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.
For the past 30 years, the United States has maintained a National Minimum Drinking Age Act, with long term public debate about the violation of civil liberties of this policy, especially in youth rights. As a matter of fact, at eighteen years old, young people can take on many adult responsibilities, but they do not have the right to consume alcohol. Indeed, they have the rights to vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sue others, be sued, be imprisoned, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military which includes risking one's life. Even though they now considered legal adults with all of these privileges, they are denied the right to purchase and drink alcohol. Prohibiting persons under the age of 21 to enjoy
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
In recent years, debate about what the legal drinking age should be in the United States has been ubiquitous. People of all ages advocate both for and against lowering the age, and some people do not even have an opinion. What has led people to their specific convictions, and what facts do they possess that support these convictions? In the following paragraphs, this popular controversy will be addressed as each position is thoroughly analyzed.
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 United States’ legal age of adulthood is eighteen. A person may smoke cigarettes, vote in elections, get married, play the lottery, and join the military. If a person can make those decisions at eighteen, why not decisions on their own alcohol consumption?
The impending conclusion of the legal drinking age, whether it be lowered to 18-years of age or remain at 21-years of age, has been fiercely debated across the United States. “Since 1984, the National minimum legal drinking age in the United States has been 21 years, and during the intervening 25 years there have been periodic efforts to lower the minimum drinking age…” (Wechsler and Nelson, para. 4). As some underage teenagers still remaining in High School and young adults who are currently attending a University argue to decrease the minimal age to eighteen, most individuals believe that the drinking age limit should remain at the solid standpoint of twenty-one years old. Those who wish to lower the national drinking age are clouded