Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 will forestall underage binge drinking, as well as terrible injuries or deaths that result from such conduct. Keeping the drinking age at such a high age, unintentionally, is driving to more cases of binge drinking because it has become a social norm among this age group, however by lowering the drinking age to 18, binge drinking will decline, because it will demystify the drunken experience therefore viewed as a normal social practice. According to an article published by the American Medical Association, roughly 11 million young Americans consume alcohol, and a disconcerting number of them binge drink, described as "consuming five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period". Drinking
In conclusion by lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age, more positive outcomes exist than negative ones. A lower drinking age will allow for those of age to have a chance to learn a better sense of responsibility, decrease alcohol related incidents and provide several health benefits. As a legal adult those between the ages of 18 and 21 deserve the right to make the decision of whether they would like to participate in the consumption of alcohol or
A lower drinking age law would save even more lives and also stop minors from drinking under the limit. Having it higher will result in more traffic injuries and fatalities among youth. A lower drinking age is effective in preventing alcohol-related deaths and injuries among youth. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heavy drinking age. According to John McCardell, founder of Choose Responsibility, the legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking. Although the legal purchase age is 21 years of age, a majority of college students under this age consume alcohol but in an irresponsible manner. This is because drinking by these youth is seen as an enticing "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority" and a symbol of "adulthood."Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits. “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” “Among drinkers only, 32% of underage compared to 24% of legal age are heavy drinkers.”
Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make a lot of sense in the world. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make more sense. It would be better for the teens that drink on college campus. The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because you can vote at eighteen, buy tobacco, it’ll reduce the thrill of breaking the law, evidence supports that early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse, and college people that are not 21 drink also.
According to Alexis Aguirre in The University Star, “Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 will not dissuade young people who want to indulge in reckless alcohol intake. If anything, the age limit encourages binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits” (Aguirre). Sure enough, if the drinking age were lowered to 18 it would avoid the illegal, abused intake of alcohol by 18 year olds. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, “Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking” (U.S Department of Health and Human Services). A way of avoiding such tragedies is lowering the drinking age to 18, teaching younger
The drinking age should be lowered to eighteen because there has been many problems that have caused life threatening dangers to these teens. The age eighteen is where you start to become an adult so people should have the right to drink when they turn eighteen (“Drinking Age”). It also should be allowed
There always has been controversy as to should the united states lower the drinking age to 18. Eighteen year olds should have the right to drink. By lowering the drinking age to eighteen it will give people supervision, teach responsibilities, and eighteen years olds are already considered adults; however, it may cause binge drinking, it will lead to more deaths, and drinking damages brains cells and especially the body itself.
Underage drinking is very common in the United States. Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States, even more so than illicit drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, etc…) and tobacco. “In 2012 the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 24% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 15% reported binge drinking. In 2013, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 28% of 8th graders and 68%
An abundance of people start to drink during young adulthood. In the last 30 days roughly 39% of high schoolers drank some amount of alcohol (CDC). Alcohol has been around for tens of thousands of years and it’s always been an underlying issue. My question is, “Why should we lower the legal drinking age”? Current proposals to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18 would have some benefits like increasing revenue for bars and liquor stores. However the risks surpass the benefits. Many people think that if you’re 18 you’re portrayed as an adult, you’re old enough to serve your country, vote, and make your own decisions. In some cases this could be true, but lowering the drinking age would be way too risky for themselves and others. There was a telephone survey done in Princeton, NJ on July 12-15, 2007 that questioned 1,001 people 18 and older if the minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. The results were 77% of the people said that they would disagree with this proposal, and only 22% said that they would support it (Carroll). The minimum drinking age of 21 should not be lowered to 18, because 18 year olds tend to drink in a different way than more matured adults drink. They’re irresponsible when it comes to drinking because they drink to get drunk. As a result, there are more DUI arrests, the motor vehicle accident rate increases, and binge drinking raises health concerns.
Episode 4 "Underage Drinking; A National Concern" of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia addresses underage drinking through politically incorrect satire while still focusing on the seriousness of the subject matter. It is widely known and accepted that alcohol abuse by teenagers is not only a crime; it is also a sorrowful situation when it involves ruining lives and it can even result in death. The cast of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia presents a new and obviously demented view point to the subject. The friends portrayed in the show understand teenage drinking is unacceptable and in the opening scenes of this particular episode the cast shares some personal youthful experiences while sitting together in the
Lowering the drinking age to eighteen will encourage drinking in safer environments with supervision rather than secretly behind closed doors. Colleges will be a safer environment if the government would allow eighteen year olds to consume alcoholic beverages and less incidents of hidden intoxication will occur.
Today, people are aware that the law does not stop underage drinking, as illustrated by the thousands of deaths resulting from excessive alcohol consumption by people below the age of 21. A group called the Amethyst Initiative is now pushing for the lowering of the drinking age to 18. Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18, or would this have the same catastrophic results as in the 1970s?
Underage drinking is becoming more of a noticeable problem in society, not only with high school students, but also with younger generations. Drinking is all over the television, the radio, and talked about in schools, public places, etc. Alcohol advertisements are more and more appealing to younger generations. If our youth is educated at a younger age, if school policies were stricter, and if clubs and bars cracked down on underage drinking the problem would not be as serious.
In order to understand the matter at hand ,lowering the drinking age, we need to first understand how the drinking age of 21 was first put into place. The repeal of alcohol prohibition on December 5th, 1933, the 21st Amendment, allowed every state to arrange their own alcohol consumption laws. Then when the US passed the 26th Amendment on July 1st, 1971, which reduced the voting age to 18, multiple states lowered their minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 18, 19, or 20. While on the other hand 14 states kept their legal drinking age to 21. Lastly, The United States established the drinking age that stands today with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act approved by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Although other countries have lower drinking ages, the American government should not lower the legal drinking age to 18 because young adults are not fully developed mentally and physical for the effects alcohol has on the body. Also high schoolers as well as middle school students will have more access to alcohol which depends mainly responsibility. Finally, MDLA 21 prevents underaged binge drinking and drunk driving because 21 year olds tend to be more mature than 18 year olds.
Accidents like these occur and leave families in shambles, and the number of these accidents would be much higher if the legal drinking age was lowered to eighteen years old. By keeping the drinking age at twenty-one years old we would efficiently reduce the number of these tragic accidents.
Lowering the drinking age to 18 would allow more teenagers under the age of 18 to get their hands on alcohol. Survey shows that 18 to 20 year olds get access to alcohol through their 21 to 24 year old friends, so if the age is lowered to down to 18, 15 to 17 year olds would start drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol is not something kids or teenagers should be allowed to drink just because they want to relax or have fun. Teenagers are more likely to be peer pressured into drinking alcohol because it is the “cool” thing people are doing. Drinking alcohol has serious effects on the human body and consuming too much can be dangerous to your health and life. From childhood to adulthood is when the body starts to transform and the