Underage Drinking

By lowering the drinking age, the amount of binge drinking that would be going on would lessen. This would be huge for one’s health and well-being. The number of sexual assaults committed will go down as well. With the drinking age being lowered the amount of binge drinking among minors will eventually vanish.

Lowering the drinking age will make alcohol less of a risk, taking away the thrill that many young people get from violating the law. From a college student's perspective, knowing that the age of 21 is an unreasonably high age, they are eager to rebel and try out what it is they are being kept away from. They will give it a shot, not thinking about the consequences and only focusing on the fun. The fact that they don’t know when they will be able to drink again is the reason most college students tend to get overly drunk when they get a chance. As a result there are problems as serious as deaths from binge drinking.

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.

Although there are many pros to the drinking age being lowered there are also many cons too. A lot of people in the United States want to keep the drinking age the same.They say that if we lowered the drinking age more teens will want to drink and it could cause bad things to happen (“Odyssey”). In many other countries the legal age to drink is under eighteen and they have proved that there are more people who consume a big amount of alcohol and they think

5,000 people die each year due to underage drinking. Do we really want to lower the drinking age? Teens think it is fine to drink even though it is against the law and is very harmful to themselves and the people around them. Even though the law says you can’t drink before the age of 21 most people don’t follow it. We think the law should stay the same because it affects the brain, it is harmful to the people involved, and it affects the emotions and actions of the drinker.

Although lowering the drinking age would have many benefits to it, there are also other reasons lowering the age would not be beneficial. By allowing the drinking age to move to a lower age requirement would make alcohol easier to access. Even though most young adults are already regular drinkers, lowering the drinking age could start their alcohol problem at an earlier age and affect their brain. By lowering the drinking age social pressure could be put upon young adults forcing them to drink by their peers. By more people drinking at a younger age could result in more unsafe areas in the country with young drinkers. For example:

Unsupervised and driven underground, underage drinking has gained widespread popularity in America’s youth, even claiming victims such as the former President Bush’s 19 year-old daughter. At 18 years of age, a citizen can purchase a gun and tobacco, enlist in the military, get married, vote, and be tried as an adult in court but yet as an “adult” they still do not possess the right to purchase nor consume alcohol legally. The drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age because adults should be able to make their own decisions, it is safer for the youth in America, and with alcohol education classes instilled in schools at a young age, the younger citizens will be exposed to responsible drinking habits so it reduces the enticement factor

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

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 legal drinking age is should not be lowered because of the multiple dangers that could be encouraged. One of the most important factors of life is education. Drinking can cause problems with the way a person is able to comprehend certain things. Lowering the drinking age can inhibit more drunk driving crashes. It can also lead to broken bonds with family. These are all consequences of lowering the drinking age.

When people turn eighteen they are finally considered an adult. They can join the army, vote, buy cigarettes or tobacco products, get a tattoo and even die for our country. Although everyone considers that person to be an adult, they are still not old enough to buy or consume alcohol. A person can be responsible enough to live on their own, make their own money, pay their own bills, and yet they are still not considered old enough to purchase or consume any type of alcohol. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would help prevent the crime and personal injuries that are caused by alcohol abuse.

In the U.S. News opinion piece, A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe, Laura Dean-Mooney states, “Lowering the drinking age would have dangerous long-term consequences: early teen drinkers are not only more susceptible to alcoholism but to developing the disease earlier and more quickly than others” (Dean-Mooney n.pag.). Despite this, getting rid of, or at least decreasing the lure of the forbiddenness of alcohol and bringing the consumption

Drinking age should be lowered, and I know that by lowering it we can drop the percentage of reckless teen alcohol abusers. It is worth trying it , and if everything goes the opposite then change the law once more which is done lots of times, for dumb reasons and raise the drinking age back to twenty-one. Changes are always good most of the times, and I know this one in particular is an excellent

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.

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