Why Lowering The Drinking Age Is A Good Idea?. Lowering

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

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.

The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, while in other countries the legal age ranges from 16-18. The argument in the United States is “Should the United States lower its drinking age?” There are many sides to this argument but research has given many good points to back up both sides of the question. First thing is the difference between a teen’s brain with alcohol and an adult’s brain with alcohol. Another thing is drinking at a younger age can help teach culture. Lastly the more alcohol exposed the increase in death rate. I believe that it is a good idea to keep the legal drinking age at age 21 because in our past we have had many problems with death increases due to the drinking age being at different ages and the research used uses pathos, logos, ethos and Kairos to help persuade the reader support that 21 should stay the legal drinking 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.

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

This discussion has been going on for long on many forums without a decisive conclusion or agreement. This is mainly because both the arguments for lowering the age to 18 years and not lowering have some substantial facts to support them. The people who are against lowering the drinking age come up with a number of arguments which are explained below.

My experiences in high school and college have taught me that restricting young people from drinking does not stop them from consuming alcohol. However, is this a good reason to lower the drinking age? People’s actions should conform to the law, as the purpose of laws is to maintain order in society. If the community could eliminate or alter laws simply by consistently breaking them, then legislation would become obsolete. Although the “21 law” does not completely prevent underage drinking, it has helped to reduce the number of incidents of underage drinking. Research studies conducted between 1960 and 1999 have been reviewed by University of Minnesota epidemiologists Alexander Wagenaar and Traci Toomey. Their conclusion is that the law has “reduced both youth alcohol use and alcohol-related traffic crashes” (DeJong 3). Furthermore, in 1999, New Zealand lowered its legal drinking age from 20 to 18. The result was a “big increase in traffic crashes and injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds” (DeJong 3).

A very controversial argument amongst Americans is determining that the current legal drinking age which is 21 should be lowered to eighteen or not. Researching the following propaganda made me understand the dangers to the youth and people in America if the drinking age were to lower. Therefore i will argue with whoever disagrees with me that the drinking age should be lowered.

There are many arguments on why the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen. To some, lowering the drinking age to eighteen makes sense and to others it does not make sense at all. Most people believe that if eighteen year olds are old enough to make big decisions such as enlist in the Army, Navy, or other Military services then eighteen year olds are old enough to drink also. Not only does lowering the legal drinking age put the drinker at harm but also the people around the drinker. There are so many reasons why the legal drinking age should not be lowered, never less, three valid and proven reasons why the legal drinking age should not be lowered is, the effect on the brain, the safety of the drinker and the people around them, and the number of deaths that will increase.

Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 would make alcohol less of a forbidden fruit, taking away the thrill that many young people get from breaking the law, make alcohol less of a taboo for adult’s newly entering college and the workforce, and make alcohol consumption a more normalized activity done in moderation. A drinking age of 21 only forces alcohol consumption behind closed doors. Always unsupervised, done in secret and too often excessive, this style of drinking among minors has no doubt been responsible for the alarming rise in rates of dangerous binge drinking at colleges. In 2006,

The debate for the legal drinking age of eighteen or twenty-one has been a topic of discussion for a long time. Personally, most people support the side that they should just leave the legal age at twenty-one. There are many reasons as to why people would support this side of the argument. If the drinking age gets lowered to eighteen, it would lead to cause more car related accidents, there will be an easier access to alcohol, and that it would be medically irresponsible to drink at a younger age.

Alcohol leads to other drugs and substance abuse, too. If the drinking age were to lower to eighteen, this would not change the actions of young partiers. “Alcohol should be forbidden to 18- to 20-year-olds precisely because they have a propensity to binge drink whether the stuff is illegal or not—especially males” (Main). Drinking alcohol usually leads to other illegal substances. “Youths who report drinking prior to the age of 15 are more likely to develop substance abuse problems, to engage in risky sexual behavior, and to experience other negative consequences in comparison to those who begin at a later time” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 has been a controversial argument for many years now, Even though every states legal drinking age is 21 there is some states that make certain exceptions in some situations. There is many pros and cons to changing this such as a good thing is some 18 year olds may not binge drink as they do when they turn 21. If 18-20 year olds are allowed to drink in supervised locations such as bars and restaurants it would be a much safer environment rather than say a house party or a fraternity house where there is not any supervision for the most part which could lead to dangerous behavior. Lowering the age would also “kill the thrill” of drinking underage and trying to not get caught by parents or law enforcement. The problem is that with pros comes cons. I am 20 years old myself and I have been drinking since I was 17, I have many friends who are not able to handle there alcohol and I have been drinking with them for a few years. The problem with that is that some younger teens like myself tend to binge drink at party’s to impress themselves or each other which can lead to alcohol poisoning, throwing up, dangerous decisions such as driving drunk and fighting. Lowering the legal drinking age could also lower the age that underage teens drink down to middle school or younger years of high school since it would be so easy to obtain. In the next segment of my paper I will talk about the pros followed by the cons and

Throughout modern history, laws have been put in place to either help, resolve, or take care of issues that the population faces. A major debate that has been going on for generations is the drinking age. Most people think that this law should be lowered back down to 18, while others believe that it is fine where it is at. Alcohol is something that will always be around because it is seen as something we should enjoy and consume moderately. It becomes an issue when we consume it excessively, and I think this is a huge contribution to the reason why our drinking age is 21 and not 18.

In recent studies, it was shown that more people opposed lowering the legal age than were in favor of it. The majority of both people, over and under the legal age of drinking, agreed that the legal age should stay the same in the United States. Although looking at other countries, discluding the United States, will show that the drinking ages vary. “In Europe, Asia, and the Americas, for example, the range is generally between eighteen and twenty-one.” ( “Drinking Age” ). Even though, more people opposed lowering the legal age, the people that were in favor could argue with a few pros. A pro that comes along with lower drinking ages is the decriminalization of many acts that