Why The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

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

In recent discussions of the drinking age limit, people have always said that the drinking age limit should be lowered. Some may argue that alcohol is not bad and that it can actually be beneficially. Many people would want the drinking age limit to be lowered so that it is legal for young adults to drink. If the drinking age limit were to be lowered there would be a drastic difference in society. In my perspective I will argue that the drinking age limit should not be lowered.

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life than those who started at the legal age of 21 or later.

The legal drinking age should not be lowered to 18, but stay at 21 because It leads to irresponsible behavior and decisions. Young adults who drink tend not to care about their actions. Robert Voas who has worked for the National Highway Administration Office, claims that it would not be a good idea to lower the drinking age to 18. According to Voas, (Believe me when I say that lowering the drinking age would be very dangerous; it would benefit no one except those who profit from alcohol sales.) Young adults who are not 21 years of age tend to make irresponsible decisions like getting behind the wheel drunk. Being a young adult and driving under the influence of alcohol can lead one to a major accident or even death. Lowering the requirement of drinking may benefit underage adults but the death rate of drunk driving will increase rapidly. Robert Voas has studied drunk driving for 40 years and he has seen numerous accidents and deaths of immature young adults drinking under the influence.

During World War two, there was limited amount of troops due to the age requirements while drafting. Because of this, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the United States at the time, approved of lowering the drafting age from twenty one to eighteen years old. This strengthened the United States’ troops, but at the same time, it formed a gateway for more issues to be discussed in the future. At the time of World War two, not only was the drafting age twenty one, but you had to be twenty one to vote, and also, setting the drinking age was a state power. Because of this soldiers of ages eighteen to twenty began to raise the issue of being able to hold a weapon

Ever since the end of prohibition in 1933 the United States government has placed the issue of minimum legal drinking age sensitively in the hands of the states, letting each decide for itself what the minimum age should be. At that time all agreed that the minimum legal drinking age should be 21, where it remained for all states until 1970.Between 1970, and 1975 a number of states played around with the idea of lowering that age to 20, 19, and

Over the years the drinking age or the drinking laws have been questioned and changed many times. For a few years now more recently question being, should the drinking age be lowered to eighteen? Or why shouldn’t it? In the United States, binge drinking has been a big problem. Its one of the top causes for traffic tragedies as well as other health issues that come along with it, especially among college students. However since the drinking age has changed from being 18 to 21 there has not been a change and or a decrease in deaths due to drunk driving accidents, suicide, homicide or delinquency. The drinking age should be lowered to eighteen because in the United States, eighteen is the age of adulthood and your mature enough to make these kinds of decisions.

Despite the problems that would arise, many people are beginning to feel that the drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen. Studies have been made; however, no hard evidence suggesting lowering the minimum drinking age would help have surfaced. Although there are countless studies of how alcohol has many harmful effects on teenagers, there is a great deal of negative criticism about what if the drinking age is lowered. Some would say the morally right decision is to not allow teens the chance to hurt themselves. Everyone is entitled to having his or her own opinions and beliefs. However, the overall health of the youth of our country seems a little more important than some personal belief. The drinking age should not be

In 2009, about 10.4 million young people between ages 12 and 20 drank more than “just a few sips” of alcohol (Underage). The drinking age should be lowered to age 18 because teens are considered adults at this age, less people in jail for hosting underage drinking, and teens can be taught responsible drinking. Although there is a negative side to lowering the drinking age because it can cause more motor-vehicle accidents, greater chance for alcohol problems, and the health risk it can cause. There is also warning signs to look for in a teen that is drinking underage the age of 21.

All over the world many individuals consume alcohol, but the issue has been that teens have been intaking alcohol under the legal age. The legal age of twenty-one was placed up to prevent irresponsible, undeveloped adolescents from drinking and creating complicated problems(Brief History of the Drinking Age). Although there is a legal age those under the age of twenty-one still continue to drink anyways. Alcohol impairs the human body and can cause those who consumed it to do things they wouldn't do sober. The drinking age should remain at twenty-one in order to curb underage binge drinking, to prevent accidents involving drunk drivers under the age of twenty-one, and to encourage young adults to make intelligent decisions.

Adolescents feel the need to hide from their peers when participating in underage drinking. “Like basements, fraternity houses and locked dorm rooms, where kids go to hide from the law and from adults, including parents, who might teach them some moderation” (The Debate On). Adolescents do not care about whether or not they are breaking the law. They will continue to break the law behind closed doors, even though they know it is wrong. Adolescents participate in the majority of the underage drinking. “The 21 year-old drinking age has pushed young adult and adolescent drinking behind closed doors and away from supervision by parents, residence life staff, and other adults authority figures. 90% of the alcohol consumption by individuals between 18-20 years old is done while engaging in binge drinking behavior” (Lowering the Drinking). There should not be an age restriction on the legal age of drinking; individuals will participate in it not matter what their age is. Due to the fact that 90% of alcohol consumption is done by individuals between the ages of 18-20, the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age. Not only has the age restriction on drinking alcohol caused unsafe drinking activities to take place, but it has also increased the amount of times that the law has been

In the United States the drinking age should be adjusted to 18 because we are considered legal. Therefore, adjusting the drinking age to 18 should be allowed. Making alcohol is more accessible makes it less of a big deal. Less restriction and less control make it less appealing and less of a thrill. It teaches them to drink responsible and socially.

Whether the legal drinking age is twenty one or eighteen , there are going to be problems related to alcohol. Making the legal drinking age twenty one actually created more problems than it solved. By prohibiting the use of alcohol to minors, more problems are created because young adults have began “pregaming”.’ Pregaming is the modern term for drinking before a social event. The dangerous aspect of pregaming is that is that timing is limited. Teens feel the needs to chug their alcohol and wind up consuming too much in a short amount of time. This happens because they might not not have access to alcohol when they go to a public event after their pregame. For example, at tailgates, you can usually find underage kids chugging their alcohol

There has been a progressing contention inside the United States on regardless of whether the drinking age need to be brought down to eighteen like a large portion of the world or on the off chance that it should remain at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a genuine disputable issue for quite a long time, however why is it not under control? Young people are proceeding to search for liquor with false recognizable proof cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illicitly. As a young person I really have confirmation that these things are going on not just in school however in secondary school moreover. There are a lot of components that meet up to why the drinking age need to be brought down to eighteen; premier clear reason is quite recently an excessive number of us are drinking before they are twenty-one. Alcohol stores, bars, and clubs all need to profit and on the off chance that they can escape with pitching to underage youngsters then they will. An investigation done by the

The age-old question that is debated by most teens and adults in the United States, is whether or not the legal age for drinking should be raised or decreased. From a teen’s point of view, they typically think the legal age should be reduced from 21 to 18, while on the other hand, most adults think it should stay the same or even be raised higher. The age has fluctuated over the years, even before 1984 each state got to choose their own drinking age, but with that if the state didn’t comply with the legal age of 21 they had their government funding cut by approximately 10%. While the Minimum Legal Drinking Age(MLDA) being moved to 21 has decreased the amount of reported underage drinking by 59% in 1985 to 40% in 1991 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), it still doesn’t take into account of the number of teens that drink illegally. We are going to look at the positives and negatives of changing or keeping the legal drinking age.