The United States should lower the drinking age since it being 21 doesn't stop anyone. In the 70s the drinking age was 18 and it didn't make anyone a criminal. It would also generate a lot of money and since they made the age 21 a lot of teens have been binge drinking. The fact that colleges support lowering the drinking age tells you that it isn't a bad idea. A few of the colleges that support it are some of the best colleges in the U.S. like Duke, Dartmouth, and many more. The only reason the drinking age was raised in the first place was because the Mothers Against Drinking.“I'm going to lower the drinking age to eighteen. If you're old enough to die in Iraq, you're old enough to drink.” ― Kinky Friedman .If the Men and Women of this …show more content…
But back to the matter lowering the drinking age would also produce a lot of revenue for the government and local gas stations and beer companies across the globe and it would make all of the young adults across this great country we can call home more mature in the process even though I am very mature. Particularly worrisome among adolescents is the high prevalence of binge drinking... Underage drinkers consume, on average, 4 to 5 drinks per occasion about 5 times a month. By comparison, drinkers age 26 and older consume 2 to 3 drinks per occasion, about 9 times a month. Underage drinking is a leading contributor to death from injuries, which are the main cause of death for people under age 21. Each year, approximately 5,000 persons under the age of 21 die from causes related to underage drinking. These deaths include about 1,600 homicides and 300 suicides. This would also help bring back the great reputations of many college institutions from …show more content…
"In general, the younger people start to drink the safer they are," said Heath, who has written several books and hundreds of scholarly articles on cultural attitudes towards alcohol. When introduced early, he said, "Alcohol has no mystique. It's no big deal. By contrast, where it's banned until age 21, there's something of the 'forbidden fruit' syndrome." and if the United States has learned anything from not letting people drink it is that it does not last very long and that the citizens always find a way around the system and break the laws like how gas stations still sell alcohol to minors just like most gas stations sell cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, dip, chaw, chew, chewing tobacco, vapor cigarettes, hookah, hookah pens. “It is also clear that alcohol affects the adolescent brain differently than the adult brain, but the story is not simple and the data should be interpreted cautiously as this complex science
Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered? Eighteen, that magical age, everyone has dreamed about turning. The number eighteen is significant in America because it is when teenagers are finally given the chance to become independent. Finally, you are no longer viewed as a child in the America, but as an adult. You can finally enjoy the same rights and privileges as other adults.
“If the legal age were lowered in the US it would have to come with much more education in this area, not just the shock-value of Every 15 Minutes” said Ulrike Skillman, math teacher at Saugus. Skillman suggests the lowering of the drinking age will have to come with more alcohol education and that is the exact purpose of a “drinking license.” Which would allow 18 year olds to consume alcohol, with strict regulations, then take classes to officially receive a “drinking license” at 21 years old. The license would replicate a driver’s license, but be geared toward consuming alcohol.
The Effects of Lowering the Drinking Age According to Carla T. Main in “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” from The Tennessee Electronic Library, the legal drinking age shouldn’t be reduced in result of all of the things that occur due to underage drinking. She talks about how institutions could help by having discussions with the college students about responsible drinking. When the drinking age was lowered between 1970 and 1976, the results were catastrophic. The highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed.
The drinking age used to be 18. Many people wish that it would go back to that. Mary Kate Cary of the US News and World Report wrote an article talking about lowering the drinking age. “There was no need for “pregaming” – binge drinking in private apartments or dorms before heading out in public” says Cary. If the drinking age was lowered we would not have to worry about college students buying and selling fake IDs, distributing alcohol to minors, and less turning to drugs because drugs are easier to get than alcohol.
Should the Drinking Age be Lowered? The national drinking age should not be lowered. The reason the drinking age should not be lowered is because of college students. Accidents and other risks such as mental problems occur.
Should the U.S. Legal Drinking Age be lowered from 21 to 18 Years of Age? Alcohol is considered the drug of choice for many American youth. Statistics provide that there are more than 10.1 million underage drinkers in the U.S. with 85 percent of college students and 72 percent of 12 graders having tried alcohol. As a result, underage drinking contributes to death from injuries, increases the risk of sexual and physical assault, as well as playing a role in risky sexual behavior. However, there have been increasing debates over whether the minimum legal drinking age should be reduced from 21 years to 18 years.
The debate over what age should be legal for a person to drink has been going on for a long while now. The talk of lowering the drinking age has been because many young people in today’s society believe that since they are adults at the age of 18, then they should be able to decide when they themselves should be able to purchase and consume alcohol. A lower drinking age would have a worse affect rather than a pleasing one, so it would be more beneficial to keep it as it is rather than changing it. Some of the benefits of keeping the drinking age as it is would be: less drunk driving accidents, less brain damage and better decision making.
Not only has lowering the drinking age lowered to death rates but its also changed to lives of many. The legal drinking age should not be lowered because of all the aspects that its has already improved. There is no point in fixing something that isn't broke. Changing the legal drinking age should not be changed because it doesn't lower binge drinking, it helps with traffic deaths, and also lowers other acts of risky behaviors. One of the points that has been clearly stated is binge drinking and how if its was legal then people such as college students wouldn’t be faced with the temptations of it, but binge drinking was a problem before the legal drinking age was changed to twenty-one (Deguits 3).
The drinking age in America is currently set to the age of twenty-one, but should it really be? Day-after-day people abuse this law and partake in underage drinking; however, these people who abuse the law are considered adults. Eighteen, nineteen, and twenty-year-old citizens are given the responsibilities of being an adult, should they not also be given the rewards of being an adult? That is why the drinking ages should be lowered from the age of twenty-one to the age of eighteen.
Because of this, people want to see the drinking age lowered to 18 years old. This way college students would be allowed to go to a bar and have a few drinks in a public and supervised space. They would be less inclined to binge drink at private parties as they could legally obtain alcohol whenever they liked and therefore would end up being safer. In a public environment, such as a restaurant or bar, the pressure and need to drink a lot is much less and therefore college students wouldn’t end up drinking themselves to death. Overall, the idea is that if college students can’t be stopped from drinking alcohol, they should at least be allowed and encouraged to engage in this drinking in a safer environment; in these places they can better learn to drink alcohol responsibly without the risk of killing
Frat parties, for example, serve booze, often, if not always, without the supervision of a responsible adult (aka an adult over the age of 21). Lowering the drinking age to 18 can be beneficial in that responsible drinking can be taught before the student turns 21. My favorite analogy, by Huffington Post writer, Elizabeth Glass Geltman, says, “We don’t have students teach each other how to drive, why is alcohol different?” In her article on Huffington Post, she talks about her college experience in the 70s and early 80s, where the legal drinking age in the US was 18. She talks about how drinking was legal for most students in her senior year of high school and in college, and that beer was commonly served at dances, proms, graduation events, etc.
The drinking age should be lowered, because brains are not fully developed yet, colleges should be able to regulate drinking, and this can solve problems with kids underage drinking. Despite the controversy, the drinking age should decrease for many logical reasons. The drinking age has been a debate between the ages 18 to the age of 21 for a while now. Over the years, studies have showed favors toward the age of 21.
Drugs such as alcohol have an effect on all users, regardless of their age; however, alcohol has an especially harmful effect on teens since their bodies are still developing. Studies have shown that alcohol has numerous negative effects on a teen’s body and mental health; for example, a study conducted by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention stated that “alcohol consumption affects the brain’s frontal lobes, which is essential for functions such as emotional regulations, planning, and organization” (“Age”). Teens already have high emotions and difficulties planning and organizing; alcohol will only enhance teens’ struggle. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention also found that alcohol consumption at a young age can potentially cause chronic problems such as memory loss, depression, suicidal thoughts, and poor decision making (“Age”). Teens have a difficult enough time making decisions and organizing their lives, but adding alcohol to the mix will only make matters worse; their bodies are still developing, and they are still learning to be adults.
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. This leads to an important question on whether our democracy should lower the MLDA. Underage drinking facts, international drinking ages, enforcement of underage drinking laws, as well as proposed implications of new laws justify lowering the drinking age. The democracy of the United States of America should lower the MLDA, and adopt a graduated licensing system.
Across the country, college students participate in an illegal activity known as underage drinking. The drinking age in America is an ongoing debate of whether it should be kept at 21, or reduced to 18. While some believe lowering the drinking age would make drinking for young kids safer, others presume the opposite. According to Alexis Aguirre, a journalist at the Texas State University Star, “The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Once 18, a person is legally considered an adult and should be able to drink.”