Drinking Age Debate

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.
Opponents and proponents use the issue of underage drinking as a propeller for their arguments. Opponents claim that if we lower the drinking age, younger teenagers will

Lowering the drinking age sounds like a good plan, but even proponents of this idea are wary about the safety of the nation if this happens. “Choose Responsibility,” is a non-profit organization discussing the presence of alcohol in America. Director, Dr. John McCardell Jr suggests that to have young adults ready for the responsibility of alcohol consumption, they should first be educated. He promotes a class like driver 's education, which must be passed to drink. Upon passing, a tiered drinking license would be awarded (Choose). Similar to a learner’s permit, a period would include alcohol consumption under parent supervision. By coupling a lower drinking age with an alcohol education class, the way society handles and uses alcohol could be normalized. In addition to educating new drinkers, the flow of alcohol to minors would be slowed

Alex Fram, owner of the blog located at http://support18drinkingage.blogspot.com/ suggests the following, “Hypothetically, you’re 18 years old, and you have the burning passion to fight for your country. Finally, you join the army and get sent overseas to fight for your [country] … When you come back you have everyone thanking you, and your friends and family want to throw you a party to show them how gracious they are. All the adults are drinking to celebrate, should you not be able to? You are 18, a legal adult, you have been shot at, and defended your country, but you cannot drink a beer. Is this right, is this humane? No, it is not. You can vote, join the armed forces, get married, own a home, have a child, drive a car, but you cannot have alcohol.” Which explains, in laymen 's terms, what McCardell suggests. As a young adult, you shouldn’t be deprived of alcohol, especially since you are entitled to rights, as mentioned above. The most important aspect of lowering the drinking age is instilling responsibility in the young drinker. This responsibility can be found in the alcohol education class and licensing system McCardell suggests. Underage drinking facts, international drinking ages, enforcement of underage drinking laws, as well as proposed implications prove that lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age is the ethical decision to