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Drinking Age Essay

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At the age of 18 we become adults. People are considered adults at the age of 18 and that’s when they start to really get affected by the law. Drinking can become a problem for 18 year olds since it can ruin their lives. Drinking alcohol becomes legal at the age of 21. The drinking age should drop down from 21 to 18.
What is the Drinking age? Drinking age refers to the minimum age in which you can legally drink alcoholic beverages. The current age that you can legally drink without punishment is at the age of 21. The current age to Legally drink is 21, yet we become adults at the age of 18. childhood begins at birth and ends at age 18. At the age of 18 we become adults and take on many more responsibilities, but for some reason drinking is …show more content…

Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDA) on July 17, 1984. This act pressured states to change the legal drinking age to 21. The act stated that states refusing to lower the age would receive a 10% decrease in government funding for roads and highways. No state would want to lose 10% of their income for not changing the drinking age and congress knew this. So with this statement congress knew that they could persuade every state to change their drinking age even if the state was against it. Opponents of the bill suggest that raising the purchasing age has led many youth to unhealthy drinking habits and alcoholism. Seeing how easy it was to raise the drinking age it would probably be even easier to lower it back down, if congress would agree to it. Opponents of the NMDA suggest that the raise in drinking age has also raised the amount of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. They claim “teenagers "learn" to drink at parties and other social situations, which encourage excessive binge drinking and poor judgement.” Studies have also shown that alcohol abuse at a young age greatly increases the risk of alcoholism in the future. If Teens of the age of 18 would learn to drink in moderation, without having to feel the need to drink as much as they can when given the opportunity, then we might see less alcohol abuse at young

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