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Drinking Age Persuasive Essay

833 Words4 Pages

“In 2015, 2,333 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed while under the influence and 221,313 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes in 2014” (“Motor Vehicle Safety”). This statistic brought up the real debate of should the legal drinking age remain 21. To some people the legal drinking age should remain 21, and that its the smart thing to do for our society. On the other hand some people think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because people think that once you turn 18 your mature enough to start drinking. The drinking age should remain at the age of 21. People started to realize the dangers and consequence of alcohol under 21. That's when the 18th amendment was passed, and …show more content…

This means that if one consumes alcohol before the age of 21 it can cause a lifetime of damage internally to most of all your organs in your body. Alcohol is a poison, and it's gonna do what poisons do, kill you. Alcohol is just an aid for bad brain development, a loss in memory, and possibly death if drank as a teen. Even if one does drink above the age of 21 it will still cause damage, but your body is more developed than a teen and can process it better than an …show more content…

Also people think that if you can buy tobacco products at 18, why can’t you buy alcohol at 18. Mr. Marron, a vice chairman of the appropriations committee states “Now we have a legal age of 18 to do everything else, but you can't drink until you're 21”.(Marron) He thinks that it's a “form of age discrimination.” people also think that most teens are going to start drinking drinking before the age of 21 anyways, so the Government might as well make the legal drinking age 18. This is the opposite side of the

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If 18 year olds are old enough to vote or fight and die for their country, then they should be able to drink alcohol. [McCardell] believes that alcohol is a fixture in the lives of young people and suggests, instead of trying to outlaw it, America should consider policies the will “empower” eighteen-to-twenty-year olds to make mature decisions about it. In the early 1970s, most states raised the drinking age at 21 since that was the voting age at that time. From 1969 to 1976, some 30 states lowered their purchase ages, generally to 18. This happened because the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971 with the 26th amendment that was passed with the congress of the united states to amid increasing support for a constitutional amendment.

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There is a stigma that if the drinking age is lowered there would be motor vehicle accidents and more health problems. Lowering the drinking age to 18, would help eliminate the thrill of breaking the law on drinking until able to drink at 21. Since drink is not allowed, many young adults will hide and drink in basemnets, dorm rooms, home, etc, to hide the fact that they drink. This leads them to drink as much as they can in a short amount of time which is not healthy. In a New York Times article by John Cloud (2008), in many other countries but the United States at 28 you are considered legal to do things such as adopt a child, or vote.

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A poll taken on July 2014 asked the public opinion of US adults for lowering the US legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Approximately 74% of the people opposed the idea, whereas roughly 25% of the people supported the idea ("Public Opinion" 1). The statistics indicate satisfaction among the majority of the people; however, with the current laws many issues arise that must be addressed concerning alcohol use. For starters, studies show an increase of dangerous drinking habits among young adults (Hall 2). In addition, the enforcement of the drinking laws and education on alcohol is insubstantial (Moyse, Fonder 3).

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Paragraph 1 Underage drinking can affect your brain and the way you act drastically and the way you do things from under the age of 21. People under the age of 21, their brains are not fully developed yet which

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