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Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age

1959 Words8 Pages

Drinking Age
The legally acceptable age of consuming alcohol in the U.S. is one of the largest most frequent debates among people. There are a lot of people who believe lowering the drinking age will not only reduce the rates of underage drinking, but it is a right once you are of age. However, lowering the drinking age does not only put other people’s life in danger, but young adults still do not have the right development as well as the knowledge of the importance of the responsibilities that come with drinking. In general, everyone has an idea about the dangers and risks about excessive drinking in adults. If the drinking age is lowered, these risks will only increase in young adult because they are not still fully developed. Having an early onset of alcohol consumption also can lead to an increase of health issues both physically and mentally in young …show more content…

has not always been twenty-one. In the late 60’s and early 70’s many of the states in the U.S. had their laws set to where the legal drinking age was eighteen (U.S. Dept. of HHS n. pag.). During this time where some stated adopted the legal drinking age of eighteen the death in alcohol-related incidents increase in young adults. Forcing some states in the early 80’s to reconsider the legal drinking age to be changed back to twenty-one. By 1984, congress stepped in to help lower the rate of alcohol-related incidents. A law was passed that would hold back federal funds from highway improvements to any state that would not change their legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one (U.S. Dept. of HHS n. pag.). After congressed passed legislation, by 1988 all fifty states had converted the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one. Once all fifty states increased the legal drinking age there was a significate decrease in the deaths of young adults due to alcohol-related incidents (U.S. Dept. of HHS n. pag.). However, the cases of young adults who drink and drink excessively

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Why the Drinking Age Should Be Lowered Alcohol consumption in the United States is a prominent phenomenon that it has sparked the debate on the age limitations regarding its use. In more than fifty states in the United States, the legal drinking age is twenty-one years which is comparably high relative to countries such as Germany, Belgium and Denmark that allow even sixteen year olds to purchase wine and beer. There are several reasons that necessitate the drinking age to be lowered from twenty-one years to eighteen years in the United States. These reasons are not only leveraged on following trends between countries but also on creating moral responsibility among teenagers. To this end, this essay seeks to analyse the reasons why drinking age should be lowered to eighteen years in the United States.

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