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Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age

1287 Words6 Pages

Will Lowering the Drinking Age Ensure Public Safety? The alcohol industry can often be seen as one of the wealthiest and most successful components of the American economy. In a year, the American people invest $90 billion in alcoholic beverages (“The Authority in Drug and Alcohol”). Although the U.S. spends a substantial amount of money on alcoholic beverages, the effects of alcohol do not go unnoticed. Alcohol impairs the senses of anyone who abuses it and can lead to serious health problems, but a hot topic that is often debated is the legal age for alcohol consumption. Some pose the idea of lowering the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 18 while others believe strongly in the legal age of 21. Many argue that alcohol can lead to bad …show more content…

The United States has seen the first-hand effects of this issue when 39 states decided to pass a law that legalized alcohol consumption at the age of 18. These decreased age requirements lead to numerous reports of alcohol-related deaths from driving while intoxicated. According to research collected by Wagenaar and Toomey, lowering the legal drinking age leads to 4.74 more deadly alcohol- related car accidents in the evening hours for each group of 100,000 young adults in a year (Carpenter and Dobkin). These results led states to rethink the overall consequences that occurred from lowering the MLDA which was followed by the ratification of National Minimum Drinking Act of 1984. This law stated that all U.S. states had to set their MLDA at 21 or they would be forced to relinquish 10% of the money they are given to support highway maintenance and construction (Toomey). This increase in the MLDA led to a decrease in the 18-20-year- old drivers involved in deadly drinking and driving accidents by 18% (Grossman and Henry). 25,509 American lives have been saved due to the increase of the 21-year old drinking age limit in the years

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“There’s No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age” explains, on average about eleven teens die daily as a result of drunk driving (Voas 464). When teens throw a party, alcohol is usually involved. Then once the party is over the kids have to get home somehow and they often drive themselves. When an alcoholic drink is placed in an eighteen-year-old hand decisions are made that harm them and others

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College Presidents Seek Debate On Drinking Age Summary

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Although it is a law commonly evaded; it prevents young people from car accidents and alcohol abuse or dependence. In the article is acknowledged that “more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependence”; a rate that would be highly increased if the drinking age is reduced. On top of that, it is worth considering the magnitude in which car accidents have dropped since the drinking age was lowered. The organization Mother Against Drunk Driving (MADD) CEO Chuck Hurley said “Nearly all peer- reviewed studies looking at the change showed raising the driving age reduced drunk-driving deaths.” It is undeniable that lowering the drinking age would generate an already managed issue in regards alcohol and its relation to car

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The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Summary

722 Words | 3 Pages

Traffic crash rates have been inversely related with the minimum legal drinking age since the 1970’s. Studies conducted since the 1980’s analyzed how the change in the MLDA affected the outcome of total traffic crashes for youth, drinking-driving convictions, single-vehicle nighttime crash fatalities, and alcohol problems among youth. The MLDA needs to be at 21, because 67% of the studies completed have concluded that there was a significant decrease in traffic crashes and crash fatalities when the drinking age was higher. In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that in 1987 alone, 1,071 traffic crashes were prevented because of the MLDA of 21 (NHTSA 1989). Lower rates of death caused by vehicle crashes were found in states with higher MLDA’s throughout these various studies, and a 16% decrease in vandalism rates were observed in 4 states that raised their MLDA.

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Why The Drinking Age To 21 Is Working Essay

1064 Words | 5 Pages

(BigJohny) With risk taking actions of teens can lead them into dangerous situations. The number of nightclubs and bars will increase, resulting in more crime. “Lowering the drinking age would be accompanied by other harmful behavior such as unplanned or unwanted sexual activity, violence, alcohol poisoning, etc”. (SpeakUp)

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1304 Words | 6 Pages

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765 Words | 4 Pages

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

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1299 Words | 6 Pages

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2060 Words | 9 Pages

On July 17,1984 the United States national drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 after MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) began to build awareness and gain support. MADD was founded after a 46 year-old drunk driver killed a thirteen year-old girl in a traffic accident (Streeter). The movement originated with efforts to decrease drunk drinking and to keep alcohol from the hands of young adults; and it would soon gain enough support that it reached Congress who would pass the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The act declared that all states must raise their minimum drinking age to 21 or face a 10% penalty to their federal highway dollars (Streeter). Despite the efforts put forth to increase safety and limit drunk driving, the 21 year old drinking age has been disastrous for young adults by creating dangerous situations, developing preventable traffic incidents, and allowing people to believe it is acceptable to bypass the law; therefore the drinking age should be lowered to 18 and be enforced effectively.

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Legal Drinking Age Essay

874 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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769 Words | 4 Pages

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism seems like an issue that keeps getting increasingly worse each year in the United States. According to USA Today and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both say that approximately 6 people die from alcohol poisoning, caused from binge drinking, each day, which amounts to roughly 2,200 people each year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “In 2013 an estimated 697,000 adolescents ages 12–17 (2.8 percent of this age group) had an [alcohol use disorder]” (“Alcohol Facts”). Something has to stop and something has to change from preventing this more because 6 people dying each day from binge drinking alone is a lot, not to mention that 12-17 year olds are having alcohol problems at such a young age. Lowering the drinking age will enforce this act even more, promoting more drinking in fact.

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Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age

1070 Words | 5 Pages

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903 Words | 4 Pages

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