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Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age

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Drinking Age In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed that officially raised the drinking age to 21 years old from being 18 years old. Ever since 1984, lowering the drinking age has been a controversial subject throughout American history. Personally, I believe that the United States should lower the legal drinking age to 18 years old again. One of the main reasons why the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in the first place was because of drinking and driving. The Alcohol Policies Project says that the Arizona Department of Public Safety found that fatal accidents increased over 25% while traffic accidents increased more than 35% after the state MLPA was lowered from 21 to 18 (CSPI). Also, according to MADD more than 25,000 lives have been saved in the U.S. thanks to the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MADD). Since the drinking age changed to 21, car …show more content…

A way to resolve this issue would to be to actually lower the drinking age. This is because I believe if the legal drinking age was lowered to 18 then teenagers would learn their alcohol limit at a younger age. By lowering the drinking age, we are teaching teens their limit and how to control themselves versus them figuring out the hard way further on in life. “Teaching people to drink responsibly before they turn 21 would enormously enhance public health. Now, high school and college kids view dangerous binge drinking as a rite of passage,” says Gabrielle Glaser (ProCon). Also, ProCon says prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they are prone to binge drink and participate in other unsafe behaviors (ProCon). By allowing 18-year-olds to drink legally in supervised places this will give both the teens and parents comfort and potentially diminish binge

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At age 19, typically they have a year of college under their belt. Along with lowering the minimum drinking age to 19, there should be laws that require bartenders to be more responsible on how much alcohol they serve to patrons. At 19 if they are allowed to drink legally they will stop drinking "behind closed doors" and be able to drink at a bar. If they started drinking at bars it could prevent a lot of things such as drinking too much because a bartender can stop serving you drinks. If someone got hurt at a bar a sober adult could call and get help, most bars may even call you a cab so you don't drink and

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Procon.org also states that “Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior.” When they do this it leads to alcohol poisoning, where other students or underage drinkers don’t want to call for help because their afraid their going to get busted. This is teaching kids that’s its ok to not be safe before getting

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A lot people question whether the legal drinking age should be lowered, or remain at 21. Some may think it isn’t such a good idea, because of the lack of maturity, and others may think it a good idea, because some people are going to do it anyway. However there are many pros and cons of lowering the legal drinking age. One pro is that the actual age where a person is considered to be an adult is 18.

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It was introduced in 1984 as the minimum drinking age act. By 1989 all 50 states had changed the minimum drinking age to 21. Although the current legal age helps prevent alcohol related deaths the legal U.S. drinking age should be lowered to 18. First of all the current drinking

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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed thirty-one years ago in July of 1984. Since then, it has been contested by many that the minimum age should be lowered to eighteen. Arguments ranging from being able to join the military, or courts trying you as an adult at the age of 18 have long been heard. Others will say the United States is too strict with the minimum age with only six percent of countries having a minimum age of twenty-one. This could mean one of two things: either we are too strict, or we are responsible with the laws created to protect young adults from the effects of alcohol.

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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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“The average age at which young people ages 12 to 17 begin to drink is 13 years old. The average age that underage drinker ages 12 to 20 begin to drink is 16.2 years old” (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). Thinking about those statistics makes me sick. I feel that the drinking age should not be lowered because it is too harmful to the body. Parts of our body’s that can be effected by drinking alcohol is your brain, heart, stomach, and liver.

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Teens And Drinking There has been controversy for many years about should the drinking age be lowered to 18 in the United states like most of the world has done or should it remain at 21 like it always has been in the U.S. In 1999 New Zealand lowered their drinking age to 18 but due to an increase in teen car accidents it was then raised back to 21. Also some European countries such as France and Great Britain have been showing more concern about high alcohol among teens they conducted a study to be a role model for other countries but it has been seen that teens are drinking a lot more. Teen’s have been breaking the law for years by getting fake Id’s so they can get into bars or go and buy alcohol to go party with other underage drinkers. Although many people argue that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 many feel that

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While the legal drinking age is 21, that does not stop underage drinking in the United States. On July 17, 1984, President Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This was a law that required states to raise the drinking age to 21 or face a 10 percent cut to their federal highway funding. All of the states fulfilled the requirement and accepted the higher drinking age(Tietjen). One of the biggest that contributes to underage drinking is mainly because it is “off limits.”

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The United States has one of the highest drinking ages in the world, yet more than 70 percent of teens have consumed alcohol at least once in their life. There are more and more fatalities from alcohol and many believe this problem has to do with the legal drinking age. In a way it is kind of strange that at eighteen years old a person can join the military and be trusted to defend our country and take a bullet, yet they cannot be trusted to drink alcohol. At eighteen years old that is the age where a child becomes an adult; they can vote, purchase tobacco, and join the military not to mention other things. Alcohol is always going to have the same effects on people, no matter what age after a person is intoxicated they are not the same.

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Eventually all 50 states set their minimum drinking age at 21 rather than losing millions in funding, and it was established (State). The drinking age in America was 21. Today this topic is highly debated. Should the legal drinking age be lowered? Adulthood and rights of United States citizens is a highly controversial argument in the debate of lowering the legal drinking age.

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According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, almost 80% or high school students have tried alcohol (“Alcohol”). These students are more likely to show serious drinking problems (including alcoholism) later in life usually during the middle age and adulthood. This is a problem for today’s youth, and there is public debate that the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years is not working to prevent youths from using alcohol. Lowering the legal age to 18 will make alcohol more available to those that are younger to purchase and consume. Even though 18 is the legal age of adulthood, the minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21 because alcohol damages the body is not done maturing, reduces alcohol-related fatalities, and reduces risky behavior.

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Lowering the drinking age: risky or safe? When teenagers turn 18, they are told that they are adults and are sent into the world. They go to college, get a job, marry or join the military. They do grown-up things like vote, pay taxes and become parents, but they can 't go to the bar for a beer.

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In some countries, like in Europe the drinking age is set at 18. Even though people in the US think this is insane, this set age has more positive effects than people think it would. It is known that binge drinking is a problem in the US since it has the highest rate in the world for binge drinking. In Europe, teenagers get their license at age 18, and some drinking ages are lower than that, they figure out how to control their drinking before the drive. Unlike in the US, kids drink and then drive because they either have to be home by curfew or they are too scared to call their parents for a ride, and admit they had been under the

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Why drinking age should be lowered? If one is considered an adult at age eighteen in most of the country, are they not allowed to purchase and legally consume alcohol? The minimum legal drinking age needs to be lowered, and not just for that reason. The amount of teenagers with drinking problems and alcoholism is far greater than in Europe, where drinking ages are far lower. Also, studies show that the current minimum age drinking laws have been ineffective to a high degree.

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