31% of road accident deaths in America are due to alcohol, whereas in Germany, with a legal drinking age of 16, 9% of road accident deaths are due to alcohol (McCarthy). Could a lower minimum drinking age be beneficial for the US? After prohibition was repealed in 1933, states were allowed to set their own minimum legal drinking age. Some states set theirs at 21 and others 18 to 20. A few decades later, the government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984 which allowed the government to reduce highway funding to states that chose to keep their MLDA below 21. 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. Voting, serving in the military and on a
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Everyone knows it happens; whether it’s house parties, parties out in the woods, or just drinking on the down low, underage drinking occurs everywhere. The minimum legal drinking age doesn’t stop underage drinkers, and law enforcement does not make stopping underage drinkers a priority. Why should the MLDA be set at 21 if nobody follows or enforces the law? Arguers say a legal age of 18 would result in a higher compliance with the law. On the flip side, studies have shown that the current drinking laws prevent binge drinking by making alcohol less available for those most susceptible to binge drinking, teenagers. Also, people against lowering the legal drinking age agree that underage consumption of alcohol still occurs, but it still prevents less teenagers from drinking alcohol than if the MLDA was 18. It only makes sense, if the legal drinking age were 18, more teens will be consuming alcohol than there currently are for the sole reason of