Minimum Legal Drinking Age 1
These passages present a discussion about arguments concerning the lowering of the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. This is an important debate to parents because of the inherent dangers of alcohol. The two positions argue whether or not people under the age of 21 should be given the legal right to drink. Both viewpoints have valid claims warranting consideration. For example, evidence indicates that people under the age of 21 are responsible enough to drink alcohol. In contrast, opposing evidence suggests that those under the age of 21 are not responsible enough handle the dangers of alcohol. While both sides of the issue have valid points, the claim that the legal drinking age should not be lowered is the stronger position, the position supported by the preponderance of the evidence cited in the passages. The most convincing and forceful reasons in support of the position that the legal drinking age should not be lowered are that keeping the drinking age at 21 will save lives, alcohol medically interferes with those under the age of 21, and that lowering the legal drinking age will not teach young people to drink responsibly. Accordingly, these reasons and opposing viewpoints are discussed next. The first pertinent point
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To demonstrate this point, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found that though several European countries lowered the legal drinking age, the percentage of teen intoxication in the United States is equal or lower than that of European teens. As a further illustration, with access to alcohol, this tactic will only encourage teens to drink more. In brief, there is little evidence to show that giving teens the right to drink alcohol will make them more responsible; in fact, the opposite seems to be