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Legal Drinking Age Essay

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Being in my thirties and growing up in New York State, I have always known the legal drinking age to be 21 years old. Alcohol has long been a staple in society, with attempts to eliminate this drug futile and unsuccessful. The ratification of the 18th Amendment in the 1920’s emerged from the temperance movement to re-moralize and create a “better” society (History.com, 2015). At the time, many held the belief that alcohol was responsible for the degradation of society, causing the temporary prohibition of alcohol in the United States. Nevertheless, prohibition did little to quell America’s lust for alcohol, led to an increase in criminal activity, and contributed to large loss in economic revenue for the government (History.com, 2015). Repeal of this initiative was enacted in 1933, however a “few” …show more content…

Prior to this exercise, I was under the impression that all states held a minimum drinking age of 21, yet I was wrong. States such as Illinois, Washington, Kansas and Arkansas have provision where individuals at 18 years old are able to consume beer and wine, but not liquor (Federal Trade Commission.gov, 2013). However, statistics show that alcohol consumption is prevalent by those well below the legal drinking age regardless of how low it is. According to the CDC, 11% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S each year is done by those 12-20 years old (CDC.gov, 2016). Despite laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors, the appeal of alcohol remains significant. Again, this speaks to the strong social message propagated by images of clubs, media outlets with a “young” target audience, and social media selfies. I must admit that the legal drinking age does little to deter alcohol consumption in minors or their ability to obtain it. Strict adherence to the law must be followed by businesses in order to limit the availability to this

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