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. These debates have also shaped two paradigms whereby one is for the opinion that if 18-year-olds are legally allowed to join the armed forces, to vote, join the jury, and drive, why can’t they be allowed to drink alcohol? The other paradigm holds that reducing the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years would not guarantee responsible drinking and as such may result in serious injuries or death. Paradigm 1 It is unfair to allow 18-year-olds to fight enemies in battle fields but yet deny them the right to have a drink. Therefore, if the law feels that 18-year-olds are capable of joining the armed forces, driving, and voting, then …show more content…
This would also impair their organization and planning capabilities and may even lead to depression and suicide. The MLDA should not be lowered due to the responsibility required to an individual and others. Lowering the MLDA would lead to more use of illicit drugs among the persons between 18 and 21 years old. It follows that the younger a person starts to engage in alcohol, the higher the chances of using other illicit drugs. Moreover, when the drinking age was 18 years, the cases of fatal crashes caused by underage drunk drivers were twice as many as