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Lowering The Drinking Age Essay

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Alcohol is a factor in everyday life. Although it is popular in American culture, it tends to be abused by many people. At some point in time, teens will start to become interested about drinking alcoholic beverages. The legal drinking age is a highly talked about subject. The drinking age should not be lowered. To begin with, drinking can be detrimental to a person's health. “An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethyl alcohol, also called ethanol, a chemical that slows the activity of the nervous system” (Claus). The human brain sends signals to the spinal cord, which creates the actions the human body makes. Consuming harmful chemicals can disrupt the nervous system’s process, especially if used by people under 21. The consumption of an alcoholic beverage below the age of 21 also slows down the development of the brain. Two parts of the brain is damaged when drinking alcohol under the age of 21. “The hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and learning, can be damaged or destroyed by the long term use of alcohol” (National Health and Medical Research Council). This indicates that adolescents must refrain from …show more content…

The influence of alcohol may cause people, especially teens, to want to experiment with other drug substances. Particularly in adolescents, alcohol use can cause them to spark interest in the use of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and many more. “In 1985, a report published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found alcohol to be a stepping stone to use of heavier drugs” (Gonzales). This results in teens engaging in illegal activities, which may have horrible long lasting effects. “Alcohol consumption in the media may also influence personal drinking habits” (Frey and Schonbeck). Many teens believe that, what they see on television is how real life should be like. Influence plays a key part in a teens

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Underage drinking is a gigantic problem in the world we live in today, especially in the age range of 17-20 year olds. It is caused by teens wanting to be “cool” and have a sense of “freedom”. But lowering the drinking age would destroy a MLDA ( Minimum Legal Drinking Age) age that has been set at the age of 21 that since 1933. As a consequence, reports from 1970 show that there were more teenage car accidents due to setting the MLDA lower than 21. So not only would lowering the MLDA destroy the MLDA that has been since 1933 but also cause tragedies all over the USA.

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One con of lowering the drinking age is that it may interfere with the development of an young individual’s brain. Especially the frontal lobes, emotional regulation, planning, and also organization. When a young adult consumes alcohol it increases the potential of having chronic issues, like greater vulnerability to addiction. It also plays a role in depression, violence, and reduced decision making ability (Ives2008).

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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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In addition, people all around the world drink on the daily including teens. They either drink to have fun with friends or they drink to escape when they are feeling unhappy. In today’s society most teens aren't as responsible or mature enough to understand the importances of how serious drinking can be. Drinking has many consequences to it and could but your health and growing brain in dange.

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Underage drinking happens in the United States because it is not hard for an underage person to obtain alcohol. A study shows that 48.4% of people from the ages of sixteen and seventeen have tried alcohol and 52.2% of people between the ages of eighteen to twenty have tried alcohol (Reboussin, 2006). This shows the availability of alcohol to adolescents even with laws aimed to prevent this. This same study asked the questioned sample if they believed that most of their peers in the community drank alcohol and 72.7% answered yes. This stat represents that sixteen through twenty year olds know that they have easy access to alcohol.

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Having the legal drinking age set to 21 has not stopped teens from drinking. Although adults drink more often than people under twenty one, when underage drinkers do drink they drink a lot more than adults. This is because it is harder for people under twenty one to obtain alcohol. The United States government should consider lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Teenagers in the United States are no strangers to irresponsible drinking.

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Drugs such as alcohol have an effect on all users, regardless of their age; however, alcohol has an especially harmful effect on teens since their bodies are still developing. Studies have shown that alcohol has numerous negative effects on a teen’s body and mental health; for example, a study conducted by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention stated that “alcohol consumption affects the brain’s frontal lobes, which is essential for functions such as emotional regulations, planning, and organization” (“Age”). Teens already have high emotions and difficulties planning and organizing; alcohol will only enhance teens’ struggle. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention also found that alcohol consumption at a young age can potentially cause chronic problems such as memory loss, depression, suicidal thoughts, and poor decision making (“Age”). Teens have a difficult enough time making decisions and organizing their lives, but adding alcohol to the mix will only make matters worse; their bodies are still developing, and they are still learning to be adults.

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The brain cells in the brain of a heavy drinker happens to not work as correctly as a kid that does not drink. Alcohol slows down the cerebral cortex and the way it works to get information from a person’s senses. Underage drinking also messes with the Frontal Lobes their important for planning, forming ideas, and making decisions. If alcohol was to damage part of the brain where the Hippocampus is located it could be very hard for the person to learn new

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