Lowering The Drinking Age Pros And Cons

The debate of whether the U.S. federal government should lower the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) from 21 to 18 has been going on for several years. Before the 1980s, 18 was the minimum age that people could legally consume alcoholic beverages. However, a new policy advocating for an increase in the MLDA began to gain momentum in the early 1980s and by 1984, it had won over a majority of the Congress (Balko). In 1984, the U.S.government introduced the National Minimum Drinking Age Act to the public. This new law officially raised the MLDA from 18 to 21 and created much controversy throughout the nation. For the past 20 years, there have many arguments of whether or not this act was justified. In reality, it is clear that there are both pros

More specifically, many people believe that lowering the legal MLDA to 18 will allow adolescents to gain the experience they need to become more responsible drinkers. For instance, people ages 18-20 will “get an idea of their tolerance and learn to drink under supervision at bars (or on campus, if in college), rather than at uncontrolled private parties away from school” (Center for Science in The Public Interest). This shows that many advocates for lowering the MLDA believe that supervision in bars and on university campuses will prevent students from doing any harm. They believe that this will be the most efficient and least harmful way of introducing alcohol to young adults. However, despite the fact that lowering the legal MLDA may help adolescents to learn their tolerance, it still can not prevent them from creating dangerous environments for themselves and the people around them. Alcohol consumption by college students are a main factor in the increase of major injuries and sexual assaults around campuses. For example, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “excessive drinking contributed to more than 1,700 college student deaths and more than 500,000 student injuries in 2001… Thousands of sexual assaults among college students are also tied to binge drinking” (Wechsler) as well. The fact that almost half of college students have not only reported consuming alcohol, but binge drinking (having five or more drinks in one sitting), is quite terrifying. It is clear that alcohol has a direct correlation to the amount of casualties that occur on college campuses. Moreover, reducing the MLDA does not make any sense because it will not give college students an incentive to stop drinking, but solely give them the eligibility to continue doing so. Secondly, stating that