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Lowering The Drinking Age Pros And Cons

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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 …show more content…

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

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Students in college don't want to get in trouble for drinking, so they become reckless. They do things such as "pregaming," which is binge drinking in private before going in public. If they are drinking in private and someone gets hurt, it's less likely someone is going to get help. Getting help may cause them to get arrested for underage drinking themselves. "Underage drinkers

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According to the chart, most of the drinking is being done by teens. The chart depicts that only a small amount of youths wait until they are legal to start drinking. Lowering MLDA will encourage and increase the amount of drinking among young teens. It will also lead to an increase in risky behavior which will have dire consequences for youth. “Letting younger people drink is giving immature citizens more of the ability to make bad decisions that not only affect themselves but can also be very harmful to others”.

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Mentioned earlier, several young adults are entering college at this point in their lives. John McCardell Jr, former president of Middlebury College, founded Choose Responsibly, a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of the dangers of excessive drinking and reckless alcohol consumption by young adults. His main goal is to lower the minimum drinking age by spreading awareness to the public (McCardell). He understands that the pressure to drink in college is very prevalent, and when we restrict eighteen to twenty year olds from drinking, it then creates the risk of an unsafe environment. This group is not allowed to drink in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations, but this doesn’t stop them from drinking.

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Alcohol is a substance that is very dangerous and if used falsely or immaturely the repercussions can be catastrophic to the users or the people around them. Since alcohol is such a dangerous substance, almost everyone can agree that alcohol should not be given to people under the legal age of drinking. Lowering the drinking age has been a topic for decades with many people saying yes and many people saying no. In 1984, the Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed to ensure the safety of many citizens and reduce to the risk of millions dying from alcohol related accidents. Despite the legal drinking age staying at twenty-one, many people still argue on whether it should stay this way or be lowered to a younger age.

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The establishment of the US Minimum Drinking Age (MLDA) dates back to the year 1984 where President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act on July 17 firstly unifying and raising the drinking age to 21 in all 50 states. Its goal is it to effectively combat drunken driving. According to the law any state that would lower the MLDA to eighteen will face a 10% shortcut of federal funding. However since

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“Students in states that had a MLDA of 18 had a 13 times greater chance of dropping out of high school compared to states with an MLDA of 21”. As previously mentioned high schoolers are less likely to drop out of school because they are less likely to become addicted to alcoholic beverages. Additionally students who do not consume alcohol are more focus on school than students who drink even when it is only once in awhile. Also, by graduating from high school students are more likely to continue their educational career and to be successful in their future. It is not like students who drink con not do this but just a few of them would be capable of achieving this before getting carried away with alcohol.

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In a meta-study of the connection between alcohol and suicide and crime rates in 2002 it was concluded that the only thing MLDA 21 does is increase the suicide and crime rates by thirty-three percent. The most probable reason for this increase is that safe practices for alcohol use are not taught to anyone under the minimum drinking age and when these practices are not taught these teenagers that are drinking will drink too much in fear that they will never have alcohol again until they are 21 years old. In order to decrease the rates of homicide, suicide, and vandalism, MLDA should be lowered to 18 so drinking practices are a common thing among everyone. If the MLDA is lowered, these people that can now drink legally will be taught safe drinking practices so tragedies like murder, suicide, and destruction do not happen as

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In our society today, there are millions of teenagers under the age of 21 who consume alcohol. “By age 15, about 33 percent of teens have had at least 1 drink, by age 18, about 60 percent of teens have had at least 1 drink, in 2015, 7.7 million young people ages 12–20 reported that they drank alcohol beyond “just a few sips” in the past month” (NIH). Teenagers under the age of 21 all around the country have had a drink or more to feel the thrill of breaking the law, or simply for being accepted by their peers. Even though it is illegal for young teens to purchase it, they can get it from their parent’s own liquor cabinets, unconscientious store clerks, or older friends who buy it for them. One way or the other teenagers are going to get alcohol one way or the other so why don’t we lower the drinking age?

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Currently, in the United States, many colleges have a plethora of alcohol-related issues these issues vary from date rapes, alcohol related deaths, and alcoholism. These issues could all be prevented by allowing eighteen-year-olds to purchase alcohol. One may ask how would making alcohol more accessible decrease these problems, but the answer is quite simple. Many of

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Lowering the drinking age is a popular argument, simply because many individuals believe it would cause an increase of drinking and driving accidents ,but others believe it would lower underage consumption. Because there is a possibility that a change in the legal drinking age law could occur, “this law has been one of the most studied in our history” (Dean- Mooney 1). A large amount of our population in the United States consume alcohol, therefore many individuals have a strong opinion as to which way the law will go. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would solve the many different problems of underage drinking, rather than create more of the problems. Underage drinking is one of the largest and most common problems on college campuses in the United States, and lowering the legal drinking age from twenty- one to eighteen-years-old would help manage the situation.

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While it is illegal, it is well known that underage drinking is quite common, especially in a university setting. People under the age of 21 account for 11% of the alcohol consumption in the United States (“Alcohol and Public Health”). If kids are going to drink, some believe it would be better to be in a safer, controlled environment. It could also eliminate the pressure to binge drink, illuminating the need to get drunk quick when more opportunities are available. This belief centers around the value of

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Contrary to what many people may say and approve about underage drinking, there are many risks, health issues, and irresponsibility's that many teens undergo. In July of 1984, Congress raised the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to twenty­one years of age because of all of the alcohol related automobile accidents. Not many people agree with the law. In fact, some resent it, predominantly because of the age congress has chosen. Since 1984, many people have argued and continue to argue why the MLDA should actually be lowered today.

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Opponents of the bill suggest that raising the purchasing age has led many youth to unhealthy drinking habits and alcoholism. Seeing how easy it was to raise the drinking age it would probably be even easier to lower it back down, if congress would agree to it. Opponents of the NMDA suggest that the raise in drinking age has also raised the amount of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. They claim “teenagers "learn" to drink at parties and other social situations, which encourage excessive binge drinking and poor judgement.” Studies have also shown that alcohol abuse at a young age greatly increases the risk of alcoholism in the future.

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A poll taken on July 2014 asked the public opinion of US adults for lowering the US legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Approximately 74% of the people opposed the idea, whereas roughly 25% of the people supported the idea ("Public Opinion" 1). The statistics indicate satisfaction among the majority of the people; however, with the current laws many issues arise that must be addressed concerning alcohol use. For starters, studies show an increase of dangerous drinking habits among young adults (Hall 2). In addition, the enforcement of the drinking laws and education on alcohol is insubstantial (Moyse, Fonder 3).

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