Lowering The Drinking Age To 18 Essay

All in favor of lowering the drinking age raise your hands. Looking around the college campus many raise their hands, but fail to vote on the subject. Many complain about wanting change, but yet take no action to do so. It’s college students who can make the biggest change in lowering the drinking age to 18. To begin with the topic of lowering the drinking age has been heavily debated since the early 2000’s almost 16 years after the current drinking age was introduced. It was introduced in 1984 as the minimum drinking age act. By 1989 all 50 states had changed the minimum drinking age to 21. Although the current legal age helps prevent alcohol related deaths the legal U.S. drinking age should be lowered to 18. First of all the current drinking

This means that the current legal drinking age helps prevent alcohol related deaths within colleges. The current age helps prevent college students from binge drinking and driving while under the influence of alcohol. “Of course, in the end teens will binge-drink no matter what the law says… the current drinking age undeniably reduces teen binge-drinking and death a little bit, without any bad side-effects(Sanghavi).” No matter what the law is college students will continue to purchase and consume alcohol. College campus’ do not enforce the law of being 21 to purchase or consume alcohol harshly enough; many college students are being forced into the underground market of alcohol. “ From 1977 to 2007, the percentage of 12th graders drinking at least monthly fell from 70 percent to 45 percent—almost immediately after the law was enacted, and lastingly. Fatal car crashes involving drunk young adults dipped 32 percent, resulting in 1,000 fewer lives lost per year(Sanghavi).” After the current drinking age was enacted there was fewer deaths related to alcohol and less college students binge-drinking. The current age has been proven to keep college students safer. So there is no argument that can say that the current age limit does nothing to help keep the youth safer. However the current age limit has its flaws and that is the main reason it needs to be lowered to try and eliminate those