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Pros And Cons Of Keeping The Drinking Age At 21

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Although many individuals think that teens under 21 have the capacity to handle drinking, studies found that legal drinking ages and traffic accidents found higher legal drinking ages associated with lower rates of traffic accidents. Alcohol shouldn’t be consumed by ages under 21 because it will lead to more drunk driving, higher chances of alcohol poisoning, and it lowers the alcohol consumption and illicit drug use across age groups.
With restrictions, young adults have the time to mature and learn how to make better choices. According to an organization that looks at both sides of an argument, by keeping the drinking age at 21, America is maintaining a rite of passage. This rite decreases drunk driving because many respectful families explain …show more content…

Alcohol is one of the leading causes of life threatening diseases, and it causes a profuse amount of Alcohol poisoning. Therefore, being able to drink alcohol should be kept at the age of 21. Alcohol poisoning causes detrimental health problems and brain deficiencies. For example, “Alcohol can damage or even destroy the cells that make up the hippocampus, which is why some people experience fuzzy memories or blackouts after drinking”. The hippocampus is an important part of the brain which is a brain structure that is embedded deep into the temporal lobe. When you drink alcohol that temporal lobe slowly starts to get destroyed. Even when drinking at the age of 21 your brain is still developing, so you're slowly killing your brain every sip you take of alcohol. Drinking alcohol can not only lead to alcohol poisoning but it will lead to poor decision making. According to Queensland Health, they state, “We often hear that teenagers can be quick to react, make seemingly poor decisions or act in an irrational way. This is because the prefrontal cortex of their brain, responsible for things like rational thinking, planning, personality, impulse control and language, is still maturing”. Some may say that kids under the age of 21 can make their own decisions and that drinking doesn’t affect their brain as much as articles say they do. However, a study shows that the prefrontal cortex being …show more content…

The law stating that you have to be 21 or older to drink alcohol is significant because it lowers alcohol consumption and illicit drug use across age groups. 87 % of studies, according to a Meta study on MLDA, says, “we have found that higher legal drinking ages are more associated with lower alcohol consumption”. This means that there have been more cases of teenagers who are under the age of 21 who have been associated with alcohol more than those of the legal drinking age people who are 21 or older. Those who are apart of drinking at a younger age than 21 most likely have memory problems, depression, more violence, and suicide. Another example states, “significantly increased alcohol consumption- particularly among boys and those from underprivileged backgrounds- when drinking becomes legal. Raising the minimum legal drinking age in Europe could reduce alcohol poisoning and the early socioeconomic gradient in teenage binge drinking”. Some may say that this information is false about the underprivileged boys drinking at such a young age because they say the boys are having other problems, not problems with their family’s or friends. I totally agree with this, however when a boy is being brought up in a household that does nothing but abuse him and force him into a broken household his whole life

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The essay implies no matter how old drinking people are older MLDA will lead to less drinking, fewer injuries and fewer deaths. In other words, if MDLA is lowered to 18 or lower, then young people tend to fall in drunk driving and they will be injured or die. As a statistical example, this essay uses the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimation which has saved more than 25,000 lives since 1975 after setting the MDLA 21. This research strengthens this essay’s claim that higher MDLA proves the higher life-saving. On the other hand, the proponent essay says that “drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982”, but the author does not uses any statistical research which proves that they are lower

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Letting young adults consume alcohol will help them get experience based on their firsthand experiences of what they saw, or what they were told or advised to drink alcohol more responsibly and maturely. By restricting young 18-20 year old’s from drinking even though they are considered “adults” will lead to drinking

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However, “90% of drunk driving deaths in the United States were found in the over 21 age group” (Gruenewald). For this reason, drunk driving is not directly correlated with the drinking age. In addition, the percent of drunk driving deaths in the United States has reduced at a slower rate than European countries where they have their legal drinking age at eighteen. This suggest that if lowering the drinking age was a success in Europe, it may also be effective here in the United States to diminish the amount of drunk driving deaths. This is because people that become injured due to alcohol or alcohol poisoning are afraid to report their injuries to the hospital or authorities out of fear of illegal consequences for underage drinking.

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But while it has succeeded in that, it is also believed that tougher rules, such as DUI rules and seatbelt safety rules have also played a part in this decrease. However, this higher drinking age hasn’t reduced drinking, its only “driven it underground,” Gabrielle Glaser states in her NY Times article. It has been driven underground to the riskiest settings, high school parties and frat parties that are unsupervised. This age raise segregates the drinking away from adults that can model moderation in drinking. If an 18-year-old high school senior is shown by his/her parent(s) how to drink responsibly and in moderation, I believe that it would greatly help in reducing the chance of making bad decisions by overdoing it, such as driving while drinking.

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This is true, but if the minimum legal drinking age is lowered to 18 years old and drinking is only allowed under parental supervision the drinking will be more responsible and will not damage the adolescent brain because the drinking is not severe. Preliminary studies suggest that rats exposed to high levels of alcohol during adolescence may be more sensitive to alcohol-induced memory impairments later in life (White et al., 2000).Although the causes of these long-lasting changes are unclear, they may in some cases involve alcohol-induced injury to the nervous system. In rats, exposure to high amounts of alcohol produces more extensive brain damage in adolescents than adults (Crews et al., 2000). To summarize, supporters of a higher minimum legal drinking age believe that alcohol has adverse affects on the adolescent brain. Although some may believe that a higher legal drinking age is the solution to all of our underage drinking problems, it most definitely is not, the MLDA should be 18 and between 18 and 21 consumption of alcohol is only legal under parental supervision, this is because teens will become more responsible drinkers, it will decrease underage drinking, and the legal age of adulthood is

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One main point that is argued is that younger brains are more susceptible to alcohol consumption and by lowering the drinking age, it would be approving the damage that alcohol causes in the developing brain. Emotional development, organization, and planning are all affected by alcohol consumption. Though it’s true that kids will still likely drink, that doesn’t mean society needs to approve of that decision. Another argument that is used is that more people drinking could create more unsafe environments. When people have too much alcohol, their decision-making skills are extensively lowered.

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Underage drinkers can cause problems with brain development, function, and structure,

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In “Alcohol and Those Under Twenty-One Don’t Mix,” the author says that reducing the drinking age would not reduce the misuse of alcohol on college campuses (Glasser). This is true; however, advocates for this change insist to decrease the minimum age. One aspect those advocates do not know is alcohol disrupts brain activity in young people. The human brain fully develops around the age of twenty-one, and anything to it before that can have lifelong impacts, such as alcohol consumption. Alcohol destroys brain cells in the frontal lobe which is responsible for decision making and critical thinking.

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This leads to an enormous amount of illegal drinking on campus. In the end, I favor lowering the drinking age to 19, which would help solve the problem of illegal drinking on campus while still making it illegal for high school students to drink, thereby limiting the flow of legally (and easily) purchased alcohol into younger adolescents’ social networks,” (Steinberg, 5). Many may argue the amount of D.U.I related accidents this may bring forth ; However, the Health Research Fund states that in many countries around the world where they have a lower legal drinking age,” they have seen a greater reduction of drunken driving accidents than the United States, where the legal age is 21.” (“Pros and Cons of Lowering the Drinking Age”) This also states that many of those accidents are related to “thrill” drinking due to the fact that it is somewhat “thrilling” to break the law.

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Over the years, there have been debates about lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen. People argue that if a person can fight in the military or vote in elections, then he or she should be allowed the right to drink alcohol. Others feel that it is not wise to lower the legal drinking age because the results would be dangerous. Although there are arguments for lowering the drinking age, there is also an abundance of research that proves lowering the drinking age would be destructive. The legal drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it will give high school and even middle school students greater access to alcohol, interfere with brain development, adult rights begin at twenty-one, and increase traffic accidents among the youth.

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Alcohol abuse and alcoholism seems like an issue that keeps getting increasingly worse each year in the United States. According to USA Today and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both say that approximately 6 people die from alcohol poisoning, caused from binge drinking, each day, which amounts to roughly 2,200 people each year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “In 2013 an estimated 697,000 adolescents ages 12–17 (2.8 percent of this age group) had an [alcohol use disorder]” (“Alcohol Facts”). Something has to stop and something has to change from preventing this more because 6 people dying each day from binge drinking alone is a lot, not to mention that 12-17 year olds are having alcohol problems at such a young age. Lowering the drinking age will enforce this act even more, promoting more drinking in fact.

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In some countries, like in Europe the drinking age is set at 18. Even though people in the US think this is insane, this set age has more positive effects than people think it would. It is known that binge drinking is a problem in the US since it has the highest rate in the world for binge drinking. In Europe, teenagers get their license at age 18, and some drinking ages are lower than that, they figure out how to control their drinking before the drive. Unlike in the US, kids drink and then drive because they either have to be home by curfew or they are too scared to call their parents for a ride, and admit they had been under the

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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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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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