Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Drinking Age

I’m An Adult So Why Can’t I Drink?

In our society turning 18 is a major step into the adult world. At this age, one gains certain freedoms that he or she did not have before, including the ability to join our armed forces, vote, get loans, invest money, carry handguns, and gamble. With this new-found freedom, there is the question, should 18-year old individuals be allowed to buy and drink alcohol? Some individuals believe this would help with counteracting the alcohol abuse by teenagers in our society. With the immaturity and lack of experience that 18-year-old teenagers have, if the drinking age were to be lowered to 18, the problems will only get worse for the society that we live in today and in the future.

When you start to consider the

Since this law was put into effect there has been a dramatic decrease in alcohol related traffic deaths among 16-20-year-old. The number of deaths decreased from 5,244 in 1982 to 1,987 in 2008. (NIH)

With facts like this, it’s hard to believe that lowering the MLDA back down to 18 would be anything but a backward move, and create more heartbreak for parents and society in general, when deaths in teenagers would once again rise to an unacceptable level. As a society of intelligent people this should be easily understood, and not even be a question of whether or not to lower the MLDA.

When talking about alcohol the subject of binge drinking comes up. This act of consumption is extremely dangerous and can cause many health risks, including- (unintentional injuries, intentional injuries, alcohol poisoning, STDs, unintentional pregnancy, etc.) (CDC) and at the worst death. This is a very tragic trend that would only be fed more aggressively if the MLDA was lowered to 18 from 21. The facts are: “About 90% of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 in the United States is in the form of binge drinks.” (U.S. Department of Justice) The costs associated with “binge drinking” are extremely expensive as is evident with a report from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine which states “Excessive drinking cost the U.S. $249.0 billion in 2010, or about $2.05 per drink. Government paid

In 1999, New Zealand lowered its purchase age from 20 to 18. Not only did drunk driving crashes increase, but youth started to drink earlier, binge drinking escalated, and in the 12 months following the decrease in legal drinking age, there was a 50 percent increase in intoxicated 18- and 19-year-old patients at the Auckland Hospital emergency room. (Kyrpi, Kypros, et al.). Once again this shows how the immaturity of 18 year teenagers can cause problems if allowed to buy and drink alcohol.

After reviewing many pages of data on the subject of lowering the MLDA to 18 from 21, it’s seems to me that there would be many negative consequences that would come from changing this law, especially if the immaturity level of 18-20 is taken into consideration. I am hard pressed to think of one positive thing that would come from changing the law. The following is just a short list of negatives associated with drinking alcohol: Unintentional injuries (e.g., car crashes, falls, burns, drowning), Intentional injuries (e.g., firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence), Alcohol poisoning, Sexually transmitted diseases, Unintended pregnancy, Children born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, High blood pressure, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases, Liver disease, Neurological damage, Sexual dysfunction, and Poor control of