Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Drinking Age

The legal drinking age has been in question since 1984 when Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act and effectively established a Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) of 21. Various arguments advocating for lowering the drinking age has since surfaced, including arguments that the MLDA doesn’t do much to stop underage drinking and traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly legal drinkers (Dee and Evans). Opposers of the MLDA also argue that the United States is one of the few countries in the world with such strict alcohol laws; if 18-year-olds are able to vote, fight in the army, and serve on a jury, why can’t they consume alcohol? While each argument presented raises valid points, research has shown that the MLDA saves

According to a study, “findings have been presented that are consistent with the hypothesis that adolescents with accelerated alcohol involvement have premorbid brain characteristics that differ from reference adolescents” (Durazzo et al.). Throughout adolescence, or roughly between the ages of 10 and 19 years old, the prefrontal cortex, limbic system areas, and white matter myelin develop (Clark). These sections of the brain influence cognitive, emotional, and behavioral abilities and may be susceptible to adverse effects of alcohol. When mixed with alcohol, various developmental delays or other complications already present may cause adolescents to be more liable to accelerated alcohol use. The limbic system greatly influences the processing of stimuli, the formation of new memories, and the implementation of responses related to each. It helps regulate and process emotional and social information and develops early in adolescents. Structures of the limbic system include the hippocampus and amygdala, which may be vulnerable to alcohol-induced dysmaturation (Clark). The hippocampus, in particular, may be vulnerable to adverse alcohol effects (DeBellis et al.). Alcohol, specifically binge drinking or excessive and long-term alcohol consumption, can cause cognitive deficits and irreversible brain damage in adolescents