Is it time to lower the drinking age to 18?
Lowering the drinking age has been much in debate and a kind of hot discussion among political parties even, who have been determined to lower it from 25 to 18. The youth of a nation when reaches 18 years gets the right to vote and serve in the military which makes him quite responsible and mature enough to analyze what’s wrong and right and that accounts to the fact that he has every right to take the decision of consuming alcohol rather than being debarred from the same.
The earlier Sheila Dikshit government faced a tug-of-war situation where the decision of lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 was put to halt due to the BJP in opposition raising debate.
While the debate goes round the table,
…show more content…
It further elaborates that tolerance has nothing to do with age but more to do with responsibility. Refuting the lowering of drinking age on this basis sounds illogical, …show more content…
Only if the taboo is eliminated, can the thrill element be decreased further leading to less consumption of alcohol by 18 year olds.
Prohibition of drinking by 18 years old in public places can lead them to induce in them the tendency to be forced to drink in non-administered settings like parties. If the age limit is lowered, at least they will be freer to drink in a regulated environment.
Cons:
Moving to the other side of this, looking at the cons we can say that lowering of the drinking age can lead to more incidences of crimes related to alcohol that may be fatal in nature. According to studies, US states like Michigan and Maine have experienced increased alcohol related crimes once the drinking age has been reduced to 18 over there.
Due to undergoing physical changes, introduction to alcoholism at such an age can act as a catalyst or a trigger that may create a range of associated problems like drug abuse, unprotected intercourse, depression and anger and social evils.
Children at such an age do not have fair understanding of the actual amount to consume and so may be prone to uncontrolled drinking leading to alcohol abuse. If they are allowed to drink at such an age, they will surely be engaged to binge upon