Although it is a law commonly evaded; it prevents young people from car accidents and alcohol abuse or dependence. In the article is acknowledged that “more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependence”; a rate that would be highly increased if the drinking age is reduced. On top of that, it is worth considering the magnitude in which car accidents have dropped since the drinking age was lowered. The organization Mother Against Drunk Driving (MADD) CEO Chuck Hurley said “Nearly all peer- reviewed studies looking at the change showed raising the driving age reduced drunk-driving deaths.” It is undeniable that lowering the drinking age would generate an already managed issue in regards alcohol and its relation to car
In this article there are two sides to the debate of whether or not the states should be able to set their own drinking age. The pro side, represented by John McCardell says that if eighteen year olds are capable of being drafted for a war, they should be able to legally drink as well. The con side James C. Fell says that a lower drinking ages hel a higher risk of suicide and homicide, and thus keeping the drinking age at twenty one would be preventing nearly twelve hundred suicides and homicides combined. Things cannot always be easy, and this debate that the article focuses on is no exception. Throughout the history of America there have always been disputes of just how much power the federal government should be able to wield, and how much they should be able to limit the state's power.
Tristan Learner Mrs. Kezia Strite Ruiz English 1301: Composition 1 February 26, 2018 Why the Drinking Age Should Be Lowered One of the most common debates among my generation is, at what age should the legal drinking age be set? The common view is, that the legal drinking age should remain at 21 years old to decrease the amount of drinking and driving fatalities.
The Effects of Lowering the Drinking Age According to Carla T. Main in “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” from The Tennessee Electronic Library, the legal drinking age shouldn’t be reduced in result of all of the things that occur due to underage drinking. She talks about how institutions could help by having discussions with the college students about responsible drinking. When the drinking age was lowered between 1970 and 1976, the results were catastrophic. The highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed.
all dropped to the age 18 or 19 . Thus, alcohol should stay away from young adults. In summary, the drinking age needs to be changed. First of all, health organizations are more involved with raising the drinking age, second of all drunk driving happens more frequently nowadays, and finally young adults and teens should not be drinking under the ages of 21.
The drinking age was specifically set to age 21 to prevent mental impairment to American youth from drinking too early. In reality the brain does not reach full maturity until at least age twentyfive. If America wants to keep its people as healthy as possible, the drinking age should be released to twentyfive. None of the reasons for why the drinking age should be adjusted matter except for the level of development the brain has. For this reason the drinking age should be no less than 21 years
Lastly, the legal drinking age should be raised due to the common occurrences of violence and sexual assault that are attributed to alcohol drinking. “Half of all sexual assault victims report that they were drinking alcohol at the time of the assault, with estimates ranging from 30 to 79 percent”().This places males and females that do not drink responsibly at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted. It is important to emphasize, however, that although a woman or man’s alcohol consumption may place her at increased risk of sexual assault, they are not responsible for the actions of the assault. The perpetrators are legally and morally responsible for their behavior” (2). Intoxicated women are frequent targets of sexual abuse.
Should the legal drinking age be lowered back to eighteen years of age of age or do you believe it should stay? The topic of traffic accidents caused by drinkers especially newly legal drinkers will be brought up. I will then bring up the problems that alcohol being illegal to anyone who is under twenty one can bring to highschool and college students. Then I will talk about the reasons the drinking age was raised in the first place. I will later bring up what issues that are around now that could be stopped if we were to lower the drinking age back down to eighteen.
It has instead pushed underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments, leading to more health and life-endangering behaviors by teens. If the legal drinking age was lowered, those teens would be able to drink in a more controlled and much more safe environment where they can be monitored and supervised. Then they will be less likely to harm themselves or others. The second argument that is used is that there are fewer drunk driving accidents in countries with lower drinking ages. In quite a few countries around the world, the legal drinking age is already 18.
The main reason why I believe the drinking age should be raised is because it would create safer environments, and could also decrease the amount of DUI’s. Most of time, people who buy alcohol at the age of 21 are still in college. They purchase and consume alcohol to have a ‘good time,’ which is in fact, a common
Currently in California as well as in my other states the legal drinking age is 21. As some may know this has been a very controversial issue because of the harm alcohol has on the human body, but don’t you think you should have the option to take the risk or not, because i certainly do. Many countries have different legal ages like 16-20, others don’t have any at all for example, Cuba,Ghana, Montenegro, Morocco, Norway. Some newspapers, news channels and other news sources have all at some point touch this subject and have their own beliefs as well as opinions.
When it comes to alcohol they are still just kids. Where’s the fairness in the age being 21 and not 18? Why is 21 the "magical" age that makes one intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol? Surely, some adults abuse alcohol and some teenagers would be perfectly able to drink responsibly. Accidents will happen no matter what age you start drinking it.
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
Society places laws to protect individuals. The rise of alcohol abuse raises the question if the minimum legal drinking age of 21 secures protection of the people. With proper enforcement of drinking laws in addition to education about alcohol, the minimum legal drinking age of 18 provides a safer drinking culture. President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984. All states in the time
So my conclusion is that the legal drinking age should stay 21 because it always changes, under aged kids always find a way to obtain alcohol, and parents will often buy their children drinks. Under aged kids themselves have said that their parents, older friends, strangers and family members would buy them alcohol. Raising the alcohol age limit would barely change anything, it affects the older group of drinkers more than the younger. As far as I know the age limit is still at 21, but it may change soon, there is currently debates on whether to raise or lower the alcohol age
