Pros And Cons Of The Legal Drinking Age

Should the Legal Drinking Age Be 21? The legal drinking age in most of the states in the United States is 21 years old. However, this age has not always been 21. The legal age was previously 18 years old. So how did this drinking age change from 18 to 21? In the 1980s, a lobbyist group MADD put pressure on their representatives in government and pushed for the change. The MADD group pushed for the 3-year change to the drinking age because they claimed it would significantly decrease driving fatalities in young adults. At the end of the day, there are two main sides to the drinking being 21 years old. There are people for the current drinking age and against the current drinking age. Now with any issue, there are many pros and cons to the drinking

In the big picture of everything is 3 years that big of a difference. There are many rights that are given to citizens at 18 years old so why should drinking be any different? This is one of the main arguments against the drinking age being 21. The opposite side’s main argument is that research shows there are fewer fatalities in young adults when the drinking age is 21 and not 18. Young adults are typically worse drivers than older adults. This is to be expected because as with anything the more experience you have actually done something, the better you are at it. While this argument is true it is not necessarily valid, the unforeseen bad consequences of moving the drinking are far worse than the good ones. After reviewing the subject of the drinking age being moved to 21, the negative results of this change far outweigh the good outcomes of moving the legal drinking age to 21 years old due to the

Alcohol can harm the develop of key body systems that are not finished developing. This argument wishes to give young adults an opportunity to let their bodies develop properly before consuming alcohol which could alter this process in a negative way. Another argument some have about keeping the drinking age at 21 is underage drinking happens and what would stop 15 or 16-year-olds from getting someone who is 18 to buy them alcohol. If the drinking age was 18 then the majority of high school seniors could buy and consume alcohol. This brings up another problem, alcohol in schools. Our schools should be a sanctuary for learning and development. Seniors could drink and then come to school in the morning drunk or hungover. The seniors are the leadership of the high school and would not be setting a good example for the younger, underage students to follow. Keeping the drinking age to 21 is what most of the population wishes to occur according to some surveys. It has also been argued that at 18, young adults are still not responsible enough as 21 year olds. Due to the high population of 18-20 year olds, moving the drinking age to 21 has saved many lives of people in this age group since the laws were changed in the 1980s. Overall, there are many arguments that