Should Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18

I think the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 because 18 is the age the of majority. If someone at this age can serve in the military and vote, then they should be able to make the decision to buy alcohol.

The drinking age in america has had a bit of history. The national drinking age was raised in 1984 with the passing of National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This required all 50 states to raise the age to purchase alcohol to 21 or else they would be punished by losing 10% of their annual federal highway funds. Before this each individual state would set their own state’s age for legally purchasing alcohol.

I believe the National Minimum Drinking Age Act is an overreach of federal power, and a violation of the 10th amendment of the Constitution (which states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”) Each state should be able to individually decide their own local rules for the legal age for drinking age. Some states may have a tax on alcohol, and personally ask why not allow people 18-20 who are buying alcohol to contribute to these recreational tax revenues that can help fund roads, schools, and other local services?

as the reason to this. While there is no denying about the decrease in accidents (around % 19), the drinking age is likely not the sole reason for this. Car Safety has improved and society has become more aware to the problem of drunk driving. Countries who have a lower drinking age (such as Australia, U.K, and Canada) have also seen a similar or even faster decrease in drunk driving accidents in the same period. The Drinking age can not be the sole reason for the decrease in accidents, as there are a number of other factors to also