Should Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18

537 Words3 Pages

21 and older: not younger Image being called at midnight being told your child died in a car accident because of a drunk driver. As a matter of fact, an estimated of 5,000 people under the age of twenty-one die every year from drunk driving (NIH). Why would we allow more younger groups of people to drink, if they have already shown that they are irresponsible? The drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it encourages reckless behavior, causes developmental issues, and teenagers are not mature enough. First, the drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it encourages reckless behavior. Ethan Couch, Sixteen, killed four and injured seven in a drunken driving accident. Couch had gotten intoxicated and lost control of his truck and smashed into a broken-down car beside the road. His blood-alcohol level was triple the limit for someone over twenty-one. Couch killed the owner of the car, a Youth Pastor, a mother and her daughter, and injured seven teens, all in critical condition. He put his life in danger and killed innocent people because of his reckless decisions. Next, the drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it causes developmental issues. Drinking at a young age can cause chronic problems like depressions, …show more content…

27.6 percent of persons aged twelve to twenty drank alcohol in the past mouth (SAMHSA). There are teens that already drink illegally, why would we want to increase those numbers by making it legal to drink at eighteen? Binge drinking can lead to alcohol disorders. There are two types, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. One results in excessive amount of drinking and the other is that you rely on alcohol for your problems. If we allowed teens to drink they wouldn’t be able to control themselves being allowed a new opportunity and it would do more harm than