The Pros And Cons Of Drinking Age

For quite some time now, there has been numerous concerns to whether or not the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to a younger age such as 18 or 16. The minimum drinking age law in the United States has been established for over 20 years and is still gaining both supporters and detractors. Surprisingly, the United States has set the highest drinking age of 21 years old through the use of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, sharing that title with Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau. However, the majority of the world sets the minimum drinking age at 17 or younger. In our society today, young teenagers in high school and incoming college students are drinking illegally without any supervision of responsible adults. Some may say that

Moreover, by banning young teenagers from buying alcohol because they are not at the legal age of 21 may enhance their desire to binge drink alcohol when they are able to possess it from any friends or family members that are at the legal age to buy it. The National Drinking Age Act of 1984 is simply depriving young people of a controlled environment where they could drink safely, instead of having the urge to binge drink in secrecy. If laws change to drinking allowed at 18 years old, then these individuals will have access to secured environments where there would be supervision for drinking alcohol such as bars and restaurants. Countless undergraduates binge drink in an unsupervised environment such as a fraternity or sorority house. The first thing that would occur when binge drinking is that the individual will become unaware of their environment and heavy alcohol consumption affects their ability to reason logically. Furthermore, they may endanger their fellow students through physical fights. Then, police and faculty of the college campus will be involved and any student at the incident may receive a warning or serious consequences may be established. The students are creating a dangerous environment through the secrecy of binge drinking. According to John M. McCardell in the article “The Legal Drinking Age Has Not Been Effective”,

In the article titled “The Legal Drinking Age Has Not Been Effective” by Minton Michelle, the urge to binge drink in secrecy, especially within an environment like a fraternity or sorority, definitely represents a slippery slope fallacy. Minton mentions that “The problem is even worse on college campuses, where there is an unspoken understanding between students, administrators, local law enforcement, and parents that renders drinking-age restrictions effectively moot as students drink alcohol at frat or house parties and in their dorm rooms. The result is dangerous, secret binge drinking” (Minton). The author is implying a statement where an incident begins with a group of students who are younger than 21 years old. They dangerously consume alcohol in an environment where suitable administration is not permitted, leading to countless negative outcomes such as the inability to take care of oneself, physical fights and worst of all, police may get