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The Pros And Cons Of Lowering Age

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The idea of lowering the drinking age from twenty one years old to eighteen years old is an issue that has been talked about and debated for many years. Some people believe that if one is old enough to vote for our next leader, they should be able to make the choice to drink. Others believe that an eighteen year old brain is still too underdeveloped to be able to take alcohol. There are many positives and negatives to passing this policy to lower the age for drinking. However, this policy will do more good than any sort of harm. There is a political debate that is going on for far too long unresolved. There are many positives and negatives behind passing a bill like this. When the country changed the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one, …show more content…

Well it does keep alcohol from being so easy to get for people younger than 18. If the age was lowered it could possibly make it easier for people under 18 to get it, as “Newly-legal drinkers often purchase alcohol for their underage peers, creating a "trickle-down" effect. Surveys show that the most common source of alcohol among 18- to 20-year olds is their 21- to 24-year-old peers.” (Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?). Alcohol can also effect developing brains, and as an 18 year old, your brain has not yet fully developed. The developing process for your brain could be hurt or affected by heavy short term or long term alcohol effects. Studies show that increased use of alcohol at eighteen years old could increase “the risk of depression, memory loss, reduced decision-making capacity, and risk-taking behavior, such as addiction, suicide and violence.” (9 Prevailing Pros and Cons of Lowering the Drinking Age). Eighteen year olds also aren't the most responsible drinkers either. Some believe that lowering the drinking age wouldn't affect how safe or unsafe eighteen year old drinkers consume their alcohol (Should the Drinking Age Be

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Robert Voas states teen pregnancy, sexual assaults, and crime rates have increased due to underage drinking. Alcohol consumption at a college age leads to 600,000 physical assaults and 70,000 sexual assaults yearly according to a study (464). Joyce Alcantara claims if the age were lowered back to eighteen then it would put younger teens at risk (468). People tend to have friends around their same age. So, if eighteen year olds were allowed to drink then their friends which are roughly around the age of sixteen or seventeen would likely have an alcoholic drink in their hand as well.

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But back to the matter lowering the drinking age would also produce a lot of revenue for the government and local gas stations and beer companies across the globe and it would make all of the young adults across this great country we can call home more mature in the process even though I am very mature. Particularly worrisome among adolescents is the high prevalence of binge drinking... Underage drinkers consume, on average, 4 to 5 drinks per occasion about 5 times a month. By comparison, drinkers age 26 and older consume 2 to 3 drinks per occasion, about 9 times a month. Underage drinking is a leading contributor to death from injuries, which are the main cause of death for people under age 21.

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Frat parties, for example, serve booze, often, if not always, without the supervision of a responsible adult (aka an adult over the age of 21). Lowering the drinking age to 18 can be beneficial in that responsible drinking can be taught before the student turns 21. My favorite analogy, by Huffington Post writer, Elizabeth Glass Geltman, says, “We don’t have students teach each other how to drive, why is alcohol different?” In her article on Huffington Post, she talks about her college experience in the 70s and early 80s, where the legal drinking age in the US was 18. She talks about how drinking was legal for most students in her senior year of high school and in college, and that beer was commonly served at dances, proms, graduation events, etc.

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Alcoholism is a brain disease and the earlier people start drinking, the worse the effects on the brain. A reason not to lower the drinking age is the reoccurance of binge drinking. Binge drinking, especially at a young age, can cause high blood pressure, obesity, and poor brain and body growth. Binge drinking also can cause death from heart attacks and alcohol poisoning.

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1294 Words | 6 Pages

More individuals would be able to drink at public places, which would increase the revenue for many businesses. Also greater amounts of tax revenue would be collected by the government (Engs1998). Although they’re many pros to lowering the drinking age there are also many cons. Just like all laws have good and bad things about them, so does the idea of lowering the drinking age.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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733 Words | 3 Pages

“If the legal age were lowered in the US it would have to come with much more education in this area, not just the shock-value of Every 15 Minutes” said Ulrike Skillman, math teacher at Saugus. Skillman suggests the lowering of the drinking age will have to come with more alcohol education and that is the exact purpose of a “drinking license.” Which would allow 18 year olds to consume alcohol, with strict regulations, then take classes to officially receive a “drinking license” at 21 years old. The license would replicate a driver’s license, but be geared toward consuming alcohol.

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Prohibition didn’t work, and it doesn’t look like this idea of the U.S. government enforcing this act on its younger citizens is going to work either. Since at the age of 18 you are considered adults because you can vote, join the military, get married, attend jury duty, by tobacco products, and legally get a tattoo without parental consent they should be allowed to consume alcohol in a safe, regulated environment which would help mature them and keep them from binge drinking and making irresponsible decisions. Since other countries have proven that a lower drinking age is successful, safer, and results in less fatal accidents, the U.S. should consider lowering their legal drinking age. Although some people may take advantage of the lowered legal age it will still reduce the injuries and fatalities surrounding underage drinkers. By lowering the drinking age to 18 deaths of college students would go down, unsafe drinking would activities would decrease, and there would be fewer drunk driving accidents involving

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1834 Words | 8 Pages

Over the years, there have been debates about lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen. People argue that if a person can fight in the military or vote in elections, then he or she should be allowed the right to drink alcohol. Others feel that it is not wise to lower the legal drinking age because the results would be dangerous. Although there are arguments for lowering the drinking age, there is also an abundance of research that proves lowering the drinking age would be destructive. The legal drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it will give high school and even middle school students greater access to alcohol, interfere with brain development, adult rights begin at twenty-one, and increase traffic accidents among the youth.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

In conclusion, the reason why the drinking age should not be lowered is because of the immaturity and irresponsibility of the teenagers of nowadays. The drinking age should not be lowered than 18 no matter what because the will harm themselves in a first place and then show some inappropriate action dues to the effects of alcohol on

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509 Words | 3 Pages

The age should be lowered to 18 because that’s when you’re legal. This can lead to teaching the youth about alcohol and allowing them to be supervised. First off, how can you be a legal adult but not be able to drink? At 18, you’re allowed to vote. You’re allowed to get married.

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1070 Words | 5 Pages

The pure thought to get caught by the police or your parents is frightening to teens or underage drinkers and that 's why people use binge drinking. Binge drinking is defined as excessive amounts of alcohol consumed in a short period of time. Teens do this because when your illegally drinking you don 't particularly have a lot of time to drink so you just do it as fast as you can to use the time you have with your friends to get wasted but to be home before curfew. Many accidents and deaths have happened because of binge drinking, and we could lower the chances of binge drinking by lowering the legal drinking age to 18. The effects alcohol takes on the brain is the only “downside” to lowering the drinking age, but if used responsibly it 's not that big of a problem.

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People will oppose to this law, but at the age of 18 an adolescent's brain is not fully developed yet. Underage drinking is a common action in today’s society. What kids do not know is the effect that underage drinking has on their brain. Since the brain is not fully developed at the age of 18, drinking

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Why drinking age should be lowered? If one is considered an adult at age eighteen in most of the country, are they not allowed to purchase and legally consume alcohol? The minimum legal drinking age needs to be lowered, and not just for that reason. The amount of teenagers with drinking problems and alcoholism is far greater than in Europe, where drinking ages are far lower. Also, studies show that the current minimum age drinking laws have been ineffective to a high degree.

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Though people believe it would be good to lower the drinking age, we should look at the death or injury rates where alcohol is the cause, compared to the rates of accidents from people who hadn’t been intoxicated. There has been much data collected over the years showing just how much healthier and safer not only the US is, but many other countries have become since raising the legal drinking age to twenty-one. If nothing else, look at the one third of every twenty-five, thousand people that die every year due to alcohol related crashes where the victim wasn’t even intoxicated. Not only does alcohol have life changing effects on the people drinking it, but also everyone around

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