Why The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

Alcohol! Should the legal drinking age be lowered? The answer to the question is yes, it should. The drinking age limit should be lowered because, in the eyes of the law, a person is seen as an adult at the age of eighteen, in other countries the lower drinking age is successful, and in college, the drinking among students increased after the limit was raised to twenty-one.

When a person reaches the age of eighteen they are seen as a legal adult: “adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption”(“Drinking Age”). Legal adulthood comes with different types of rights and responsibilities. Eighteen-year-olds are given the right to vote, to smoke, to have consensual sex, and

That is because in other countries, the way they view alcohol and use it as well as how they introduce it contributes to a successful lower drinking age. In countries like the United Kingdom and Australia the lower drinking age does not work, due to them viewing drinking as a fun activity to do after work that is often done irresponsibly and uses any excuse to drink. However, the lower drinking age in countries like the France and Italy works, causing fewer alcohol-related problems since they view alcohol as part of their normal life and celebrations, not used as an excuse to drink(“Social and Cultural”). In countries with lower drinking ages, they introduce alcohol differently by having it at a younger age in moderation with meals in a controlled environment. This gives them the time and the ability to learn to respect alcohol and not abuse it by seeing it as a normal thing. While, in the United States, the legal drinking age is at twenty-one, because of this underage americans see alcohol as tempting due to its forbidden nature. They often drink at a young age in unsupervised environments, such as parties, introducing them to alcohol in mass quantities, which leads them to drink irresponsibly. (Minton). So a lower drinking age would work in the United States, if

there is a lot of illegal and irresponsible drinking happening all around, but the majority of heavy drinking is happening in colleges. Would lowering the drinking age help? Yes, studies show that when the law was changed from eighteen to twenty-one, drinking in colleges increased: “ from 1982 until 1987 about 46% of students reported ‘vomiting after drinking.’ This jumped to over 50% after the law change”(Engs). A number of students missing college or having problems in college, due to drinking, increased by around two to five percent because of the increased age limit. The increase in drinking is due to the law causing students to gather together in dorms or in private places to drink, which leads to binge drinking because they are away from an adult presence that could monitor the amount of drinking and teach them to drink responsibly. It is also due to the law making drinking more appealing and tempting towards people who want to break the rules or people that get a thrill out of breaking the rules and not getting