Should Drinking Age Be Lowered From 21?

In recent discussions of the drinking age limit, people have always said that the drinking age limit should be lowered. Some may argue that alcohol is not bad and that it can actually be beneficially. Many people would want the drinking age limit to be lowered so that it is legal for young adults to drink. If the drinking age limit were to be lowered there would be a drastic difference in society. In my perspective I will argue that the drinking age limit should not be lowered.

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life than those who started at the legal age of 21 or later.

Should the United States follow other countries in their quest to end the debate on the drinking age? The United States can take a look at other States such as: Germany, the Netherlands and France, and see how successful they are. Many teenagers would jump on the bandwagon of lowering the drinking age just because they want to have the ability to drink, the argument of being able to die for the United States but can’t drink and it would take away the “Forbidden Fruit” of drinking. Much of the older generations would jump on the bandwagon of keeping the drinking age the same because they had to wait to drink, because drinking has adverse effects on the brain and drinking could lead to binge drinking.

I believe that the legal drinking age should stay at 21 for many reasons. Underage drinking should not be allowed in any country because it is dangerous, causes health complications and it can be overused, and most of the time misused. As a young adult it will take less time for them to become “drunk” and more likely to put them in negative situations which will harm them later as an adult. If the government were to lower the drinking age to under 21, unprotected sex, sexual assault, and other tragedies would become more predominant in our society. Alcohol is very harmful to our bodies and if given the opportunity to drink at a younger age the effects would be harmful to the young adult and to others in his environment.

Politicians have been working to pass a law to lower the Minnesota drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age. People are trying to push this law because the country-wide description of being an adult is 18 years of age. At 18 people can serve in the military, buy tobacco, and yet cannot buy alcohol. Reasons for this is that high schoolers and middle schoolers have easier access to drinks.

Approximately 2 out of every 3 high school students have drank to the point of getting intoxicated (binge drink), in more than one occasion (Centers for Disease and Control Prevention [CDC], n.d.). Binge drinking has become increasingly common for youth under the minimum legal drinking age, making it increasingly dangerous because of the lack of supervision that young adults have that can consequently, lead to death because of fear of the law (Bonnie & O’Connell, 2004) The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it is a reasonable societal age limit that can be supervised and used by most of the world and is seen as the age of majority in the United States (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2001).

The minimum drinking age became a hot topic ever since it was set to twenty one years old. It is a law not everyone welcomes with open arms, one that has the most impact in the lives of adolescents and if violated, one that can put a state at risk of forfeiting ten percent of its annual federal highway appropriation. John M. McCardell Jr., president of Middlebury College; founder and president of Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization, clearly states his desire for the National Minimum Drinking Age Act to be lowered to avoid binge drinking. On the other hand, Melanie Fonder and Misty Moise, among others, clearly express the benefits of this law and the

Also, the drinking age shouldn’t be lowered because it can affect people’s memory, decision making, coordination, and judgement. Which means, some of these effects can be permanent. Adolescent brains are still developing so who knows what the side effect can be in the future?

Alcohol! Should the legal drinking age be lowered? The answer to the question is yes it should and here is why.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 works, and in college the drinking among students increased after the limit was raised to twenty one.

Should the minimum legal drinking age be lowered? Many people believe 18 yr olds are immature, and cannot handle the responsibility of alcohol. However that is just a biased idea placed on the minds of people by meaningless reality TV, a few irresponsible teens, other media sources.By lowering the MLDA (minimum legall drinking age) the thrill of breaking the law will be lessened, and if 18 year olds are allowed to decide who runs our country, serve in the armed forces, and overall be concidered a legal adult,they should be allowed to drink in moderation, by allowing teens to drink at age 18 the dangers of drinking will considerably be lowered.

The question on weather the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) should be lowered has elicited much debate in the recent years. The proponents to the proposal of lowering the MLDA argue that setting it at 21 years has not resulted in the control of underage drinking, but has instead led to cases of binge drinking which leads to health and life threatening behavior among the teens. The opponents, on the other hand, argue that at 18 years, the teens have not attained an age where they can responsibly handle drinking. As a result they have higher tendency to harm or kill themselves or others by drinking. The opponents also cite the fact that traffic fatalities and accidents have drastically reduced with a higher MLDA. The MLDA should not be lowered since it would lead to more problems for the teens and society in general.

drinking age should be lowered to 18; for example, it could reduce or possible eliminate

Drinking age hasn’t been changed for years. Drinking age should be increased to a minimum of 24 years old if not more because the lack of maturity. On the other side people would like to decrease the drinking age to 16 or 18 years of age. If the drinking age decreases, the percentage of car accidents, crimes, and more rebelling things will increase dramatically. I think as an 18 year old teenager that the drinking age should be increased because we are still developing. Reasons why we shouldn’t drink alcohol is because we aren’t mature, responsible, reliable an off, and we are dependent.

The parents and teachers should be an excellent role model to your kids or students. The second biggest risk issue for underage drinking, case history of dysfunctional drinking, talking regarding alcoholism here, though which will run in families. Also talking regarding the message you send once alcohol may be a massive a part of your social life, particularly if your social life involves getting drunk. Youngsters continually pay a lot of attention to what we tend to do than to what we are saying. If you wish your kid to possess wisdom regarding alcohol, show it yourself.

Teenagers between the age of fifteen to eighteen are drinking an average of nine to eleven cans of beer per week. They will ruin their lives if they don't cut down on the alcohol. Should this be enough to raise the drinking age up to twenty-one?