Go to war. Vote. Sit on a jury. Sign a legally binding contract. Get married. These are all things you can do at the age of 18. Drinking. That's something you have to wait for until you're 21. I know that a majority of you already drink. Additionally, I know that you are all 16 or 17. Due to that, I'm sure you'd be thrilled to know you could drink in one or two years. I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Predominately due to the fact the government believes you are responsible enough to defend your country, but not responsible enough to drink a beer. Mainly because defending the country is beneficial to society.
Copious amounts of teenagers already drink illegally. So, why not just make it legal? Teens drink because, naturally, humans want what they can't have. "If you can't have something, you are drawn to it" (Engs). Also, alcohol is a self-medication; it "fixes" anxiety, depression, alienation, and/or despair (Dailey). Because of this, many teenagers could transform into regular, heavy drinkers. Alcohol is a part of college, and high school, culture. In college, alcohol is everywhere, easier to get, and harder to get caught with. Believe it or not, parents of teenagers may allow their children to drink. Possibly at special occasions, or maybe regularly. However, once your parents approve, it automatically appears to be socially acceptable. It may also be a part of their religion/culture. Once again, making it seem socially acceptable.
It's facile enough to get alcohol, even if you're under age. From fake I.D.s, to parents, to connections with people of age. Alcohol is everywhere in colleges, and most parties don't have any supervision. Also, fake I.D.s are not that hard to make and obtain. You may have t...
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.... The human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. Without the proper development of the brain, it can be difficult for one to judge the limits he or she has, thus leading to excessive drinking. Also, they cannot determine the consequences of their possibly fatal action which can in turn lead to excessive drinking as well. The other problem with the drinking age being 18 is that at the age of 18, most kids are still just trying to fit in. If everyone else around them is drinking, they're going to do it too whether its legal or not. Most high school and college students spend a lot of their time at parties, and most likely 9.5 out of 10 of those parties include alcohol where drinking games are highly encouraged. "If the brain doesn't fully mature until the age of 25 we should also raise the voting and military age to 21, we have to be consistent" (Hanson).
The age of responsibility could not make sense at 18 because of all the rights and responsibilities that are given at age 18 such as financial decisions and college and moving out of the house, but their are still so many things that 18 year olds cannot do such as they still can't rent cars or drink alcohol. “...lowering the legal limit to 18 would only be pushing the drinking problem down to 16-17 year old.” (Wagenaar 17). According to Alexander Wagenaar in Greenblatt’s article lowering the age down to 18 would make drinking a big problem for younger teenagers that are 16 and 17. This could make an even bigger problem in high school because people may say that they are close to the age and they may feel more responsible even though they are not. Therefore, it would not make sense to have 18 be the legal
Lowering the legal drinking age would create problems such as infringing on the mental and physical development of the young drinker. As a respected author, Matt Nagin puts it, “The late teens and early twenties are formative years where character building, leadership in the community, and scholastic excellence should be emphasized. Alcohol detracts from all of these.” In other words, Nagin believes that the teen years are an imperative time of growth in a person’s life. Scientists have proven that the brain is not fully developed until the age of twenty five. If Nagin’s argument is correct, and I believe it is, then people should understand that scientists have proven the negative affects that alcohol has on the development of the brain. Alcohol has the power to kill brain cells and damage growth hormones. By making alcohol legally accessible to an eighteen year old, we are literally poisoning his or her brain.
Many adults these days could tell stories from college about all the frat parties they've been to, all their high school house party experiences, and how many times they've been absolutely ¨hammered¨. And during these uncontrolled occasions, there is no adult supervision whatsoever. Furthermore, it is nearly impossible for police authorities to be able to monitor and know what is going on in an individual’s house. Besides, enforcing the drinking age isn’t really a priority for the police anyway. Many of them know it will continue, plus, when they do manage to catch and arrest someone for illegal drinking, it takes a great amount of time and effort for paperwork and processing. (ProCon.org)* And also because most youths view the age limit as arbitrary, which causes them to have a certain disrespect for the law. (Chafetz)* One main reas...
In the late 1960’s to mid-70’s the legal drinking age was 18 because the voting age of 21 was lowered to 18. However, in 1984 a bill was passed that every state in the United States was to change the legal drinking age from 18 to 21. Although this is a highly controversial topic, many young adults believe lowering the drinking age back to 18 is best because if they vote at the age of 18 then, they should be allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages. In an article “Should the U.S. lower its drinking age?” written by Brandon Griggs, he introduces the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age. Griggs explains two generations ago, young adults didn’t have to worry much about getting caught drinking or buying their way out to purchase alcohol.
If teenagers that are now turning 18 can vote, then they should be able to drink at the age of 18. If teens are 18 and old enough to vote, they should be able to drink. Saying they can vote, is calling them responsible and mature enough to pretty much vote. At age 18, teens are now called adults and vote. It’s the legal adulthood (“Drinking”). Voting requires a lot of adult decision making. It is a hard choice to put your vote that could help or make worst of America. If they can defend our country, they should at least enjoy a drink when they have time. 18 is old enough for the military and they risk their life. They’re defending our country, so they should have the right to have a drink when they get back from duty. It’ll cut down on young adults drinking, there wouldn’t be much of a rush to underage drink. If they’re being trusted to drive, such as speeding, on the phone, reading, putting makeup on, etc. What’s the harm done in just drinking, if all that happens when people drive. 19 out of the 50 states in the US has not specified that the drinking age is 21. Technically there isn’t an age limit on drinking. (“USA”). If you can buy tobacco at 18, they should be able to buy alcohol at that age. If people can buy tobacco at 18, they should be able to bu...
...sidering that it is a drug. If the drinking age was eliminated that would mean that there would be less presure on young adults to purchase alcohol and there would be no need to make fake ID's to purchase alcohol. This also means that the robberys of lichor stores will go down because there is no need for a teen t be presured to rob something that they can legally have.
Since this country was born it has been raised on alcohol, even the prohibition couldn 't stop the Americans from doing what they love to do. But back then they were lenient on the age to consume alcohol. But in 1980’s Ronald Reagan passed the Drinking Age Act which permanently raised the drinking age to twenty-one through out the nation. Which people asked themselves is this right? When at eighteen you 're legally allowed to be on a official jury, vote for the next president and fight for your country. So lowering the drinking age to 18 would make sense.
Do you enjoy being told what to do after you turn an 18 and you become an adult? I know I don’t. As you transition into that adult phase you get to enjoy adult activities such as voting and joining the military. As an adult there comes responsibility and at some points you have to make tough decisions. One of those decision include are you going to drink under age. What if I could tell you that the drinking age use to be 18 years old in 30 states. Should the drinking age go back to 18 years old? I am one who believes that as an adult you should have the ability to make those decisions. Lower the drinking age to 18, but we need to enforce the laws and educate our youth.
Some laws even make it easier for teens to drink, like in some states if a parent purchases the alcohol it is fine for the teen to drink. That law is abused though since one parent will buy beer for a complete party and not just for their teen. There have been some cases where the cops have cracked down on this problem but not enough. Teens are not seeing underage drinking as something wrong whether it be because they think it will help them fit in or to cover up feelings of sadness or hatred. When a teen sees the "cool" kids drink they want to join in so that they ...
Keeping the legal drinking age at 21 ensures that fewer motor vehicle accidents will occur each year. It has also proven that students in states that had a drinking age of 18 had a high school dropout rate thirteen times greater than states with a legal drinking age of 21. This allows for more school age children to be on the streets getting into more trouble than staying in school and getting a proper
In the United States the legal drinking age, with a few exceptions, is 21; this should be changed from 21 to the age of 18. This would help high schoolers and college students who generally commit the act of underage drinking anyways to avoid long lasting legal repercussions. This would also remove the excitement that many underage drinkers feel since for many, it would now be legal. This would help to lessen temptation and encourage today’s youth to drink in a more safe and responsible environment since it would be considered a normal activity and would no longer need to be done in secrecy.
One reason why the drinking age should be lowered is because at the age of eighteen you are considered as an adult. When you turn eighteen you are an adult! You can go buy cigarette and join the military. But yet why can’t you buy an alcoholic beverage? Which a lot of people will argue to this point as which ...
Choosing to fight for your country, getting married are just some of the responsibilities we're given when we reach eighteen. With tasks like these handed down to us at eighteen, in some way government and society force us to make decisions with a certain amount of knowledge. If we've been shaped up to handle ourselves at this age, it's really not much of an issue to bring down the age of purchasing and drinking alcoholic beverages. It’s crazy when kids start underage drinking.
The debate of the drinking age has been long discussed throughout America. The drinking age has been 21 for the last 22 years, and people around the country have wondered weather or not this was the right call. People say that 18 year olds may not be mature enough to drink alcohol and might not know when to stop. It isn’t that teenagers don’t know how to stop, but rather have not been properly taught when enough has been consumed or how to drink responsibly. Changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 years old will take the thrill that teens get from breaking the law while drinking, will no longer give them the idea that drinking is the final stage of adulthood and full maturity, and will no longer force teenagers to drink in unsupervised areas.
Alcohol has been apart of our country’s culture since the United States came to be. Drinking plays a huge part in social events and holidays. The minimum age at which a person should be able to legally drink has been disputed and argued many times and I believe always will. Along with that, underage drinking in our country is becoming very problematic. I believe that we should not lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18 because it would increase the problems that already occur with underage drinking.