Legal Drinking Age

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Although the debate began many years ago, it still continues to this day. Should the legal drinking age be lowered, or should it not be lowered? The argument has always been massive, with both sides spitting out rebuttals left and right. Despite the fact that both sides showcase decent evidence, only one brings hard-hitting facts that truly make a difference: the legal drinking age should not be lowered because it helps prevents youths from driving drunk, it helps prevent youths from committing violent crimes, and it helps prevent incomplete develop of the brain.
Even though drunk driving may not be one of the highest leading causes of death, it is still an enormous issue. As we all know, an inebriated person behind the wheel is extremely dangerous, so what if we could help prevent that happening to more and more under age individuals? This prevention would begin by not lowering the legal drinking age. By lowering the drinking age, young adults will get in the driver’s seat, place their hands on the steering wheel, and drive off with a sense of invincibility. Everyone has a past teenage self that felt, at one point or another, that they were immune to death. This sense of immunity, young ignorance, and the heavy effects of alcohol are a deadly combination; even more dangerous than an inebriated adult because most teenagers do not think about how their actions affect the people around them, including strangers.
In spite of the fact that most young adults (eighteen to twenty) drink with a strong sense of immortality and carelessness, it is usually adults from the ages of twenty-one to thirty who are the ones that are inebriated behind the wheel. Even though adults of legal age are in the driver’s seat, the rates of drunk driving w...

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...inking age would be detrimental to a person’s brain in the maturation state, which would lead to permanently underdeveloped encephalon.
This debate has been ongoing, and it may continue without an end in sight. Although the end may not be coming soon, it is clear which side presents the evidence that possesses the biggest impact. The legal drinking should not be lowered, for reasons such as the prevention of drunk driving and the accidents that it can cause, the prevention of violent behavior and crimes that come from drinking alcohol, and protecting the development of young, growing brain.

Works Cited

Trudeau, Michelle. “Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage.” 25 January 2010.
NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR.
Document. 5 December 2013.
.

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