Legal Drinking Age Analysis

A majority of teens and adults would prefer legal age requirements to be lower, but in reality they may not know how drastically it would impact people’s lives around the U.S. Laws that determine when we are adults and what we are allowed to do are in place to keep us safe, yet they are far from perfect. The age of adulthood should stay at 18, however the ages that responsibilities are granted should be different, corresponding to the level of responsibility required. Some of the main issues regard age to drink and smoke, age to drive, and age to gamble. The prevalent legal drinking and smoking age in the U.S. is set at 21 years, but this age is certainly debatable. Regardless what age the legal drinking age is set at, there will always

Yet it is regarded as a leading cause of death. “In 2015, 2,333 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 235,845 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. That means that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries.”(CDC, Teen Drivers: Get the Facts). To put in perspective, whenever statistics are shown of people’s deaths, it is important to note that it affects others; 6 teens a day also means 6 families that are impacted by these deaths. “The law that passed in 2007 tightened nighttime driving curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds and required new drivers to wait a full year before they can carry more than one non-relative. The impact was immediate. In 2007 in Illinois, 155 teens between the ages of 16 and 19 died in automobile crashes. In 2008, that number fell to 92.” (Greenblatt, paragraph 25-26). This establishes that change would be effective because the change in accidents was cut by 41% so, why have we not acted? Young people are our future thus, it is important to protect

A proper example is gambling; The age restriction for gambling is set at 18 in plenty of states. Helpguide.org gives out examples on how someone with a gambling problem may be feeling and one of the example was, “ You may gamble until you’ve spent your last dollar, and then move on to money you don’t have—money to pay bills, credit cards, or things for your children. You may feel pushed to borrow, sell, or even steal things for gambling money.”(Help Guide, Gambling Addiction and Problem Gambling). These are potential actions of gambling addicts that affect grown adult moreover, picture what effect it would have on a teen. A teen who is allowed to gamble risks getting addicted and that addiction may reach the point where they gamble all their tuition money away. Another poor choice that teens are vulnerable to is cigarette smoking. However, the repercussions of smoking take effect down the road in life. “Rarely are simple messages heard, such as the fact that about half of all smokers will die from smoking, and of these, about half will die before or around age 50.”(Wanjek, Smoking’s Many Myths Examined). It is important to stave young people from cigarettes for as long as possible because the risk of addiction is significantly higher; one cigarette could change someone’s life for the