While the legal drinking age in the United States of America is 21, many other countries have lower legal drinking ages ranging from 18-20. Although the United States is one of the few countries with a higher minimum drinking age, it is not the only one as countries such as Indonesia and Mongolia have a legal drinking age of 21 as well. According to Ethan Trex, the concept that an individual becomes a full adult once they are 21 dates back to English common law as this was the age at which a person could vote and become a knight amongst other things. As a person was officially an adult by 21, it only made sense that they would be able to drink. Although, the minimum drinking age in America was not always 21. Following Franklin Roosevelt’s …show more content…
Teenagers from the more restrictive state would drive into the one where they could buy booze, drink, and then drive home… Even if teens weren't any more predisposed than older adults to drive after they'd been drinking, all of this state-hopping meant that those who did drive drunk had to drive greater distances to get home than their older …show more content…
Among drivers under 21, drunk driving-related deaths have decreased by 80 percent” (Trex, Why is the Drinking Age 21?). Despite this decrease, many still believe that America should lower the minimum drinking age to mirror that of other nations. “Lowering the drinking age will help slow the need for pre-gaming and bring the college fake ID business to a dead stop. It can't help but reduce the binge drinking, drug overdoses and sexual assaults” (Cary, “Time to Lower the Drinking Age”). While arguments can be made in favor of a lower minimum drinking age in the United States, these arguments are often focused on the drinking habits of college students and ignore other factors. The legal drinking age should remain the same in the United States as it has decreased the amount of alcohol related driving fatalities, research has shown a correlation between a lower drinking age and problematic drinking behaviors in later adulthood, and despite popular belief countries with lower drinking ages do not fare better than
Keeping the drinking age at where it is currently would be an inappropriate decision since most teens fail to abide by it. Based on my own experiences, implementing a drinking age of 18 would improve upon the socio-economic framework of Americas youth. Lowering the drinking age is looked at under a negative light due to one reason, that being the underlying health and safety concerns. A lower drinking age to many people seems like an asinine decision because of these safety concerns. Although in reality it might improve upon the health and safety of 18 to 20-year olds.
The drinking age in the United States is a contradiction. At the age of eighteen, one can drive a car, vote in an election, get married, serve in the military and buy tobacco products. In the United States you are legally an adult at eighteen. An eighteen-year-old, however, cannot purchase alcoholic beverages. The minimum drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one in the United States.
Should the drinking age really be lowered to a younger age or should we keep it the same? Well, my opinion it should be lowered because of multiple reasons. Lowering the MLDA from 21 to 18 would diminish the thrill of breaking the law to get a drink. Normalizing alcohol consumption as something do responsibly in moderation will make drinking alcohol less of a taboo for young adults entering college and the workforce. The MLDA 21 enforcement isn't a priority for law enforcement agencies. The punishments are inadequate, takes time and effort to do the paperwork. An estimated two of every 1,000 occasions of illegal drinking by youth under 21 gets arrested. Lowering the MLDA 21 would help stop the accidents and bad results from people who would not fear from consequences if they sought medical
“We don't hand teenagers car keys without first educating them about how to drive. Why expect 21-year-olds to learn how to drink responsibly without learning from moderate models, at home and in alcohol education programs?” As asserted by Gabrielle Glaser, in an article posted on New York Times, lowering the drinking age is a hot issue with many approaches and reasonings. Countless people, aging from twelve to twenty-one, are calling for a change regarding the legal drinking age. This issue is not only a testament to the health of Americans, but also to their rights and responsibilities. Furthermore, many newly-turned adults are bamboozled that being eighteen has seemingly left one thing out; the ability to buy and drink alcohol. Teenagers see being eighteen being an age of complete independence, so why limit this new found freedom? If they are old enough to participate in elections, take up arms and fight for their country, and decide if they want to be a lifetime smoker, why is alcohol the last ‘privilege’ they receive? Whereas many researchers, professors, bloggers, and health care professionals believe the drinking age at its twenty-one standing is working, I firmly believe it should be lowered for a multitude of reasons including DUI laws, increase in tax money, leisure activity, and more.
Drinking has been a norm in the United States since the start of our independence, as well as even before, in colonial times. The drinking age is an important issue considering that binge drinking is an issue in this nation. Many people believe the drinking age limit should lowered to eighteen, some consider keeping the legal age limit where it stands right now. First, let’s see why we need to keep the age limit at twenty one, furthermore seeing why lowering the drinking age limit, if any helps. State why we should keep age at 21: The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed on July 17, 1984.
Many people think the drinking age should stay the same or even be lowered. They say that age should not depend on your responsibility to be able to drink. Some even say the drinking age is already too high and that the deaths do not matter how old you are. People that are around the age of eighteen are already independent and that they are already considered adults, so they shoud be able to drink. Even though some people believe that the drinking age should stay the same or it should be lowered, the drinking age should actually be raised to the age of twenty-five.
The drinking age in the United States should be lowered back to the age of eighteen. In my opinion, I think the drinking age is set too high. At
In all 50 U.S. states, the legal drinking age is 21. Although the age to legally drink is 21, it has not stopped teens from drinking, but has increased the rate of underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments and has also been leading to more life-endangering behaviors from teenagers. Many people argue that 18 is too young to drink because you aren't responsible enough yet, but statistics prove that people ages 21-24 are more likely to get in a drunk driving accident than underage drinkers. Lowering the drinking age would give 18 year olds, who are legally considered adults, a chance to make their own decisions, it would lower teen binge drinking, and teens are going to drink anyways, the law of drinking at age 21 is extremely ineffective.
Discussions arise among Americans in regards to changing the drinking age to 18. Is this a good idea, or are we just trying to accommodate for the way we treat young adults? Several studies show that when the drinking age is 21, older adults are happier about it. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that National Minimum Drinking Age of 21 decreased the number of fatal traffic accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13% and saved approximately 27,052 lives from 1975-2008” (ProCon.org). With information as previously stated, it is in good reason that we changed the drinking age to 21, and that we should keep it that way.
There seems to always be a debate whether the drinking age should be lowered to a younger age or not within in the United States. It is heard amongst a lot of younger students who think that it is right to lower it because they still drink and think that is right. They have no idea what drinking at a young age can do to a person's mental and physical being. The drinking age should not be lowered to 18, but kept at the same age of 21 because lowering it can cause problems later on in someone´s life.
Although the legal drinking age in the U.S. should stay at twenty-one years old due to small reasons such as, drinking under the influence or alcohol poisoning, the MLDA has helped teens with larger reasons such as the avoidance of tobacco, cannabinoids, opioids or club drugs. Another extensive reason why the legal drinking age should not be lowered is because of the unsafe surroundings teens would be allowed into such as bars and nightclubs. Last, exposing the brain to alcohol in the teen years will hinder the process of brain development.
Without a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher MLDA helps decrease the risk of teen suicides, accidents and overdose deaths. However, this widely debated topic has inevitably brought attention to the plethora of supporting and opposing viewpoints. The minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one
The legal drinking age in the United States was ruled to be 21 in 1984, setting the country apart from almost all other western nations. These past 30 years have contained as much problems regarding the consumption of alcohol as one of the country’s biggest failures ever, the 18th amendment, otherwise known as prohibition. Also, the legal drinking age in the United States can be considered violation of states liberties, as the national government, albeit with good intentions, has intervened and only made matters worse. The problem of a too high drinking age has been pushed to the side and overlooked by politicians because it only affects 18 to 20 year olds. Based on the increase in teenage binge drinking, the history of altering legal consumption of alcohol, and its unenforceable nature, the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to 18.
At the age of 18, in the United States of America, a person can vote, marry, divorce, and purchase tobacco; however, a person of this same age cannot purchase or consume alcohol under the law. This does not stop young people from consuming alcohol, which shows the legal drinking age of 21 is ineffective. 7.7 million people aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the
Did you know that in the year 1980 the legal drinking age was only 18? In 1987 there was a law passed that said in order to drink legally and to buy alcohol a person had to be 21. At the age of 18 people are allowed to buy tobacco, vote, get married without parental consent, and even join the armed forces, so why can’t some one who is 18 by alcohol. This is a question I have; I believe that the legal drinking age should be 18. Dr. Ruth Engs, a professor of Applied Heath Sciences at Indiana University, agrees with me also. She states, “the legal drinking age should be lowered to about 18 or 19 and young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments.” (Engs) These controlled places include