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Legal Drinking Age

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For many of the generations living today, the legal drinking age has always been set at twenty-one. In the 1980’s, it rose from eighteen to twenty-one in an attempt to reduce the amount of underage drunk driving accidents. While the number of traffic fatalities have declined over the past few decades, many would argue that the law has spawned many new problems as well, such as an increase in alcohol poisoning deaths and binge drinking.

As previously stated, the primary reason for adjustment to the legal drinking age was to address the preposterous number of drunk driving accidents. The United States has experienced a decline in all age groups over the last 25 years and for that, the law has been a success. Although these statistics are encouraging, …show more content…

In addition to an increase in intoxicated driving fatalities, studies also suggest that a lower drinking age contributes to a number of long-term risks, including a higher rate of suicide attempts, homicides, and alcohol and drug use as adults. In a study of 39 states, “women who had matured when the legal drinking age was below 21 had a 15 percent higher risk of dying from homicide” (Mozes), and a “12 percent higher risk for suicide” (Mozes). The researchers concluded that suicide attempts are more often carried to completion under the influence of alcohol, and it was also noted that “episodes of alcohol-fueled domestic violence” (Mozes) are most frequently the cause associated with homicide of females. A reason for this may lie in how a young person’s brain is composed and the effects that alcohol has on a brain that is not yet fully matured. An adolescent brain is scientifically proven to be much more vulnerable to addiction, and by returning the legal age to 18 there is a greater chance of young adults developing an addiction to alcohol, which can subsequently lead to long-term habit …show more content…

Since 1979, the rate of binge drinking has increased 20 percent in non-college women and 40 percent in women who attend college, and this rate continues to rise. College students that are not “of age” to drink legally engage in “pre game” sessions, where the primary goal is to get drunk before attending a social event. To obtain this goal, the young adults “take multiple shots of hard liquor in rapid succession”(McCardell) in locations that are beyond administrative authority. These unsafe and unhealthy drinking behaviors lead to many short and long term health effects. Drinking is driven away from responsible adults who could model moderation for young adults and instead driven into risky settings, heavily weighted with peer pressure and usually not supervised by any non-intoxicated people. While drunk driving is a problem, a study from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse states that of 5,000 deaths involving alcohol in those under the age of 21, more than 60 percent of the fatalities occur off of roadways (McCardell). This includes alcohol poisoning deaths that result from binge drinking incidents, which between 1998 and 2005 jumped from 779 to 2290 cases in 18-24 year olds (Glaser). These statistics indicate that the primary problem of this age is not drunk driving, but instead “clandestine binge

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