Legal Drinking Age

In 1984 Ronald Reagan proposed a new law that declared that the legal drinking age must raised up to 21 instead of the age of 18. The law was forced upon the states by threatening them by stating that the government will reduce their highway funding until the states passed the law. Of course all the states eventually change their legal drinking age to 21. Some critics believe that this law’s results have been very successful, however the law possesses many insecurities, but certain programs can be arranged to help educate teenagers on alcohol.

Lowering the drinking age will result in life and death consequences. By keeping the drinking age at 21, the rate of fatalities for drinking and driving decrease drastically. During the short period during the late 1980’s when the drinking age was lowered to 18, the number of fatal car crashes involving young adults who were under the influence dropped from 61% to 31% (Wil Fulton). By bringing the age down to 18-years-old, alcohol would be more accessible to the lower age group. For example, an 18 year old, who is still in high school, is more likely to sell alcohol to a 16 year old than a 21 year old, who is away at college. In recent studies, researchers found that 77% of the population are opposed to lowering the drinking age to 18 (Brandon Griggs). MADD is supported by influential government companies such as the American Medical Association, National Transportation Safety Board, National Safety Council, International Association Chiefs of Police, Governor's Highway Safety Association, Surgeon General of the United States, and U.S. Transportation Secretary to name a few (John H. Barnhill, PHD). Overall, young teenagers lack the proper wisdom collected to make right judgments about alcohol. The 3 years between the age 18 and 21 are filled with change and responsibilities, making one more suitable to make appropriate

According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not

Simply remarking that such a decision is dangerous fails to suffice as concrete evidence of the negative effects of underage alcohol consumption, and so statistical evidence must be given. Approximately five thousand underage drinkers die each year; the most prevalent cause is, not surprisingly, motor vehicle accidents. What many do not understand is what other factors constitute the other approximately three thousand; sixteen hundred to homicides, that is, murders and other deliberate killings, as well as 300 to suicide, usually caused by an exacerbation of underlying depression or other psychological difficulties. The remaining thousand are usually caused by such grisly circumstances as falling, burning, and drowning. While this may seem a relatively small number in the vast amounts of the twelve to twenty year old age group, estimates are that within the past month one-quarter of underage persons used alcohol, while two-thirds of those were binge drinkers. Not only does underage drinking increase the chance of dying in related incidents it encourages other destructive behaviors: engage in sexual activities, carry a plethora of illegal substances, and correlations have even been found that links underage drinking to poor performance in school. Other observations have been made that negatively link underage drinking with mental

The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, while in other countries the legal age ranges from 16-18. The argument in the United States is “Should the United States lower its drinking age?” There are many sides to this argument but research has given many good points to back up both sides of the question. First thing is the difference between a teen’s brain with alcohol and an adult’s brain with alcohol. Another thing is drinking at a younger age can help teach culture. Lastly the more alcohol exposed the increase in death rate. I believe that it is a good idea to keep the legal drinking age at age 21 because in our past we have had many problems with death increases due to the drinking age being at different ages and the research used uses pathos, logos, ethos and Kairos to help persuade the reader support that 21 should stay the legal drinking age.

The legal age for drinking is 25. According to an overall view it is observed that people who opt for drinking tend to have more serious problems in their lives. Drinking not only ruins their life but also affects others. The legal age set for drinking is quiet appropriate when taken into consideration. Children aged 18-25 are most likely to be affected from the consequences of drinking since it makes them mentally ill and weak in concentration. Today's youth gets the most attracted to these. Not only drinking but also consumption of smoking, drugs and many more ill habits makes them a person who not only risks his or her life but creates worst conditions for his or her well wishers. Everyday there are some or the nuisance created due to the

By lowering the MLDA, we are putting the lives of our young people at risk. Many studies have been done on the safety of a MLDA of 18 and several of those were about alcohol-related injuries and fatalities. Since the Uniform Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984, significantly fewer alcohol-related traffic accidents have occurred (Saylor 330). Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death in our country, so it can also be claimed that reducing traffic accidents will decrease the number of deaths from accidents. In fact, a 2010 article by Wechsler and Toben published in the American Journal of Public Health discovered a 58% drop in car crashes after the MLDA was changed from 18 to 21 (988). Fifty-eight percent is not a coincidence and never will be. Changing the MLDA to 21 has been so successful in reducing traffic accidents that the National Highway Safety Department stepped in to support the higher drinking age. A conservative estimate claims over 800 lives have been saved each year since the drinking age was

As a result of the drinking age at twenty-one, many teenagers binge drink in dangerous and unsupervised places. According to the NIAAA, almost 28 percent of eighteen to twenty-four year olds binge drink at least once a month. Binge drinking is a type of heavy episodic drinking with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. Binge drinking is also associated with an increased risk of unplanned ad unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancies, and an increased risk of HIV infection. Many proponents of lowering the drinking age believe that “with higher alcohol age limits, young people in the United States find it harder to get alcohol and so binge-drink whey they do” (Debatepedia) As mentioned before, binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning which can have traumatic consequences. According to the CDC, Each year, excessive drinking and binge drinking cause 80,000 deaths across the country. Furthermore, binge drinking and any other kind of drinking “may have lasting harmful consequences, including greater risk for the development of alcohol dependence” (ICAP)

The drinking age in the United States has always been a topic of much debate. With the legal drinking age in the United States at 21 years old, it is the highest in the world. A major reason as to why the drinking age was changed in 1984 is because of the rise of drunken driving accidents. The older generation attributed the rise in the rate of alcohol related accidents to the younger generation being reckless when they drank. The government raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in hopes of lowering this rate, and hopefully saving lives.

After all that has been stated in the magazine Mental Floos, an article written by Ethan Trex titled Why is the Drinking Age 21, there are some historical contrarieties among the legal drinking age as for the U.S. The U.S has had a history of attempting to restrict and control drinking in America, especially during the 20th century with the examples of the Prohibition where no matter what, people found ways to drink. The Prohibition was nationwide ban of the transportation of alcohol beverages. After the end of this period, state governments had the power over the years to have fluctuating drinking ages, making it

The legal drinking age in the Untied States is 21. However, the legal drinking age wasn’t always 21 in the United States. Not until Congress passed the National Minimum drinking Age Act in 1984. This law basically stated that if a state lowers its legal drinking age below 21, Congress would take 10 percent of the state’s federal highway funds. With this law in affect, by 1988 all states had set the legal drinking age to 21.

The legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one, but has not always been twenty-one. The United States used to have a legal drinking age of eighteen years old before MADD came along. MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is a nonprofit organization that is fighting to protect drunk drivers, as well as prevent underage consumption of alcohol. When this organization was created, it raised the nations legal drinking age to twenty-one. Most countries still have legal drinking age of eighteen years old. Some countries believe that keep the age of drinking at eighteen will possibly reduce the young adults wanting to do it since by the time they are twenty-one they have sort of gotten over the excitement of being able to drink. One major

The legal drinking age should not be a common controversial topic of debate that people argue about time and time again. It is so obvious to see that when the law was passed to make the legal drinking age twenty-one years, it was the best decision for our nation. Alcohol is the main drug problem for the youth in the United States and as well as the world. This problem is carried over when teenagers get behind the wheel while intoxicated. Although, from studies carried out, young drivers are less likely to drink and drive however the severity of accidents caused by drunken teens outweighs the accidents caused by adults. The legal drinking age should remain as is and there are countless reasons to back this claim.

     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

Secondly, regardless of age, people still tend to make bad decisions that ultimately lead to their downfalls. As a result, whatever the legal drinking age is, people will still be ignorant and follow their own ways instead of what is truly beneficial to them. According to Statistics Canada, in 2015, more than 72,000 incidents of drunk driving were reported by police departments around Canada at a rate of 201 accidents per 100,000 population. From this information, it can be concluded that people will still be irresponsible and will abuse their privileges in