Underage Drinking Persuasive Essay

Every year, thousands of minors die from the use of alcohol. Many young adults abuse the drinking age policy. It is put in effect for substantial reasons, which contribute in making the safest environment for all. Drinking underage is not only illegal, but also damages one’s health tremendously. Furthermore, drinking in large amounts is extremely dangerous and can cause detrimental things to occur. There have been numerous attempts to create a law to lower the drinking age, but none have gone through. In contrast to what some people may say, the drinking age should not be lowered because it would decrease maturity, promote poor behavior, and damage reputations.

In the article Why the Drinking Age should be Lowered, Ruth Engs believes that the drinking age should be lowered to about 18 or 19. Engs is a Professor at Indiana University in the Health and Sciences department. In this article Engs makes a valid point in that “responsible drinking could be taught through role modeling and educational programs.” Engs also states facts about the different drinking ages in other countries, and that the United States has the highest legal purchasing age for alcoholic beverages in the world.

“Automobiles are not ferocious.... it is man who is to be feared,” as Robbins B. Stoeckel remarked, enumerates a simple, yet fundamental concept- a vehicle in itself is a relatively safe, that is, until you put a person behind the controls. Further adding to the danger is the ever prevalent risk of a fellow driver being impaired by the usage of alcohol; perhaps the only thing that may make such a situation even more difficult and dangerous is one who is under the legal alcohol drinking age. Fewer situations are more life threatening than when an underage driver has been illegally consuming alcohol, yet persists in the belief that he or she retains the ability to drive safely. Thoughts along this line are foolish at best and deadly at

Proponents argue “The current underage drinking law of 21, has not stopped teen drinking, and has instead pushed underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments, leading to more health and life-endangering behavior by teens” (ProCon, 2012, para. 2).

Although many states are trying to get the drinking age lowered, there are many groups and national statistics that are keeping the drinking set at 21.

Underage drinking has been occurring since laws were set in place for age qualifications, but it is better serving American society by continuing it because we can’t accept lowering the national age? Ruth C. Engs, a professor for Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University, finds that the mandated drinking age should be lowered to 18 or 19. If young adults were legally allowed to drink in controlled environments, then responsible drinking methods could be taught, resulting in mature behavior when consuming alcohol (Engs, 1). By keeping the drinking age so high, students or young adults are forced to hide drinking and more often than not, turn to binge drinking, an unhealthy, addictive, and extremely dangerous form of drinking that often results in blackouts and alcohol poisoning. Engs states, “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” This is not the only issue that arises from underage drinking. Newsweek writer, Jeffrey A. Tucker, sees that this law is only causing “over-indulgence, anti-social behavior, disrespect for the law, secrecy and sneaking and a massive diversion of human energy.” To diminish these issues, people are turning towards the examples of other nations that have managed to maintain low drinking age laws, with low risk results. In other countries, alcohol is seen as a cultural norm and are taught at young age how to responsibly consume. However, it is treated the opposite in America, instead, it is seen as how Wil Fulton from the Huffington Post sees it, “forbidden fruit”. Fulton states through a claim made by the World Health Organization, that while Europeans tend to consume more alcohol, Americans still die from more alcohol-related causes. In efforts to change this law and hopefully encourage safe and responsible drinking, many are turning towards the Amethyst Initiative, a movement created by John

Unfortunately, more than a third of these drinkers are unable to remember what happened the night of a big drinking session. The youth particularly, are vulnerable to the effects of heavy drinking. Harms include an increased risk of traffic accidents, injuries from violence, death, health problems, and some studies suggest suicide. If the legal drinking age is raised to 21 then at least one will have finished the major part of their education. Therefore if people start drinking later in life, they may be more likely to drink in moderation and not get addicted at an early

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.

In the United States today many teens have the problem of underage drinking. Whether they do it to look cool or to have fun, it is an enormous problem. In fact, one our four teens state that the would ride with a driver that is intoxicated (“Underage Drinking”). This shows that teenagers and not only irresponsible with alcohol, but also uniformed of the serious consequences. Although the rates of underage drinking have dropped within time, there are still ways to lower these rates more (Klass). With much research and problem solving, I have come up with three different ways to lessen the issue of underage drinking. The three options I focused my research on was changing the way colleges teach, lowering the drinking age, and informing

Many people are opposed to lowering the drinking age to eighteen because the majority of eighteen to twenty-one year old college students are not equipped with the necessary skill set to be responsible while drinking (“Should the Drinking Age…”). Due to the vast amount of danger posed by drinking, several people believe

Almost everyone can agree that alcohol should not be given or allowed to children or young adults under a certain age. Alcohol is a substance that is very dangerous and if you used incorrectly or immaturely the consequences can be great danger to the users or the ones around them. The topic of lowering the drinking age has been in discussion for many decades. “Between 1970 and 1976, 29 states lowered their age for drinking alcohol. The results were catastrophic. Highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed. Almost immediately, states began raising the minimum drinking age again.” “In 1984, Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which required states to have a minimum drinking age of 21 for all types of alcohol

72% of adults think that lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids, and nearly half believe that it would increase binge drinking among teens, according to a new Nationwide Insurance poll. Twenty-one isn't just an arbitrary number set by Congress--more than 20 states already had laws setting the drinking age there in 1984. Since the law widely enacted, the number of young people killed annually in crashes involving drunk drivers under 21 has been cut in half, from more than 5,000 individuals in the early 1980s to around 2,000 in 2005. By the end of 2005, the 21 drinking age had saved nearly 25,000 American lives--approximately 1,000 lives a year. A person’s brain does not stop developing until their early to mid-20s. During this period, alcohol negatively affects all parts of the brain, Including cognitive and decision-making abilities as well as coordination and memory. Adolescent drinkers not only do worse academically but are also at greater risk for social problems like depression, violence, and suicidal thoughts. Lowering the drinking age would have dangerous long-term consequences: Early Teen drinkers are not only more susceptible to alcoholism but to developing the disease earlier and more quickly than

In the United States, the minimum age required to legally consume alcohol is twenty-one years, being allowed in some states for young people under the minimum drinking age to consume alcohol under specific controlled circumstances. This particular age is controversial as it does not correspond to the age of majority of 18 years embraced by 47 states, which entitles the individual to vote, get married and join the army, among other decisions inherent to adulthood. It is thus seen as contradictory to consider a young person mature enough to take decisions of this nature, but not mature enough to drink alcohol.

As much as everyone is aware about the harm of consumption of too much alcohol, sometimes when someone is constantly extremely stressed they tend to find relief at the bottom of a bottle. It’s interesting that most of the times you only hear about teens underage drinking to the extreme, but if they thought high school was rough. Apparently the real world’s tougher to deal with and leads to getting drunk as well. This article caught my attention because all they talk about in health class how not to underage drink, but they never say anything about after you turn twenty one. The harm is all the same. The author explains that scientist have actually proven this to be true; work hard, drink harder. Scientist studies have shown that, “the level of alcohol consumption at which there might be an increased risk of adverse health consequences, such as liver diseases, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, mental disorders, and injuries, as well as considerable social costs because of family disruption,

     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