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After I Get Back From Iraq, I Want A Beer

A person in the United States who is 18 years old can legally; fly a plane, get married, vote, pay taxes, take out a federal loan, be tried as an adult in court, and risk their life in the armed forces. However, that same person cannot legally consume an alcoholic beverage. The message the government is saying: We trust you enough to vote for us, but not enough to have a glass of wine. Many might argue that dropping the drinking age to 18 might promote binge drinking; having said that, statistics show that countries with a lower drinking age have less alcohol problems among young adults. Where drinking is legal, it takes place in the open, where it can be supervised. When the drinking age went up, it moved underground – such as frat houses, cars, parking lots, and homes – where no proper supervision is available. The fact is that the drinking age does not limit young adults under 21 from drinking. The prohibition did not work because citizens continued to drink: same in today’s society with young adults under 21. Danger stems from drinking secretly. Incidents include drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and accidents that occur from being highly intoxicated. Since the law that states young adults under 21 cannot legally drink was passed in 1987, drunk driving has decreased. It seems almost evident that the raising of the drinking age was effective, but the decrease in drunk driving was happening almost 7 years prior to the passing of the law in all age groups. In retrospect, using the decrease in drunk driving is irrelevant to the rise of the drinking age. Besides using numbers, why don’t we use common sense? Young adults today are more educated than those of 23 years ago. More has been taught as far as the dangers of drunk driving, the importance of protected sex, the effects of smoking, and so on. The only way to measure the effectiveness of a law that has been in place for 23 year is to ask ourselves,...