DRINKING AGE LIMIT On December 5, 1933, the repeal of alcohol prohibition by the 21st Amendment allowed each state to set its own drinking age limit laws. At that time most of the states’ minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was 21. Later during the Vietnam War era, the passage of the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 in July 1, 1971. Following this, thirty states lowered their MLDA to 20, 19, and 18. During the 1970’s reports showed that teenage car accidents increased in states where the MLDA had been lowered from 21 years old.
“More than 1,700 college students in the U.S. are killed each year—about 4.65 a day—as a result of alcohol-related injuries” (The Marin Institute). With a number as high as this, lowering the drinking age would only increase this ongoing problem of underage drinking. It has even been proven by the Marin Institute to be the leading cause of death among teenagers. Many adults feel as if the 18 to 21 age groups cannot handle drinking responsibly, then they should not be permitted to use it. Alcohol is a very serious depressant and one of the leading problems for death (Hanson, 2007).
CLASS DISCUSSION 1. Why did the Apostle Paul say, “ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL” in I Thessalonians 5:21? Update: The AMA records 97,000 to 100,000 deaths annually that are alcohol-related. 7,000 young people die every year where alcohol is ingested or present. In our present day, how does Romans 14:21 apply to drinking alcohol as a beverage?
10-08-12 The Alcohol Drinking Age Should the alcoholic drinking age stay at age 21? In the United States “The federal legislation passed in 1984 required all states to set the legal age for the purchase and public consumption of alcohol at 21 years” (Drinking). Many people believed that it is safer to keep it at age 21, because for safety of the teenagers and the community. However, the regulation for alcohol drinking age should be changed to age18; because 18 years old consider like adult. In matter of fact, many teenagers in the United States weather or without their family consent they consume a lot of alcohol.
There is a controversy on whether the legal drinking age and the age to purchase alcohol components should remain at 21 years or be lowered to 19. I personally believe that the legal drinking age should stay at 21 years old because of the benefits it has provided all around the world, especially in the United States. According to Document #1, “More than 25,000 lives have been saved in the U.S. thanks to the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age”. This law prevents numerous tragedies and keeps young people safer from risks. Many say that youth shouldn’t have to wait until they’re 21 to drink without knowing all the facts and statistics.
The United Stated is no stranger to the discussion of legalization of substances. Since the days before the prohibition in the 1920’s most regulations were through social sanctions and responses to intoxication, and proclamations against the use of various substances also included laws forbidding the consumption of coffee and smoking tobacco (Jeffery, 2001). The restrictions on the use and distribution of drugs in the U.S on the federal level were less than 100 years old, and prior to the early 1900’s restrictions on drugs were on the state and local level. Yet as times changed the morality movement against alcohol had begun to take hold throughout the country. Thus the Prohibition movements began, along the women's suffrage of newly empowered
Throughout Europe, anyone aged 18 or older can drink any type of alcoholic beverage they choose, and many countries have even lower legal drinking ages; France and Italy have a minimum age of 16, Switzerland allows 14-year-olds to drink beer and wine but not hard liquor, and Poland has no minimum drinking age at all (Minimum Drinking Age). Despite these “low” drinking ages, the United States still has higher alcohol-related problems, nevertheless the prohibition of alcohol amongst individuals younger than 21 still exists. A lot of people don’t know that there are exceptions to the law, and that in some states underage individuals can drink with parental consent (some states require the guardian to be present). Young adults aged 18-20 are considered legal adults in the U.S. They can risk their own lives by joining the military, they can serve on a jury in the court of law, and they now have say in the American government by voting for their legislators, but they cannot purchase, possess, or consume any form of alcoholic beverage on any occasion.
According to alcoholnew.org, 80% of high school students admitted to at least trying a drink. About 50% report to having consumed alcohol in the last month. Giving all the more reason to lower the drinking age down to 18. In the United States, all 50 states have set their legal drinking age to 21. The average drinking age around the world is 15.9 years of age.
Is an Eighteen Year Old Person an Adult, and be Ready to Drink Alcohol? The age at which one is considered a legal adult in the US is typically 18. What means a legal adult is ability to legally work, vote, marry, and join the military. However, the age to purchase alcohol and going into a bar is 21. How can a country believe that a young adult is old enough to be into the military, get married and vote, yet still consider the same adult not old enough to drink alcohol?
“Everything changed in the space of roughly 15 years. The pill went on the market in 1960. Then the sexual revolution, feminism and gay liberation, in turn, revolutionized the family, the workplace and popular culture. By the end of the 1970s, Congress had outlawed gender discrimination in most areas of American life. Half of the states had repealed their laws against sodomy.