It’s a proven success. Nearly every state that has raised the drinking age to 21 has produced a significant drop in the teenage driving fatalities” (Nayaka 193). There has been further evidence that portrays that law since been effective has caused those under the age of 21 to drink less in their youth and less later in their 20’s. Lowering the age also declined the access to of alcohol to minors, thus also not allowing for them to participate in underage drinking (Roleff 86). These laws were in place in order to maintain the protection of the youth and such evidence has shown that these laws are holding true to their original
Paige Eberle Professor Powell English 111 22 August, 2011 America Should Lower Drinking Age Alcoholic beverages date all the way back to the early part of our human existence. Throughout its history, alcohol has been used prevalently for many diverse purposes, such as relieving tension, providing courage in battle, celebrating, numbing feelings, and simply for bonding. Unfortunately, all of alcohols effects are not as satisfying as its purposes. Because of alcohol abuse, in 1920 the United States banned the sale, manufacturing,delivery, and transportation of liquor which was considered to be any drink with more than .05% alcohol. With this prohibition came the art of making Moonshine and other illegal alcohols.
I believe that we should focus on safe drinking more than age restrictions. We need to educate teenagers about safe drinking. Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 with providing proper education will decrease illegal and binge alcohol drinking on teens. I agree that something has to be done with the problem of alcohol abuse in this country, but why not start from the bottom and steadily increase as we teach teenagers how to drink responsibly? Then we need to learn to trust them.
The drinking age isn't meant to be a big deal, but the first couple years of lowering the drinking age could cause many students to be reckless. There are many responsibilities that come along with drinking at a low age, most importantly drinking and driving. Lowering the age will reduce all such problems, but at first will seem extremely hectic. Lowering the current drinking age of 21-and-over will allow young Americans, most of who are perfectly capable of drinking responsibly; to no longer drink in private or in short amounts of time, thus alleviating potentially dangerous conditions. Drinking privately is extremely unsafe and when kids are in a situation they can't handle, they can then ask for help.
The majority of the people voting for the age limit to drop to 18 are the people who are under 18 or who are 18. They feel that 18 year-olds are prepared to make responsible decisions about drinking (Amethyst Initiative). The Amethyst Initiative believes that lowering the drinking age will only make situations worse for society. But the fact is, these people are not thinking about the consequences and are only looking at the pleasure. “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).
“Alcohol related fatalities have declined over the past 25 years…in all age groups” (McCardell). By lowering the drinking age we could educate drinkers earlier, not only with knowledge, but practical, useable experience in a controlled environment. In college, most people under twenty-one will drink, regardless of the law, and will do so with little to no experience, increasing the chance of risky
Alcohol use in adolescence also decreases executive functioning, memory, spatial operations, and attention among adolescents. These changes may be permanent. (The Science) Personally, before I started this paper I thought that lowering the drinking age would be the best thing that the government could do. After researching this subject and looking at the statistics and numbers, I realized that lowering the drinking age to 18 would be one of the worst things that the U.S. could do. Having
Alcohol impairs judgment, and being under the influence of alcohol causes bad decision making. “The legal drinking age should be lifted to 25 to limit the violence associated with drunkenness, the head of the nation's peak medical organisation says”(Raise drinking age to 25, says top doc).Teenagers already make bad decisions as it is and we know that, so raising the drinking age will prevent this further. Not only that, but alcohol is a depressant. If teenagers get a hold of this depressant it could lead to bad decision making such as dropping out of school and even
Lowering the drinking age, I feel would be the best solution to solving the underground drinking problem, it would allow for drinking to be more “open.” Having the drinking age at 21 allows for there to me more difficulty in keeping track of the kids who use it because they do it secretly and tend to abuse it more. If the drinking age was lowered across the world, I think there would less binge drinking amongst the teens and would allow for the elders to have more control over the consumption of alcohol. Drinking at any age under 18 should not be allowed but once you turn 18 you should be allowed to drink legally. When one turns 18 they assume adult penalties, are allowed to vote, die for their country, and even get married. So why can’t they enjoy a few beers legally?
So in turn society is thought to be socially built based upon human interpretations. These interpretations are often called definition of the situation. An example of definitions of the situation would be underaged drinking. Teens are often educated of the risk and dangers of underaged drinking, but yet they think it’s cool to have just one drink and no harm will come from it. Teens may also think that drinking that one drink will display a positive image on theirs peers.