Pros and Cons of Lowering the Drinking Age In today’s society, many young adults turn to alcohol to self-treat depression, stress, and other psychological illnesses. The legal drinking age in the United States of America is twenty-one. It has been that way since the late 1980s, but recently several states have been petitioning and campaigning to get that age lowered. The majority of the petitioners compare the drinking age to the age at which you are considered an adult, eighteen. For most of the people and organizations that support lowering the drinking age, their case is a person can fight and die for their country, serve jury duty , vote for President, but cannot have a beer or two while doing so.
Hanson, and I believe that some of the reason why students drink to excess is because of that adrenaline rush they get from breaking the rules. My parents, among many other adults, have told me that once you reach the legal drinking age, getting excessively intoxicated loses its thrill. Perhaps if we were to lower the drinking age to eighteen, we would see less college students admitted to hospitals with alcohol poisoning and other alcohol related issues. Overall, a lower drinking age seems like a good idea to me. It would allow students in college to go out and enjoy themselves without being stressed out about breaking the law, as well as possibly lower the number of alcohol related injuries and incidents.
Bronson Guimond Guimond 1 English Composition (HC111) Dana Anderson 20 September 2011 Legal Drinking Age in america There are many reasons why the government has passed laws on the legal drinking age in America. I believe that if a human being of any age thinks they are capable of consuming alcohol, then they should be able to do so. Alcohol is very dangerous if it isn’t used responsibly. I understand that because of many teen deaths due to alcohol that the government changed the drinking age to 21; however this is not going to stop teen drinking. I would discuss this topic with an audience consisting of teens, parents, and government representatives.
Why? Is the main question asked? Many Americans believe the underage drinking age percentage would drop if the age is lowered. Some reasons of why Americans under 21 drink: peer pressure, enjoyment, etc. But the main reason for doing so is “breaking the law.” 87% of high school seniors have used alcohol.
The first point people have against lowering the drinking age make is that most 18-year olds are mature enough. They believe that young adults do not know when to stop and that they will just drink until they have alcohol poisoning. The second point opposes make is that lowering the drinking age will create alcoholics. They believe that even at 18-years old people are susceptible to gaining a dependence on something like alcohol. If the drinking age is 21 then by that time they will have a strong mind to not be dependent.
Whether the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen or remain at twenty one is a big issue right now to lots of people. The younger crowd will most likely argue that it should be lowered to eighteen, but they have many legit reasons why it should be. The legal drinking age should be lowered because it is already easily accessible to them, the percentage of reckless teen alcohol abusers will be reduced and also because at the age of eighteen you are legally considered an adult. Almost all teens between the ages of 14-17 have tried alcohol before. Majority of the time it is given to them by someone between the ages of 18-21.
This country would be far more productive if alcohol is not present to kids under the age of twenty-one. Having the legal drinking age lowered to eighteen creates more conflicts than benefits, so it is a more intelligent decision to leave the age at twenty-one. Underage drinking can be defined as someone under the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA), which is twenty-one in the US. Along with
Smoking and drinking are both addictive and can have negative effects if used improperly, but smoking one cigarette is more harmful than drinking one beer. If they lowered the drinking age to 18, there would be a lot fewer problems related to alcohol. Lowering the drinking age would take away the excitement of teens drinking. People who are under the age and drink see drinking as a rebellious act. Under age teens will drink less than they did before since the thrill of is gone.
The law knows people are going to drink in college and a little bit in high school. There’s no way of stopping that. But teenagers these days drink to get drunk, and they don’t drink all that often so when they do, they get very intoxicated. If the law lowered the age, then teens would not look to drink to get drunk all the time, they would drink to relax like adults do. Plus teens wouldn’t be as broke, because they are not getting in trouble by the cops and getting minors.
As stated in the textbook, Sociology Now, “Around thirty-one percent of college students qualify for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and over six percent of students for a diagnosis of alcohol dependency”. Many of the problems with alcohol abuse on college campuses in America is due to the institution of binge drinking at parties as well as “kick-backs”. Kick-backs are a smaller and more toned down party, that usuallyjust consists of close friends. Binge drinking is the consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a short amount of time; it is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for males and four or more drinks for females (Kimmel). Due to this widespread phenomenon of binge drinking, American college students spend an average of over 5.5 billion dollars a year on alcohol.