Should the Legal Drinking Age be Lowered? Alcohol has taken the lives of many young adults and in order to stop this chain reaction from occurring once again with new generations there needs to be a change. Young adults under 21 drink now because it is illegal and it is what causes them to drink irresponsibly and causes them to do many regrettable things, knowing that they are going against authority. On college campuses nationwide students are currently drinking illegally while under the age of 21 and if the drinking age was changed the whole aspect of drinking would be looked at differently. 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.
During adolescence, one’s brain goes through major changes that include physiological, psychological, and social changes (Crego 2). This is one reason the drinking age should be raised. The raise in the drinking age would help prevent problems and set-backs to the student during the sensitive time of adolescence. Functions such as attention, working memory, planning, problem solving, and inhibitory control are developing during adolescence and can be harmed if students drink (Crego 2). According to Crego, “Given the extent of brain maturation occurring during this phase in life, adolescents who use substances appear to be vulnerable to alterations in brain functioning, cognition and behavior, and alcohol use may
Alcohol intoxicates the brain, leaving you feeling disoriented and slowing your reflexes. Consuming alcohol harms your brain and can lead to mental retardation. At the age of 21 scientists believe your brain to be fully developed, and therefore is seen as a “safe” age to be able to drink. Why should we choose to lower the drinking age and harm our children’s undeveloped brains? The debate over lowering the drinking age has once again been presented to the nation.
Another health concern is the effect that drinking has on the brain, which is still developing in all teenagers. Select Federal agencies quoted that “The brains and bodies of teens are still developing, and alcohol use can cause learning problems.” In addition, the drinking age should not be lowered because the argument among the youth won’t stop. Let’s assume that the drinking age is lowered from 18 to 16. Finally, 16 year olds will be satisfied and will pick up drinking heartily.
In a sense it acts as a factor of reverse psychologically, by making the alcohol illegal to youth, it tempts them to want to drink even more. In few studies it shows that children who are not being subjected to not drink alcohol, actually do not need protection from such laws. These children have freedom to learn the ways of drinking in the comfort of their own homes and not deal with the stress of hiding drinking habits by family. Also with being allowed to drink at home, it prevents the youth from learning dangerous drinking habits from peers, when rather their have adult figures to guide them with their drinking. They learn how to control their drinking and what to expect from the effects of the alcohol (Nayak 141-142).
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
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.
Minimum Legal Drinking Age The current legal drinking age is twenty one years old; however, there has been an interest in lowering the drinking age down to eighteen years old. A teen can become an adult in every arena of life at this age, except being legal to consume alcoholic beverages. One may choose to lower the drinking age because many teens do not follow the rules anyways. In high school parties, it is common for there to be drinking. The drinking age should not be lowered because seniors in high school can contribute to the underage fourteen to seventeen year olds’ desires to experiment with alcohol.
In matter of fact, many teenagers in the United States weather or without their family consent they consume a lot of alcohol. In most part of the world there is no age limit for consumption or drinking of alcohol. There are three reasons why the alcoholic drinking age should be changed to age 18; to build a great confidence and responsibility to teenagers, to avoid bad relationship teenagers with their parents, and to save teenagers lives that perish by over-limit alcohol consumption. The first reason why should be change the alcohol drinking age to 18; is in order to build a great confidence and responsibility. Changing drinking alcohol age limit from 21 to 18 would definitely to make a positive difference inside of the household.
The drinking age should be lowered because of many studies showing that to be 21 to drink legally is not helping anything. One main study to support my opinion is the irresponsible manner we drink as underage drinkers and the percentages from now to then when you could be 18 and drink legally. My second issue is how easy it is to get alcohol and you can bust as many people as you can but your never going to stop underage drinking. My other point I like to point out is the history of laws being passed and what has changed now from then in the drinking laws. In this report I?m going to express how drinking is not to be seen as poison or a really bad thing to do if we just handle the way we drink in a more responsible manner.