In the 1960’s and 1970’s when many states had lowered the MLDA, besides the rise in drunk-driving deaths, studies showed that people raised from childhood in under-21 states were involved in higher rates of alcohol and drug use as adults, and had a higher rate of homicides and suicides. (Moses, 2011) This in turn convinced federal law makers to raise the MLDA again to 21. However, in order to encourage states to comply, the federal government would tighten their purse strings and states would receive little or no funding towards highways. So while there are those who do not necessarily care one way or the other about the actual age limit on alcohol consumption, they do prefer having the federal
The drinking age should not be lowered to 18. Lowering the drinking age from 21 years old to 18 years old could lead to an increase in dangerous behavior such as drunken driving and car accidents, risk of developing alcoholism and people under the age of 21 do not fully understand the dangers of alcohol. A teenage driver and alcohol is a dangerous combination. Drinking and driving accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers. “Traffic deaths from drunken driving have fallen steadily, with those involving teenagers 16 to 19 declining by 39.1 percent from 1982 to 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)”.
They learn how to control their drinking and what to expect from the effects of the alcohol (Nayak 141-142). This may be true for some parts of the world, but it does not deem overall success in achieving overall healthy drinking habits. It still leads to harm development and early age drinking still has potential to raise the risk of alcohol abuse in adult life. As an example, by Wechsler and Nelson, most European countries have lower drinking ages, this has resulted in a rise of drinking problems among teens and the amount of binge drinking is doubled that of the U.S. When New Zealand lowered their drinking age in 1999, they were definite increases in the number of emergency injury influenced by alcohol, as well as the higher rate of
The Science Daily explains that consumption of alcohol under the age of 21 has significantly reduced drinking related car crashes. The article explains that the study published in the July 2008 issue of the journal “Accident Analysis and Prevention,” found that laws making it illegal to possess or purchase alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 had led to an eleven percent drop in alcohol related traffic deaths among youth. Secondly, they found that states with strong laws against fake ID’s reported seven percent fewer alcohol related fatalities among drivers under the age of 21. (Accident Analysis and
One of the first associations which come to our mind when talking about alcohol is driving. In our country, having a car is always seen from the age when a teenager is allowed to receive a driving license. Teenagers among 18 to 20 years old was found connected to drunk driving can caused high percentage of car accidents. Respectively, if youth were allowed to consume alcohol from younger age, the index of car accidents would necessarily be much higher. The medical irresponsibility of allowing teenagers to drink alcohol on a legal basis is also obvious to those who have basic knowledge.
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.
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.
“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
Toulmin Analysis of “Don’t Make Teen Drinking Easier” T.R. Reid argued in his article “Let my Teenager Drink” that the United States should lower the drinking age in order to show them how to drink responsibly. In “Don’t Make Teen Drinking Easier” Joseph Califano writes against this article giving sufficient reasons as to why lowering the drinking age can be dangerous. Califano discusses research that proves that American fifteen year olds were less likely than those of other nations with a lower drinking age to actually be intoxicated two or more times. Teen drinking is one of the leading causes to deaths and can also cause damages on growth and health for them.
In Road Rage, Ferguson points out that in a recent survey that the Coalition for Consumer Health and Safety did, 64% of the people mentioned that they are driving less mannerly and more recklessly than they did about five years ago (553). We all know that road rage can be cause due to many reasons like stress at work and problems at home. Ferguson also points out that road rage could be solve if we had more police and tougher punishments (556), but we all know that won’t really help. I don’t even think that therapy for those road rage individuals would help. We all just have to pray every time we get into a car and just have patience.