European countries have a lower legal drinking and appear to have lesser alcohol related problems. Trying to enforce the drinking age of 21 is ineffective and pricey. Even though the law says one has to be 21, teen drinking is a major problem and there will never be a way to stop it. It would be more effective to spend money on educating the youth about how to drink responsibly rather than attempt to enforce the drinking age of 21 and continuously waste money and effort.” For 21 years, the legal drinking age has been set at 21 years. This has been an issue topic for quite some time now, and more states are considering revising the law.
If peers encourage others to drink alcohol underage, often teens will drink to feel more accepted by their peers. Schools can counter this influence by sending out a “don’t drink” message. Often schools have classes, such as health, which will encourage students to not drink and drive, or to say “no” to alcohol, but Levine claims that many schools do not have these types of classes. According to the Amethyst Initiative, 18 year-olds are not
The Drinking Age Debate: Should It Be Lowered, or Remain the Same? For many years there has been controversy about what the legal minimum age to consume alcohol in the United States should be. Many people believe that it would be beneficial to conform to the majority of other countries by lowering the legal age to eighteen. On the other hand, many believe that we should just leave the legal drinking age where it is now, at twenty-one. This controversy can be broken down into three main points of argument: safety, bingeing behavior, and maturity.
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
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.
However, these teenagers also live in fear of getting caught for drinking and thus, consume their alcohol in unsafe environments; typically, these dwellings are where they can “escape” disturbances and predicaments, but usually encounter more. These environments are generally unsupervised and in groups of “children” that are ignorant of responsible drinking habits. Due to their apprehension of being caught, teenagers tend to never confess to an adult of the troubles they encountered as they drank and, therefore, may further affect their experience. Thus, if the drinking age was lowered to eighteen, a teenager would have the ability to be more straightforward with their drinking and would be able to drink in more supervised locations. They would also begin to drink in moderation since there is no longer the appeal of a “forbidden” rebellion.
Gina Curiale April 27th, 2011 Professor Byrd English 088 Should the Drinking Age be changed to 21? Ever since the drinking age was legally changed to 21 in 1984, there have been people debating against it. Some people believe it should be lower, citing European nations that have a much lower or non-existent drinking age. Others believe the legal age should actually be higher, noting that the brain doesn’t fully develop until after 21, and people still need more time to mature and sequentially drink responsibility. However, the drinking age is perfect where it is at 21 for statistical reasons that work well for America.
Eighteen-year-olds can run for public office, vote, serve in the military and get married. So, the lower-drinking-age question has to be considered in the context of all those other decisions," Jordan said. "My concern and that of many of the other presidents who signed the initiative is that we aren't doing our students a favor by avoiding this. Saying that keeping the minimum age at 21 is reducing highway deaths is ignoring the bigger problem." Dr. George
Lorianne Berbano November 28, 2011 Rogerian Essay Eng100, Emma White Lower The Legal Drinking Age At the age of 18, you are already considered as an adult, so why do you have to be 21 to purchase or consume alcohol? There has been multiple debates over the years whether or not the age of 18 should be the appropriate legal drinking age than the age of 21 here in the United States. There are numerous theories as to why 18 should be the legal drinking age. As an adult you can do whatever you want and have your freedom of rights. The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 because most teens under 21 drink anyways.
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?