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.
Alcohol and Substance Abuse in College It comes as no surprise that binge drinking and substance abuse are easily connected to college students in the United States. According to the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, “almost half of college student drinkers partake in heavy episodic consumption” which is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for men, and four or more drinks for women in a single outing. Are colleges really doing enough to discourage the problem of heavy drinking in the student body? A study published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research says that colleges can do more to fight the alcohol-loving culture in students. The study points out failures in the colleges' attempts to drive
Unlike other countries, the United States is very strict on the drinking age. Instead of the age 18, where we are legally an adult, the drinking age is 21.The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because being 18 is when you are a legal adult and should be able to do everything a legal adult does, including drinking. Binge drinking has become a major problem in youths in the United States. Youths under twenty-one drink profoundly when they can get their hands on alcohol. The ecstasy of breaking the law and being rebellious also influences their drinking and this has
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.
Reasons the legal drinking age should be lowered are the fact that eighteen is the age of adulthood meaning as an adult you should be allowed to make your own responsible decisions about alcohol usage. Lowering the age would remove the fear of legal punishment when seeking help for injuries for self or others while intoxicated. One of the biggest reasons to lower the minimum age is to prevent hiding from the law and parents to engage in “Binge” drinking that is an enormous problem with young adults and college students. At eighteen whether headed off to college, the military, or just living on their own the
Maturity plays a big part of the reason why the MLDA should stay the same. Anyone under the age of 21 is most likely to be not mature or responsible enough. Being responsible as a teenager can be tough, especially when there is alcohol involved. The article “The minimum drinking age: facts and fallacies” by Traci Toomey, Carolyn Rosefeld, and Alexander Wagenaar states that from 1970 to 1975 the legal drinking age in the United States was lowered to eighteen, nineteen or twenty in 29 states. The article goes on to say that several studies show that the lowered MLDA in the 29 states had an immediate impact on motor vehicles crashes increased among teens.
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.
Leaving the drinking age at twenty-one will not necessarily stop underage drinking, but will definitely continue to disable many underage drinkers from drinking more. Finally, if teenagers being more prone to being seriously hurt, dropping out and/or going to jail, or even just hurting his/her athletic or academic potential is a good thing, then do not be one for lowering the drinking age to twenty
Clearly there are many reasons why drinking age should be lowered to 18, the most obvious being that too many people are drinking before they are 21. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money, and if they can get away with selling to underage teens, then they will. By now is it obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? There are multiple facts that provide reasons why the
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.