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.
Evidence it can work/FACT/citations: A teen from Kentucky University said that “Yes, lowering that drinking age would help because it wouldn’t be seen as the forbidden fruit, and it would be less tempting” 3. Drawbacks (cons/negatives): Lowering the drinking age will make alcohol less of a taboo, take away the thrill that many young people get from breaking the law, and make alcohol consumption a more normalized activity done in moderation. B. Possible Solution #2 - Lowering the drinking age in general would be more of a success than the 21-age law. 1.
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
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.
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.
The majority of the people voting for the age limit to drop to 18 are the people who are under 18 or who are 18. They feel that 18 year-olds are prepared to make responsible decisions about drinking (Amethyst Initiative). The Amethyst Initiative believes that lowering the drinking age will only make situations worse for society. But the fact is, these people are not thinking about the consequences and are only looking at the pleasure. “More than 1,700 college students in the U.S. are killed each year—about 4.65 a day—as a result of alcohol-related injuries” (The Marin Institute).
An average person must wait until age 16 to start driving, age 18 to marry without parental consent, and age 35 to become president (Minton). The age limit for alcohol is based on research which shows that young people react differently to alcohol. This means that typically anyone is able to acknowledge to lower the drinking age. In Rober Voas' article "There's no benefit to lowering the drinking age, " he states that lowering the age for drinking alcohol would just make matters worse, along with a paragraph that states: "I keep hearing the same refrains: 'If you're old enough to go to war, you should be old enough to drink,' or 'the drinking-age law just increases the desire for the forbidden fruit,' or 'lower crash rates are due to tougher enforcement, not the 21 law,' or "Europeans let their kids drink, so they learn how to be more responsible,' or finally, 'I did it when I was a kid, and I'm OK.'"
Since they are finally free from their parents or guardians, they want to enjoy their freedom by doing as you can call it “activities” that they were not allow to do when they were living with their parents because most parents won’t allow them to do such an activity. Also most of binge drinkers among college students, does not know that they are binge drinking or not. One of the major reasons that college students binge drink is severe and consistent pressure from their fellow students. Most of the college students, especially new enrolled students consider binge drinking is the way to adulthood. When most of the students go to the party, they end up drinking over their limit.
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.
Special interest groups like MADD who want to keep the drinking age at 21 always bring up the idea of lowering the drinking age or to keep it at 21. One of the special interest groups who would like the drinking age to be lowered in LAFAA- Legalize Alcohol for all Adults. There tend to be more people against the lowering of the drinking age. Most are adults who want the drinking age to stay the same. Most children and teens would love the drinking age to be lower.