To me she is not sure of her research and cannot back up her claims if the law was changed back to MLDA-18. “Approximately three quarters of college students’ aged18-20 years drank alcohol in the past year, although they are less likely than their peers of legal drinking age to drink and to engage in binge drinking (Wechsler and Nelson, Jun 2010).” Binge drinking has increased heavily in the last decade often leading to serious harm or even death. This can all be avoided with educating our young adults and allowing them the choice to drink or not. This is often a sign of fraternity pledging and pranks that lead to young adults who do not have the education to know when to say when. “It is indisputable that a drinking age of 21 has had harmful effects on campus life: It has soured relations between students and police.
This is one that has been debated upon for many years. At one time in the 1970’s the legal age to purchase alcohol was lowered to 18 in a few states, but was raised back to twenty-one for a rather disturbing reason. The number one reason that states raised the legal drinking age back to twenty one was because in 1984 federal law decrees that if a state picked anything less than twenty-one as its legal drinking age it would lose ten percent of its federal highway funds (Wilkinson, 2008). This is a manipulative way of getting the legal age changed without having to have a heated debate. Of course the states immediately changed the legal age back to twenty-one, had the age not been changed the state would have lost a considerable amount of highway funding.
Many believe that reducing the drinking age would be an opportunity to increase safety in under-twenty-one drinkers, and reduce yearly fatalities. “In 1999…New Zealand lowered the drinking age from 20 to 18 and…alcohol-related crashes involving 15-to-19-year-olds subsequently fell” (Sanghavi). Public safety is better now than it was in 1984, “thanks to the effective public advocacy of organizations [such as] Mothers Against Drunk Driving” (McCardell). Also, “we are far more aware of the risks of drinking and driving” and “[a]utomobiles are much safer” (McCardell). “Alcohol related fatalities have declined over the past 25 years…in all age groups” (McCardell).
(2000). Estimates of the U.S. children exposed to alcohol abuse and dependence in the family. American Journal of Public Health, 90(1), 112-15. Grossman, M., Chaloapha, F., & Ismill, S. (1998). An empirical analysis of alcohol: Results from the monitoring the future panels.
But, that's not the case. More people under 21 are drinking then people 21 and over. People who are 18, can fight in a war and have someone else's life in their hands, but they can't have a beer in their hand? I'm here to tell you that I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. All the things the law is trying to prevent by raising the drinking age, is counter active by other things.
Alcohol use in adolescence also decreases executive functioning, memory, spatial operations, and attention among adolescents. These changes may be permanent. (The Science) Personally, before I started this paper I thought that lowering the drinking age would be the best thing that the government could do. After researching this subject and looking at the statistics and numbers, I realized that lowering the drinking age to 18 would be one of the worst things that the U.S. could do. Having
One of the main arguments for the lowering of the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 is that “If youth are allowed to make other choices, such as voting, going to war, or getting married, then they should be given the choice to consume alcohol to, even if it hurts them” (SpeakUp! Prevention Coalition, 2012). This is the most common argument that I've heard when it comes to this topic. This also seems to be the best argument because if a person is old enough to die for their country or vote for any type of public office, why shouldn't they be able to drink alcohol at the same age? Another common argument used in support of lowering the legal drinking age is that young people still do it, even though it's illegal.
Wood 1 The legal drinking age in Minnesota is currently 21 years old. It was changed from 19 years old to 21 in 1986 when the federal government threatened to take away federal highway money from states that did not have a 21-year-old drinking age. Many people thought raising the legal age to 21 was a good idea. However, in every single state where the drinking age was changed to 21, alcohol consumption by people within the 18 to 20 year old age bracket actually increased. Many argue that part of the appeal of underage drinking is the fact that you are not supposed to be doing it.
Drinking Age Some argue to keep the drinking age at 21 because the brain does not finish maturing until the age of 25. It is even worse to have people drinking at age 18. Setting the drinking age at 21 has not stopped teen drinking; instead, it has increased underage binge drinking, leading to more health and life-endangering behavior by teens. Because alcohol affects everyone drastically, the drinking age should remain at 21 to keep young adults from having poor health and making poor decisions. One statistic that would argue for raising the drinking age is an examination of death rates from homicide and vehicle accidents.
Researchers say “American young people engage in “binge drinking” far too often”. This is all caused from a twenty-one drinking age. The easiest way to eliminate this would to be lowering the drinking age where young adults can be monitored and learn how to drink the safe way. If young adults were allowed to drink in bars whenever they wanted, or if they could buy alcohol from a liquor store without finding someone to go on a booze run for them, then binge drinking would become less