Lately, this topic has become a big deal. There are great things that come out of the drinking age of twenty-one, but gratifying things would also come out of lowering it. By keeping the minimum drinking age at twenty-one, it would save countless lives. This reason alone should be enough to persuade one’s mind to want to keep it at twenty-one. Pros and Cons of Lowering the Drinking Age In today’s society, many young adults turn to alcohol to self-treat depression, stress, and other psychological illnesses.
In 2007 former Middlebury College President John McCardell founded Choose Responsibility (CR). Choose Responsibility was founded as a nonprofit group focused on the consumption and recklessness of alcohol by young adults. They feel that the legal drinking age can be lowered as long as better education about alcohol consumption is provided to young adults while in high school. Recently over one hundred college presidents signed The Amethyst Initiative, a public statement calling for an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the twenty one year old drinking age. BU Today
Being rebel and not following the rules is an important role of a teenager life somehow. (Teen Ink, 1989) The repeal of alcohol prohibition by the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933 allowed each state to set its own alcohol consumption laws. At that time, most states established the MLDA for alcohol at 21 years of age, although two states set an MLDA of 21 for men and 18 for women: Illinois (1933-1961) and Oklahoma (1933-1976). The 1976 US Supreme Court case Craig v. Boren (1.58 MB) ruled 7-2 that this age difference violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Following the July 1, 1971 passage of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18 years of age, 30 US states lowered their MLDA to 18, 19, or 20; by 1982, only 14 states still had an MLDA of 21.
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
Jonathon Nangle Professor Pekarthy Intro to Sociology April 15, 2010 Alcoholism in America’s Colleges Alcohol is a drug that is used frequently for recreational purposes across the United States of America. Alcohol use is so common and so natural to Americans that it is not seen as harmful and we are often unaware of its long term effects and addictive qualities. Since people in the United States do not usually think about the harmful effects of alcohol, more than six percent of Americans will eventually develop a disease called Alcohol Dependency Syndrome, also known as Alcoholism (Kimmel). Alcoholism is a very serious disease that frequently begins affecting young adults while they are in college; and when people begin developing this
Some rules need to be imposed for Health and Safety reasons. In my current role we discuss how being unwell, under the influence of alcohol or drugs could impair their judgement and agree on the right to withdraw the use of the driving school car for that lesson should this occur. To ensure there are no misconceptions a similar discussion takes place concerning appropriate footwear and comfortable clothing, both of which would have a detrimental effect on vehicle control. In a classroom scenario, learners could be split into groups to brainstorm ideas. The groups could then gather the
Since the government gives 18 year olds those responsibilities, young American adults should legally be allowed to drink alcohol. The drinking age needs to be lowered from 21 to 18 because it could prevent alcohol-induced accidents and more enforcement should be put on preventing drunk driving. Drunk driving is a serious issue that occurs in the United States. According to the website The Cool Spot, “…alcohol is linked with an estimated 5,00 deaths in people under age 21 each year” (Too Much Online). Something must be done to reduce those innocent children from dying and it can happen by lowering the drinking age.
Today’s public education teaches preventative measures with a positive message, “take care of yourself, you are worth it” (Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review & 1995 Revisions, 2000). “The elimination of disparities will require implementation of new models of care that comprehensively address the needs of low income minority populations” (Fiscella, 2002, p.365). To achieve the goals set by Healthy Virginia 2010, Hampton needs to be willing to spend more time on patient education. One of the Healthy Virginia 2010 objectives is to “increase school health education to prevent health problems in the following areas: unintentional injury; violence; suicide; tobacco use and addiction; alcohol or other drug use; unintended pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and STD infection; unhealthy dietary patterns; inadequate physical activity; and environmental
Reason for this age limit in the US, was the federal government was stepping in to enforce a minimum age limit to promote public and traffic safety, and protect our youth from drunk driving. In this essay, I am explain in detail about the age limit of drinking and if it violates our equal protection, or due process laws. Analyze the effect of these Policies Before the federal government enforced a mandate that required all states to raise their drinking age limit to 21, history shows us that underage drinking problem was worse. For an example, before the
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.