Lowering The Drinking Age To 18

When people turn eighteen they are finally considered an adult. They can join the army, vote, buy cigarettes or tobacco products, get a tattoo and even die for our country. Although everyone considers that person to be an adult, they are still not old enough to buy or consume alcohol. A person can be responsible enough to live on their own, make their own money, pay their own bills, and yet they are still not considered old enough to purchase or consume any type of alcohol. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would help prevent the crime and personal injuries that are caused by alcohol abuse.

"Adults under 21 are able to vote, sign contracts, serve on juries, and enlist in the military, but are told that they are not mature enough to have a beer?," said Ruth C. Engs, a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University (Engs). No matter what is done, teenagers and young adults all over America are going to drink if they want to. The question is, why can 't they start legally drinking when they enter adulthood? An alternative to simply lowering the minimum legal drinking age could be thought of, such as, having a learner 's permit for responsible drinking for people between the ages of 18-21. In other cultures where the minimum legal drinking age is lower, there is not as large of a problem with drinking. Lowering the minimum legal drinking age would stop criminalizing a large amount of people for the minor crime of underage drinking, which on your record makes it hard for young people to apply for jobs or apply to colleges.

Many people debate whether or not the drinking age should be lowered.  While many feel that it should be lowered, the evidence is overwhelming that changing the drinking age to eighteen would be an extremely dangerous decision. Allowing teens to consume alcohol can make them more vulnerable to drugs and substance abuse, unplanned and unprotected sex, depression, violence, and other social

Consider how many young adults choose to drink illegally on a regular basis. According to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, by age fifteen roughly half of all teenagers have had their first drink, and that by age eighteen roughly seventy percent of all teenagers have had a drink (“Underage Drinking” np). The truth is, underage drinking is a common issue in America. Lowering the drinking age is believed by many to be a solution to reducing underage drinking. The idea is that if the drinking age is lowered; those under the age of twenty-one who will then fit in the legal drinking age category, will not find drinking as appealing as it was before it was legalized for their age group. Eventually, drinking alcohol will start to become the norm and will not feel like the “cool” thing to do anymore. This will result in a lowered number of teenagers drinking, cutting out the large majority who drink as a way to fit in at social gatherings.

Lowering the drinking age to eighteen years old would be medically careless. One widely noted reason for keeping the drinking age at twenty one has to do with alcohol effects on the brain. A human brain is not fully developed until the age of twenty or twenty one. During this period of adolescence major changes in brain structure and function are taking place. Consuming alcohol during this time may interfere

Lowering the age will cause even younger kids to drink. Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth that is persons less than 21 years of age, in the United States each year. Unless you want this number to increase do not lower the drinking age to 18. This would make every day life more dangerous because of drunk driving and younger age driving would increase and plus the youth does not have experience that the other adults have to make the choices that they should

As an eighteen year old in America, you are able to sign housing contracts, join the military, marry a loved one, or even own a firearm but you cannot have a legal drink. We are allowing young American citizens to sign their life away to fight for our country yet if they are seen with a beer they will experience legal complications. Also, at the age of eighteen you are able to smoke and purchase cigarettes, why make drinking different? Underage drinking in America is inevitable. Bill H.R 734, Eliminating the Restrictions of Legal Drinking Age, proposes to eliminate having a legal drinking age in the United States. With having no drinking age in the United States it can help teens learn responsibilities of being an adult. People all around the world drink alcohol, both legally and illegally. There are many incidents of young Americans getting caught underage drinking every day. Allowing the drinking age to be eliminated can help teens learn responsibilities about drinking and affects alcohol can cause. Lowering the drinking age would help prevent crime and personal injuries that are caused by alcohol abuse.

The drinking went up to 21 in 1984 during the national Minimum Drinking Act because if Congress hadn’t they’d lose 10% of their Federal Highway Funds. The drinking age should be changed to eighteen in the U.S. some very important reasons why are because the age eighteen makes you an adult, lowering the MLDA to eighteen eliminates the thrill and countries with the MLDA of eighteen have fewer drunk driving fatalities and accidents.

Just because the drinking age in America is 21, doesn’t mean teenagers under 21 aren’t drinking. Even though it is illegal for teens to purchase alcohol, they are easily able to get their hands on it through other ways such as going through their parent’s liquor, older peers who can buy it for them, or buying from careless store owners. Should the legal drinking age in America be lowered to 18? No matter what, teens will always find a way to get it, so why doesn’t the government lower the drinking age? Lowering the drinking age would give 18 year olds the right to make their own decisions about consuming alcohol since the age of adulthood in the United States is 18, and by that it would decrease the excitement of breaking the law to get drinks, and decrease unsafe drinking activity.

Individuals use liquor for various reasons; peer pressure, festivity, nervousness, misery, fatigue, disobedience and a sleeping disorder are only a couple. High schoolers fall under the class of "individuals". The lawful drinking age is as of now twenty-one, yet unlawfully drinking age is as low as zero. Why? Is the fundamental inquiry. I can guarantee you the under age drinking age rate would drop if the age is brought down.

This can easily be considered one of the most controversial and heated topics of the century, underage drinking happens every day in the United States and for some this might seem unacceptable but for most this is all because an unfair law put up by the government. The legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because, among other things; 18 is the age of adulthood in America and adults should have the right to make their own decisions, also traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers regardless of their drinking age; and, this law has not stopped anyone, teens continue to drink and consume alcohol regardless of the age restriction. There are many pros to modifying this law, definitely more pros than cons, and many argue that it is time for a change.

Generally, lowering the drinking age would put teenager’s overall health at risk. When you are eighteen your brain is not fully developed yet, making it harder for you to have a good judgment which can cause you to make unwise decisions. When a still-developing brain is exposed to the harmful components of alcohol, it will negatively affect parts of your brain, such as your coordination, memory, and decision-making abilities. This can leave an unwanted effect as you may not remember parts of your life or make you academically behind. The article “A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe” states that early drinkers are at a greater risk for depression, violence, and suicidal thoughts. If the drinking age were lowered to eighteen, more teens would be exposed

When teens turn 18 they deserve all the rights that come with being an adult, lowering the drinking age will not only cause teens to become more responsible it will also reduce drunk driving accidents as seen in other countries who have already implemented this law.

Some people are requesting for the drinking age to be lowered to 18. The drinking age had always been 21 until the late 60s and early 70s. The reason for this is that the military enlisting and voting age had been lowered. Right away the effects of this were shown and they weren't positive. Since only 29 states had adapted to the new law many teens would drive across the border to get drunk then they would come back and crash. 16 of those states increased to drink age back to 21 and those who didn't eventually did because a law was made that the official age for drinking would be 21 and all the 50 states had to have it. If the drinking age is lowered to 18 then that could cause more car accidents, violent behavior and health problems.

Lowering the drinking age to 19 would give people even younger than that access to drink. My first example of why they shouldn’t lower the drinking age to 19 is because people under the age of 21 are already drinking.So if the government lowers the drinking age, then 19 year old kids will get their younger friends access to drinking like how 21 year olds give the 19 year olds access to drinking.