Thursday, September 9, 2010
Drinking Age
The drinking age should be lowered to the age of eighteen. The United States is one of the only countries that the drinking age is over eighteen. In America you can do die for your country, but if you want one little beer at a bar while you watch the game that my friend is illegal. At eighteen is when you really become an adult, you can smoke legally, you can join the army at eighteen, and you can do everything but drink in public. This law stops people from drinking about as well as prohibition stooped people from buying and consuming alcohol. I see fifteen year olds partaking in the act of underage drinking. Eighteen year olds are more than mature enough to handle the act or drinking legally, or they will just keep doing it illegally. The government thinks that they are stooping underage drinking by lowering the age, but in reality they aren’t people like drinking illegally, they like rebelling against the law it makes them feel good so by making the age eighteen you will in fact make less people drink. Drinking is a pastime that even are for fathers partaked in and our forefathers sons who were eighteen partaked in as well, so if the fathers of our country did it then why can’t we?
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It's true that the privilege to drink does not coincide with the age at which young Americans are allowed to serve their country. It's true that other countries allow 18yr olds or younger to drink alcohol. However, it's also true that the average human liver is not fully matured until 21 years of age. In recent years, England has suffered an incredible increase in liver disease directly related to alcohol use in people aged 18. Maybe the solution isn't to lower the drinking age, but to raise the age for joining the armed forces. In fact, if the age was raised from 18 to 21 on a lot of privileges and rights it would undoubtedly aid in many different aspects of life. Social, economical, and legal troubles would possibly have a shift towards the better. But, to touch on a point you made earlier, someone who serves their country should definitely have a drink bought for them-without the worry of being underage.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel like they should lower the drinking age. Already right now with the age being 21 there are so many deaths with drunk driving and majority of them being by the "responsible" under aged drinking. We already have a lot of problems with the drinking age we don't need people to start at a even younger age. Just imagine that if they lowered the age to 18 how much worse it would be. Yes people are drinking it illegal but that doesn't mean that they should be allowed to because they are more mature. According to www.madd.com, "An estimated 25,000 lives have been saved by the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA)". Some of the states that lowered the drinking age to 18 that includes Massachusetts, Michigan, and Maine had a increase of alcohol related crashes among the age groups of 18-20. So even though you may think that lowering it just because other rights start at the age of 18 doesn't mean that drinking should also be lowered. Not only are they looking out for the well being of the drinker but also the innocent lives that could be involved if there was an accident.
ReplyDeleteThe original reason why they raised the drinking age to 21 in the first place was because Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) got involved in the debate. THey showed that 18 year olds, and other younger drivers (under 21) were more likely to drink and drive and get into accidents. This helped to prove (regardless of whether or not it is entirely accurate) that 18 year olds should no longer be allowed to drink. In my experience, 18-20 year olds are going to drink regardless of what the law says. Either they will not drink because they feel morally compelled not to. Or they will drink becuase they are curious about it. Changing the law or keeping it the same will not change in any way the present behavior. What will happen, though, if we do change the law is that there will be alot more people who will begin binge drinking with their new freedom.
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