It can be inferred that the opposing arguments published in the Washington Post by T.R. Reid and Joseph Califano in regard to teenage drinking in America and other nations of the western hemisphere are not only polar opposites, but so extreme that it does not allow for a happy median. Harsh restrictions not only discourage parents of today's American society from talking freely with teens pertaining to responsible drinking, but also chastises parents who allow teens to experiment with alcohol in a controlled setting with experienced adults. Alcohol consumption should be the decision of a well informed adult. Alcohol should not be regarded as such an unsettling topic when encounters with alcohol are inevitable and prevalent in our daily lives.
As a result of harsh restrictions placed on alcohol by our government parents are not only discouraged to inform both negative and positive attributes of alcohol, but they are also looked down upon for creating a controlled environment allowing teens to experiment in moderation as a teaching method for responsible drinking habits. With an infl...
According to “Perils of Prohibition: Why We Should Lower the Drinking Age to 18” author Elizabeth M Whelan article which she argues that now a days in society prohibiting the sale of alcohol beverages to young adults specially teens creates a bad atmosphere full of alcohol abuse. She supports this article by explaining two points: First, American teens, rather than European teens, don 't train well to know how to drink in moderation, and second, compare her daughter 's problem with her own when she was a college student, to see their differences during that time of age.
“National Minimum Drinking Age Act.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 21 April 2014. Web. 24 April 2014.
For decades, certain people have been contemplating on how to go about the issue of underage drinking; people of the government, parents, and other individuals concerned in global affairs. The problem is, the issue of underage drinking and the nationwide ineffectiveness of the drinking age law of twenty-one isn't debated and discussed as much and as aggressively as it should be. And the main components of discussion ought to be the matter of binge drinking among teenagers and college students, drinking issues and statistics in foreign countries, and finally, possible solutions for this problem. The main point is that the states of our country can only attempt to enforce the law rather than try approaching the problem in any other way. So for that reason, states should be allowed to figure out and experiment on possible ways to solve this matter on their own without government interference.
What is the number one cause of teenage deaths in the United States? In this country a teenager dies due to alcohol related car accidents every twenty-two seconds.
According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not mature enough to handle it, lowering the drinking age actually teaches responsibility and safety in young adults, maintains consistency in age laws, and diminishes temptation.
There has been an ongoing controversy in the United States on whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen like most of the world or if it should stay at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years, yet why is it not under control? Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As a teen I have proof that these things are going on not only in college but in high school as well. There are a lot of factors that come together to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen; the most obvious reason is too many people are drinking before they are twenty-one. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money and if they can get away with selling to underage teens then they will. A study done by the Academic Search Premier agrees that, ?By now it is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? (Michael Smith 1).
Bob Marley once said, “Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.” This is the case when it comes to teens and alcohol. In America, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Age is a topic of great debate and controversy. Many people argue that the age restriction provides a safe environment for all citizens; whereas others disagree that the law creates an untrustworthy aura among teens. If the minimum legal drinking age were to be lowered, most people would be affected by it, whether it be by an increase in drunk-driving or a rise in crimes. Although teens are legally considered adults by the age of eighteen and the minimum legal drinking age prompts underage teens to exhibit risky behavior, the age restriction should not be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen because young teens would have easier access to alcohol, the minimum legal drinking age has decreased alcohol-related problems, and alcohol can cause damage to underage drinkers.
The National Minimum Age Drinking Act was signed into law on July 17, 1984. This law was carried out at the federal level and forced all states to raise the minimum drinking to 21 or face cuts in federal-aid cuts in their highway funding. I believe this law must be repelled and that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. We must decriminalize the notion of underage drinking because why must 18 through 20 year olds be treated like children but charged as adults?
“Either we are a nation of lawbreakers, or this is a bad law”, says John McCardell, author for the Greenhaven Press (McCardell, 2012). What McCardell is referring to is the law barring the consumption of alcohol in individuals under the age of twenty-one in the United States. John McCardell is the former president of Middlebury College, and he is also the founder of the Choose Responsibly group (Baldouf, 2007). This group is a nonprofit organization that travels around the country sharing McCardell’s proposal about the drinking age...
Many teens face adult problems at a very young age. Underage drinking viewed in the eyes of parents and law enforcement agencies is a major problem among teen. In today society, kids are being pressured into doing things at a very young adolescent age. Problem many parents are facing in their own life are also posing as problems on their kids.
Since this country was born it has been raised on alcohol, even the prohibition couldn 't stop the Americans from doing what they love to do. But back then they were lenient on the age to consume alcohol. But in 1980’s Ronald Reagan passed the Drinking Age Act which permanently raised the drinking age to twenty-one through out the nation. Which people asked themselves is this right? When at eighteen you 're legally allowed to be on a official jury, vote for the next president and fight for your country. So lowering the drinking age to 18 would make sense.
Using fear, while not aggressively, Silveri highlights the fact that excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading leading cause of preventable death. The author discusses this topic in a way that seems to be to scare anybody she is trying to convince. A mother reading this could worry about her daughter, or a young man in college who drinks often could take his drinking habits far more seriously after reading something like that. Also, ending the article on an optimistic note, she allows the reader to have some hope. Silveri mentions the reduction of maladaptive alcohol use through better recognition of the negative tendencies that comes with alcohol abuse in adolescents. (Adolescent Brain Development and Underage Drinking in the United States: Identifying Risks of Alcohol Use in College
Overuse of alcohol is becoming a large problem across the United States of America. Drinking is always considered a problem if it is not being done responsibly or in moderation. Teenagers that choose to drink illegally usually drink as much as they can hold; in result, parts of their memory can disappear. Teenagers do not drink in moderation; as a result, they drink much more than they can handle just to be “cool” in front of their friends. Drinking can be a problem in all ages, but the most problems arise in the younger generation. Teenagers drinking are not only harming themselves but also the surrounding lives. Lowering the drinking age would cause a significant increase in school drop-outs and even deaths. Teenagers do not think about how
A lot of the time, teens think it is ‘cool’ to drink because everyone else does it. Almost every television show that young people watch have some underage substance abuse, leading adolescents to believe that it can’t be that bad. While society plays a big part in this huge problem, both teens and parents need to learn that there can be severe consequences from as little as one drink. Allowing them to think this kind of behavior is acceptable will haunt them for the rest of their lives, even if they are not alcohol related. Believing that such behavior is acceptable now will lead them to bad decision-making skills in the future when faced with an ethical decision. Teens need to know the major effects can come from underage drinking before going to that party or when being pressured into something they may not be willing to participate in. It is obvious that the long and short-term effects of alcohol abuse can be easily avoided by getting educated and thinking before engaging in any self-destructive
As a result of underage drinking, 5,000 adolescents under the age of 21 die annually due to intoxication (taking motor vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides, and other injuries while intoxicated into consideration) (paragraph 2). Later in life, underage drinkers are more likely to develop alcoholism, poor performance in school, and risky sexual behavior (paragraph 43). Although this research is not opposed to my argument, there is an importance to acknowledging it as proof of dangerous, underage drinking occurring significantly regardless of whether it is illegal. More importantly, this research stems from adolescents drinking without the supervision of adults and in uncontrolled quantities. Since adolescents must wait a long period of time to drink legally, I believe they fear they must take advantage of drinking opportunities by excess drinking and risk of safety due to their restriction to alcohol. Based on this mindset, I believe exposure to alcohol at a younger age in controlled environments would not only decrease underage drinking in large quantities, but injury and death related to intoxication, as