Drinking Age

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Recommended: Effects of lowering the drinking age to 18

Drinking Age As midnight struck on November 4, 1998, the eve of Brad's 21st birthday, he went with a group of friends to Rick's American Café to celebrate his birthday. He began to play a game of "drink your age." When he had finished 21 shots and knowing that the record among his friends was 23, he drank 3 more for a total of 24 shots of liquor. He drank them in about 1-½ hours. His friends took him home and put him to bed as he passed out. His BAC continued to climb to a lethal level of .44 g/100ml, as the depressant did its work. His breathing stopped and the coroner estimates that he died at approximately 4:30 AM. He died on his 21st birthday, November 5, 1998. Tragedies similar to this one happen too often. People say that the age of 21 is an age of responsibility, and one is now responsible to drink. Well in this particular case, responsibility was not there. Having an age limit for alcohol use does nothing if individuals are not educated to use alcohol properly. Lowering the age limit to 18 will not cause any more problems that are significantly present already with the age limit of 21. In the great land of America, responsibility is a measure of one's age. Many privileges are granted when one reaches a certain age. At age 13, you can see a PG-13 movie; at age 15, you can begin driving; at age 18, you can buy tobacco products, vote, serve our country in the armed forces, get married and enter into a legal contract; and finally at age 21, you can drink alcohol. Studies illustrate a decrease in drunken driving fatalities when the minimum drinking age was raised. That may be true in America, but why? Why does America have these problems? European countries, specifically Great Britain, are exceptionally... ... middle of paper ... ...er individuals from drinking, has failed. Instead of trying to just discourage people from drinking we also need to educate. In today's society, alcohol is a trivial problem. The problem lies in responsibility and knowledge rather then age. If responsibility is not there, alcohol will be misused causing harsh consequences. Age cannot be a measure of responsibility. No one is perfect, no one is the same, and no one matures at the same rate as the next. Untaught knowledge will not be gained by the ignorant. Alcohol is not a terrible drug, but can be turned into one without the knowledge of proper use. If our country continues to produce alcohol then education needs to be produced at a faster rate. Educating the common masses is the only possibility to stunt this fatal problem. The United States needs to take action to stop the problem of alcohol misuse.

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