Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 May Help Reduce Binge Drinking

Teens that are 18 are looked as adults –Teens at the age of 18 are “adults” they can vote, go get married, serve for the country, go to jury duties, and move out on their own. They really don’t need their parents anymore telling them what’s right and wrong in today’s society. Under the age of 21 drinking is seen as “forbidden fruit”, a “Badge of rebellion against authority” and a symbol of adulthood. Today were repeating history and making the same mistakes that occurred in the past. Prohibition did not work then and prohibition for young people under the age of 21 is not working now.(Dr.

Drinking alcohol allows many people to unwind after an extensive, stressful day at work, while others conduct it just for pleasure. Unfortunately, some of these people are young adults and according to the law it is unlawful for juveniles under 21 to obtain and drink alcohol. This matter has spawned numerous disputes on whether the consumption age should be lowered to 18. Many people deem that keeping the drinking age at 21 helps save countless lives, but others argue that changing the drinking age to 18 would depreciate underage drinking. In fact, the drinking age of 21 is a very restrictive law that does not effectively prevent underage drinking in the United States, but through education about moderation and instances of handling alcohol responsibly, the drinking age can be lowered to 18 without fear.

“It saves lives by preventing alcohol-related traffic fatalities among 18-20-year-olds and the rest of the population” (Kindelberger, 2005). Although this may be partly true, it is obvious that this law does not keep many young people safe. It is almost impossible to stop minors from getting together at a house and drinking. If eighteen-year old’s were allowed to drink, they would not have to go to extreme measures and get involved in reckless behavior to achieve their alcohol desires. John McCardell (retired president of Middlebury College in VA) proposes a compromise to the drinking age.

Many doctors could attest and the average people of society would agree that the lowering the minimum drinking age to 18 would be absurd being that that teens have not yet reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly, thus are more likely to harm or even kill themselves and others by drinking prior to 21 (ProConorg Headlines). A complete ban of alcohol will not serve as a reasonable method of lowering any type of drinking as proved in 1933 when prohibition ended. Practical restrictions should be able to suffice, however in some instances lowering the legal drinking age from 21 did not stop teen drinking but it was instead displaced. The problem has driven underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments, such as homes that do not have proper guardians or colleges where a large amount of the population are teens. They have just gotten out of high school and are at a high risk for peer pressure from the older students and clubs and Greek organizations (Hanson, 2010).

Curiosity to appear more grown up may be the reason why most adolescents take their first drink of an alcoholic beverage. The ability to seen more grown up can intensify drinking at a younger age. Consequently, as alcohol is seen as the “Forbidden Fruit,” it encourages the want to drink for people under the age of twenty-one. The use of alcohol by adolescents is widely viewed as disobedience in American society. Although, alcohol use is technically illegal until the age of twenty-one (in 19 states the consumption of alcohol in not specifically illegal for people under the age of twenty-one), there is still an excessive use of dinking in teenagers today.

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.

So how is this showing the teen to be responsible and not drink? If the punishment is too easy they won't get anything out of it and just keep drinking because they know that even if they do get caught the punishment is really easy. Some laws even make it easier for teens to drink, like in some states if a parent purchases the alcohol it is fine for the teen to drink. That law is abused though since one parent will buy beer for a complete party and not just for their teen. There have been some cases where the cops have cracked down on this problem but not enough.

“How We Get Hammered, the European vs. U.S. Drinking Age.” thenextgeneration.com, July 28, 2010. Web “The USA Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered to 18 from 21.” debatewise.org. Web

But, keeping the drinking age at 21 avoids negative effects of alcohol consummation before 21, and it allows for less violence in the community. However, our society’s specific age approach tends to come down to restricting the freedoms of the young and increasing their punishments. Debate over the drinking age has been a long battle over the years and has only gotten worse. Almost every other country besides America sets the drinking age at 18. Is a 19 year-old responsible enough to go to war yet not order an alcoholic drink at a bar?

Introduction For many years, underage drinking in America has been a very controversial topic. However, because of the many discrepancies that some US state representatives have added to the federal underage law, this subject will hardly be solved or going away, anytime soon. Proponents argue “The current underage drinking law of 21, has not stopped teen drinking, and has instead pushed underage binge drinking into private and less controlled environments, leading to more health and life-endangering behavior by teens” (ProCon, 2012, para. 2). Therefore, the minimum legal drinking age for teens should be lowered from 21, to 18.