Should the Drinking Age be Lowered in the United States?

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Should the United States follow other countries in their quest to end the debate on the drinking age? The United States can take a look at other States such as: Germany, the Netherlands and France, and see how successful they are. Many teenagers would jump on the bandwagon of lowering the drinking age just because they want to have the ability to drink, the argument of being able to die for the United States but can’t drink and it would take away the “Forbidden Fruit” of drinking. Much of the older generations would jump on the bandwagon of keeping the drinking age the same because they had to wait to drink, because drinking has adverse effects on the brain and drinking could lead to binge drinking. The United States define an adult as an individual reaching the age of 18. When one hits 18 years old, they automatically attain responsibilities set forth by the government. The government allows one to get married and divorce without parental consent, rent and buy homes, enroll in the military, vote, and, most importantly, be tried as an adult. The government has set forth these responsibilities for us because they/it believes we have the capability of controlling our choices. Though the government has given us these rights to use or dispose of as we choose, except being tried as an adult, they have set aside other rights for later parts of our lives; such as renting a car, running for federal public office and drinking. Running for federal public office is set by the Constitution, for good reason. However, the age of alcohol consumption has been thrown around and debated over for the last few decades, especially in the more recent decades. Some universities and their presidents have come together to form a coalition for the loweri... ... middle of paper ... ...Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. Daniloff, Caleb. “BU Today.” BU Today. Boston University Today. 21 Oct. 2010. Web. 02 Feb. Feb. 2014. "Drinking Age ProCon.org." ProCon.org Headlines. N.p., 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 07 Feb. 2014. “Minimum Age Limits Worldwide.” Minimum Age Limits Worldwide. International Center for Alcohol Policy (ICAP), Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. Pope, Justin. "Education." College Presidents Want Lower Drinking Age. USA Today, 18 Aug. 2008. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. United Nations. "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health." WHO. World Health Organization, 2011. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Wechsler, H., & Nelson, T. F. (2010). Will increasing alcohol availability by lowering the minimum legal drinking age decrease drinking and related consequences among youths? American Journal of Public Health, 100(6), 986-992. Web. 02 Feb. 2014

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