The Legal Drinking Age Should Be 18

No one can argue with the fact that underage drinking is a huge problem in our society today. Nonetheless, there are ways to decrease these problems. The current drinking age, twenty-one, is not beneficial to our country anymore. Lowering the age to eighteen with a license will impact our country in a positive way, by decreasing the numbers of drunk driving incidents, and alcohol poisoning due to minors drinking in secret Those who oppose lowering the drinking age say that lowering it will cause less underage age drunk driving accidents. They also say that the 18-20-year-old brain is not developed enough to safely consume alcohol.

Even though, the reduction of the drinking age would get rid of the taboo that surrounds alcohol which would result in fewer teens drinking just to be accepted by their peers, young adolescents now have a harder time getting access to alcohol due to the minimum legal drinking age resulting in less alcohol-affiliated problems and a decrease in damage to their bodies. Teens and alcohol are not a good mix so citizens of the United States should keep them separated as best as they can. By having a minimum age limit of twenty-one, that is a great way to do it.

We don’t expect teenagers to learn to drive by themselves or children to read and write by themselves, so why do we except minors to drink responsibly without being taught to do so? Americans have created this artificial problem with alcohol. Prohibition does not work. You cannot stop anyone from drinking alcohol. If more time and effort was put into teaching teenagers the rights and wrongs of alcohol in school, they will be able to make better decisions.

To fix this problem, some people believe that the United States should lower the drinking age because the wait until the magical twenty- first birthday to drink is absurd and contributes to the reason why the U.S. contains a plethora of underage drinkers. Others argue that drinking at any age under twenty-one harms an individual’s health and the law must stay at its current level. Yet, several others believe that twenty-one is too low of an age for the consumption of alcohol, and thus the age ought to increase. In my opinion, the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen since society accepts that age for adulthood, and introducing teens to alcohol while they still go to high school would be beneficial for both society and their health. At age eighteen society expects citizens to act like adults and hence should be given the right to drink.

They wouldn’t hide it from their parents or law officers, so they would be less prone to injuries or deaths. Then they would be under proper adult supervision, and at a place where they can learn how to drink responsibly (Drinking Age). According to John McCardell, the change of the drinking age to 21 has become counterproductive. McCardell told 60 Minutes that, “This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn’t reduced or eliminated drinking.

They believe that “By lowering the drinking age, it would be putting a societal stamp of approval on the damage that alcohol can cause in the developing brain” (Pros and Cons of Lowering the Drinking Age). They also argue that “Lowering the drinking age will invite more use of illicit drugs among 18-21 year olds” (Drinking Age ProCon.org). Even though these are valid points, research shows that reducing the legal age could actually have the opposite effect on the matter. In America, when a person turns eighteen, that person is now considered an adult and is treated like one as well. That person is entrusted with responsibilities such as voting, enlisting in the armed services, opening personal bank accounts and possibly holding public office.

Proponents of lowering the legal drinking age from 21 argue that it has not stopped teen drinking, and has instead pushed more illegal underage drinking. On the other hand, however, Opponents of lowering the legal drink age argue that teens have not yet reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly. The legal drink age should stay at twenty-one because people tend to be more mature and responsible at 21 than at 18. 18-year-olds are typically entering a new phase of independence from their parents through college or the workforce, and are more susceptible to binge drinking, risky sexual activity, and other irresponsible behavior due to lack of maturity. Even though there are only a couple of years between these two ages I feel that a lot of growing and maturing happens in those years.

Buying and consuming alcohol legally varies from country to country. The legal drinking age here in the Virgin Islands is 18-years old. There have been countless amounts of debates on whether the drinking age in the Virgin Islands should be raised from eighteen to twenty-one. Those in favor of rising the drinking age believes there will be less alcohol related deaths and injuries from car accidents. On the other hand, I believe the drinking should not raised to twenty-one in the Virgin Islands because it deprives young adults of their rights, decreases revenue for the government and businesses, and causes a significant amount of illegal activities.

The pros and cons of the MLDA both lean towards keeping it at the age of 21. Everything about the MLDA is very controversial and it should go back to 18 but the evidence supporting the age of 21 is to strong to change it back anytime soon. Also with all of the interest groups such as MADD, PCDD and law enforcement really focusing on drunk driving and underage drinking, the people in charge would be morally wrong to lower the MLDA back to 18 years old.

The national minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of The United States is twenty-one and it is ineffective; therefore it should be lowered to eighteen. The minimum legal drinking age does not prevent underage consumption of alcohol. Lowering the age of consumption can possibly reduce the number of injuries do to underage drinking. The legal age of adulthood in the United States is eighteen, so all adults should be able to make their own decision to drink or not. “Although many believe that anyone under the age of 21 is prohibited from consuming alcohol in the United States, underage drinking is allowed in 29 states if done on private premises with parental consent, 25 states if for religious purposes, and 11 states if for educational purposes.” ("Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?").