The Legal Drinking Age Should Remain at 21

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Teen drinking is a huge problem today in America. Statistics show that teens are starting to drink younger and younger and that is a huge problem that if not corrected will be catastrophic. How long will we allow underage drinking to plague our society? How long until enough is enough and someone stands up? If something is not done soon it might be too late! It seems like every time one turns on the news there is a story about a teen being killed or injured due to alcohol. Teen drinking has gotten worse and worse over the years making one think why isn't the government doing anything real to stop this epidemic. The laws that are already in place are obviously not working so the government is just not doing their job. Parents are also to blame letting their kids drink and sometimes even buying it for their teens. The drinking age is twenty-one but all these teens are still getting alcohol. At this time I believe the drinking age should stay at twenty-one until there are stricter punishment for alcohol abuse.

Today's laws are not what they should be to prevent teens from engaging in underage drinking. The laws are not cutting down on the number of deaths that occur because alcohol is involved or domestic disturbances. All of these problems could be prevented if only the laws were strong enough and the punishments were actual punishments. For instance if a teen is caught with a fake license all that is done is they cut up the ID and place a small fine on them. In most cases the parents pay the tickets so the teen gets nothing out of the punishment. 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. Teens are not seeing underage drinking as something wrong whether it be because they think it will help them fit in or to cover up feelings of sadness or hatred. When a teen sees the "cool" kids drink they want to join in so that they ...

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...ll the few. The teens wait and get in no alcohol related trouble all because their parents stood up and played a role in not abusing alcohol.

With all of the alcohol problems with underage drinking should the drinking age be lowered just to offset the problem. Studies prove that those who drink before age 21 have considerably more alcoholic problems at work, with family, and with police (Lyons 18). If we lower the age too soon without enforcing the punishments way more than we do now then we will just of lowered the age at which kids start drinking. There has to be an off set something that will stop teens from drinking illegally. Therefore it would not be smart to lower the drinking age until the punishment will match the crime. Until that day the drinking age should be maintained at twenty-one.

Works Cited

Lyons, Dan. "Don't Lower Drinking Age." Human Events 64.42 (2008): 18. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.

Hosking, Elizabeth. "Drinking laws remind parents of their responsibility." USA Today E 6: Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.

"Binge culture." Christian Century 125.25 (2008): 7. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.

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