The Pros And Cons Of The Drinking Age

From its beginning, the consumption of alcohol has always been a hot button issue, and today it is no different, because of this, the controversy surrounding the current drinking age will always be up for debate- is it effective at 21 or should it be lowered to 18 years old? There are numerous pros and cons for each side of the argument; it just depends on who you talk too. Age, gender, and social class are just a few of the things that seem to influence persons’ stance on the current drinking age and it seems as if this debate will go on for years to come. For years, alcohol has been used and consumed; its uses are far wider than just a typical drink at dinner or during happy hour. Not only that, alcohol has been used in almost every situation. From social interactions, to aiding soldiers fighting in battle, to relaxing, to making a mark in the medical world- alcohol has been

Some of the arguments in favor of dropping the current drinking age range from a more cohesive “walk” into adulthood all the way to making drinking less of a taboo, which will in return drop binge drinking statistics. A recent article from drinkingage.com

Many believe that once the drinking age was made to be 21, fatalities dropped, but “in an in-depth and undisputed study, Asch and Levy prove that raising the drinking age merely transferred lost lives from the 18-20 bracket to the 21-24 age group,” (Youth Rights, 2005). Peter Asch and David T. Levy have shown through their study that raising the age to 21 did not decrease the death rate of drinking and driving, all it did was raise the average age of those who die in alcohol related accidents. The study said