Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Drinking Age

All 50 states have set the minimum legal drinking age to 21, although some states have made exceptions. Raising the drinking age to 21 in order to avoid teenage drinking has instead created excessive drinking in private places, therefore producing more danger (“Minimum”). The national drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 in 1984; it was not until 1988 that all 50 states had a minimum legal drinking age of 21 (Wechsler and Nelson 986). Drinking underage is permitted in certain circumstances in 45 of the states; 29 states allow it on private property under parental consent, 25 states allow it for religious purposes, and 11 for educational purposes (“Minimum”). Lowering the minimum drinking age is ineffective and would benefit the economy, it

One disadvantage is an increase in car accidents (“Minimum”). According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 1,000 lives have been saved each year since the minimum legal drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 (Savage 19). The drinking age is set at age 21 for a reason, that reason being that people tend to be more mature at age 21 than they are at age 18 (“Minimum”). Lowering the drinking age would give younger groups of kids access to possess alcohol (Savage 19). This could affect many high school students, and even middle school

In some ways it would benefit the economy by increasing the tax revenue that is collected by the government. People that are under the legal drinking age, especially college students, create unsafe environments for them to binge drink. This could possibly be eliminated by lowering the minimum age so that 18 to 20 year olds can also drink in bars and private restaurants. As an adult, people should be responsible enough to make decisions that will not put their own lives in jeopardy. Young adults should be required to take an alcohol-education program so that drinking can be a privilege, not a right. There are many arguments that can be made against keeping the drinking age set at age