Why is it illegal for people in the United States to consume alcoholic beverages under the age of twenty one? I believe that the main reason is because teens feel cool “breaking the law” and then end up binge drinking. We could prevent many underage drinking deaths if we lowered the age, because so many teenagers feel the need to drink and drink until they kill themselves. Although opponents think that under age drinking is unhealthy, if americans can legally be considered as adults by the age of eighteen, we should have the freedom to drink alcohol too. People use alcohol for numerous reasons: peer pressure, celebration, sadness, anxiety, insomnia, rebellion and plain boredom are just a few. Teenagers fall under the category of “people”. …show more content…
territories. There is absolutely no drinking age in about twenty countries, but the majority of the countries around the world is 15.9 years old (Minimum Drinking Ages Around the World). If you think about it, most teenagers now a days have an alcoholic beverage by the age of sixteen or seventeen. People definitely drink socially by the time they are in college. The police know that it happens regularly on a college campus so why are officials so stubborn when it comes to lowering the drinking age? As a legal adult, I could go sign my life away to fight for my country and kill someone else—or even be killed …show more content…
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including an estimated 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day (“Fast Facts”). Everyone knows how much damage smoking does to someone on a daily basis but it remains one of the most common items sold each and every day in America. Lowering the drinking age would help the economy incredibly. A lot more people would legally be able to drink in restaurants, bars and other licensed establishments (Harwood). Revenue would increase for private business owners and a larger amount of tax revenue would be collected by the government, and we all know that the government loves money. The government should give us “adults” the chase to prove ourselves and validate that we can handle a few drinks on the weekends after a long school or work
In this article Aguirre talks about the possible benefits of having a raised minimum legal drinking age. She talks about the fact that lowering the drinking age would create a safer venue for young adults to drink. She also says that a lowered drinking age would limit the amount of binge drinking, which would also limit the amounts of deaths caused by binge
In the late 1960’s to mid-70’s the legal drinking age was 18 because the voting age of 21 was lowered to 18. However, in 1984 a bill was passed that every state in the United States was to change the legal drinking age from 18 to 21. Although this is a highly controversial topic, many young adults believe lowering the drinking age back to 18 is best because if they vote at the age of 18 then, they should be allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages. In an article “Should the U.S. lower its drinking age?” written by Brandon Griggs, he introduces the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age. Griggs explains two generations ago, young adults didn’t have to worry much about getting caught drinking or buying their way out to purchase alcohol.
Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make a lot of sense in the world. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would make more sense. It would be better for the teens that drink on college campus. The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because you can vote at eighteen, buy tobacco, it’ll reduce the thrill of breaking the law, evidence supports that early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse, and college people that are not 21 drink also.
Before D.A.R.E., I was not mindful of the extensive damage cigarettes and other tobacco products cause. Cigarette smoke contains over 200 harmful chemicals, including rat poison. Because of nicotine, cigarettes are highly addictive. As a result, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. It causes over 400,000 deaths annually.
If the drinking age was lowered to eighteen years old it will promote and cause society in general to learn the responsibilities and long term effects of drinking in moderation. the eighteen to twenty years old age groups are the most known and looked at to have issues with drinking in moderation, but if the legal drinking age was decreased it wouldn't be so much of a problem. “Lowering the drinking age would allow people to get used to drinking in moderation. this would allow the to learn to drink responsibly and lead to less alcohol related incidents in the future.” Once young adults begin having the freedom to drink it become less of a big deal. “it would make drinking alcohol less f a taboo” and more of a learning experience (Anthony Buratti pg. 1). In countries such as France, Portugal, and Spain alcohol consumption is started at a very young age yet there is little to no evidence that it is harmful to the eighteen to twenty age groups (Jessica Pauline pg. 2). Attempting to prevent the eighteen to twenty age groups will only provoke them to do it more and unsupervised therefore possibly harming themselves with dangerous consequences (Underage Drinking pg. 18). Exposing them to alcohol will allow them to gai...
Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society. During 1995, approximately 2.1 million people in developed countries died as a result of smoking. One tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. Lung Cancer mortality are about 23 times higher for current male smokers and 13 times higher for current female smokers compared to a lifelong never-smoker.
As one of the major social problem, underage drinking can cause negative affect on both teenagers themselves and the whole society. Based on the research, approximately 190,000 youth under 21 visited emergency room for alcohol related hurts, even I accompanied one of my friends to ICU for alcohol poisoning nearly month ago. Annually about 5000 individuals under 21 die from it, not including other mature people directly or indirectly killed by them. Meanwhile, child’s brain and emotional developments are still in process until 20s so that taking alcohol will produce great damage on their body health. For example, alcohol can interfere with children’s capacity to build new, short, and lasting memories of information because it shrinks hippocampus about 10
Legal drinking age varies by many countries. In U.S.A, There has been a lot of debate when it comes to the legal drinking age here in US. When it comes to law. There is always an opinion, some are for it and some are against. When it comes to the legal drinking age being 21 we are totally against it. Many people still say the government should prohibit using alcoholic drinks at the age of 18. Legal adults deserve to be treated as such it is time the arbitrary drinking age of 21 Was lowered to 18, because there is no evidence that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act is effective or protects the people it is intended to protect . The Notional Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984 in an attempt to decrease the number of drunk driving related accidents. The act threatens to decrease a state’s budget for high way construction and maintenance if it sets its drinking age under 21. According to Cuccoli , “ Keeping the drinking age at such a low age is leading to more cases of binge drinking,” (Cuccoli). Mothers against drunk driving reports that the number of alcohol related fatalities involving a vehicle decreased from 26, 173 to 16, 885 between 1982 and 2005.
People who think the drinking age should be lowered are because of three facts. Under the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, fewer young adults drink, but when they do drink they tend to drink more, which lead to a more serious problem - binge drinking. Furthermore, people can vote, adopt children, sign up for Iraq or become a commercial pilot at 18. Therefore, it is double standard to set the drinking age at 21. Another point is that kids are going to drink regardless of its legality. It is better to lower the drinking age so they can do it legally and parents can reach to them more easily. On the other hand, some people think the government should not lower the drinking age becau...
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
The drinking age in America should be changed and it is because the tax revenue caused by the increased population of drinkers will be paying more taxes for the alcohol produced. The maturity of the adult population changes through the span of three years, but adults can drink in other countries while fighting for it. In the year of 1919 prohibition for alcohol was introduced into America. The tax revenue from alcohol would increase due to the population of people buying alcohol would increase. Between the age of eighteen and twenty, there is a no tolerance for alcohol law throughout America. In the state of North Carolina, along with other states, at the age of twenty-one and older the alcohol level is 0.08 percent. Many European and South American countries have lower drinking ages, such as Germany being sixteen. However, teenagers in Germany can only buy beer instead of liquor. Introducing minor alcoholic beverages to adults at the age of eighteen reduces the amount of negative effects of drinking too much alcohol. Australia‘s drinking age is eighteen; however, some citizens in their country disagree with the drinking have tried to increase the drinking age to twenty-one to follow America. Fifty percent of Australians are for increasing the age, but fifty percent are for the drinking age of eighteen. Increasing the drinking age in Australia would not keep eighteen year-olds from drinking. The law of drinking at a lower age also applies to the standards in America. Many adults in America at the age of eighteen have no drinking privileges, which affects the maturity and economy drastically.
All teens have their own reasons for drinking illegally. Whether it’s friends, family, or otherwise, underage drinking is never a good thing. There are several reasons as to why this unhealthy habit may occur. One of these reasons is peer pressure and friends. Some teens have friends who they hang out with that have used alcohol. A kid may feel out of place or maybe thinks he or s...
Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.
No matter your age alcohol is always accessible to you worldwide. In some countries people can be 16 and up to drink or even buy alcohol, however here in America people have to 21 and up to buy alcohol but many liquor stores break this law. They sell to any one such as people with fake ids, no ids or real ids. It doesn’t matter who they sell it to as long as they making money. Now a day’s people are greedy and would do anything for money. We also have some liquor stores who follow the law but because teenagers want to grow up fast, they will find adults outside or even a family member to buy them alcohol. You may ask how do I know all this? Well for example me and my friends were one of those teens who would always find a way to get alcohol but of course our family wouldn’t buy it for us though. We even paid someone to buy it for us a couple of times, other
.... The human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. Without the proper development of the brain, it can be difficult for one to judge the limits he or she has, thus leading to excessive drinking. Also, they cannot determine the consequences of their possibly fatal action which can in turn lead to excessive drinking as well. The other problem with the drinking age being 18 is that at the age of 18, most kids are still just trying to fit in. If everyone else around them is drinking, they're going to do it too whether its legal or not. Most high school and college students spend a lot of their time at parties, and most likely 9.5 out of 10 of those parties include alcohol where drinking games are highly encouraged. "If the brain doesn't fully mature until the age of 25 we should also raise the voting and military age to 21, we have to be consistent" (Hanson).