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Drinking Age Change

664 Words3 Pages

The changing of the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 resulted from the false politicization of the very serious and prevalent issue of teenage drunk driving by activist groups such as M.A.D.D.-Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Instead of trying to legislate morality, which is a lost cause, the focus should be put on attempting to create a society which breeds responsible drinking habits. Since there is no significant change developmentally from the age 18 to 21, those three years are, in essence, a state of unfounded prohibition. The drinking age should be changed to 18. One reasoning behind the upping of the age, was the fact that the brain is not yet fully developed at the age of 18, and this can result in not only lapses of judgement (i.e., binge drinking, drunk driving, etc.) but also in alcohol related health issues. However, the prefrontal cortex of one’s brain (which is involved in decision making and executive function) is not fully shaped until late 20’s. Following that line of …show more content…

As a country, we need to redefine the culture surrounding alcohol so that we can create a society which breeds knowledge and understanding about alcohol. People are going to drink and get drunk no matter what the legal age is. Our only hope as a society is to address what it means to us to have “socially responsible drinking.” The next task is to figure out how to teach it. By generating informed citizens and exposing them to this knowledge at an early age, we can aim to demystify the term “drinking responsibly.” Adolescents learn based on experience. The developmental stage of an 18 and a 21 year old is basically the same. Changing the legal drinking age back to 18, would only help to take away the taboo surrounding drinking and promote drinking safety and

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846 Words | 4 Pages

According to the CDC, underage drinking is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths per year, but why? Most teenagers are uneducated and unsupervised when it comes to consuming alcohol and its effects. If one doesn’t teach about the effects of alcohol, then it could become disastrous for not only the user but others too. Most teenagers may only know a fraction of the effects based on experience or from seeing it in movies or television. I believe that if the drinking age was lowered, teenagers could be better educated to drink more

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Michael Clay Smith Legal Drinking Age Analysis

328 Words | 2 Pages

The author of this essay, Michael Clay Smith, believes that the age limit for drinking should be lowered back to 18, similar to before creation of the new drinking age limit in the 1980’s. Michael feels like this is a “Second Prohibition” (1). I believe that the drinking age should be lower, and Smith does a good job at giving reasons why. For the better of society, Smith believes the legal drinking age should lowered, and the age limit is unfair to teenagers who are already adults, causes dangerous drinking, and ruins promising teenager lives. Smith has many ideas to support why the legal drinking limit should be dropped to 18.

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Military Drinking Age

974 Words | 4 Pages

According to Main in ¨Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” from the Policy Review, lowering the drinking age to eighteen from twenty-one would increase the harsh effects that are currently impacting our society and our military. Main insists that the United States should not get rid of the laws that set 21 as the mandatory minimum age for drinking, known as the ¨21 laws.¨ Although there are laws and severe consequences for those who drink under the age of 21, underage drinking is a huge concern, especially at college. When the undergraduates binge drink, drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion, they not only have the potential to hurt themselves, but also their peers. For example, over 474,000 students have unprotected sex,

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Lowering Drinking Age Benefits

942 Words | 4 Pages

The drinking age in America should return to 18 and for three main reasons. The age at which an individual is legally considered an adult is 18, and adults should have the right to do as they please with their own body. The

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Research Paper On Lowering The Drinking Age

427 Words | 2 Pages

The drinking age used to be 18. Many people wish that it would go back to that. Mary Kate Cary of the US News and World Report wrote an article talking about lowering the drinking age. “There was no need for “pregaming” – binge drinking in private apartments or dorms before heading out in public” says Cary. If the drinking age was lowered we would not have to worry about college students buying and selling fake IDs, distributing alcohol to minors, and less turning to drugs because drugs are easier to get than alcohol.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

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Lowering Legal Age

1384 Words | 6 Pages

Millions of kids consume alcohol since young ages, we cannot allow that, this could cost problems for them in several aspects like educational problems, mental problems, and health problems. Having a healthy life without illness or problems is the most suggested for everyone, but how are going to take care of our kids if they are doing whatever they want with their lives?. Consuming alcohol at an early age could kill more young adults, bring up more car accidents, brain damage to our youth inexperienced generation, and alcohol's addiction. What are we going to do to stop this massive

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Persuasive Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age To 18

1834 Words | 8 Pages

Over the years, there have been debates about lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen. People argue that if a person can fight in the military or vote in elections, then he or she should be allowed the right to drink alcohol. Others feel that it is not wise to lower the legal drinking age because the results would be dangerous. Although there are arguments for lowering the drinking age, there is also an abundance of research that proves lowering the drinking age would be destructive. The legal drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it will give high school and even middle school students greater access to alcohol, interfere with brain development, adult rights begin at twenty-one, and increase traffic accidents among the youth.

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769 Words | 4 Pages

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism seems like an issue that keeps getting increasingly worse each year in the United States. According to USA Today and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both say that approximately 6 people die from alcohol poisoning, caused from binge drinking, each day, which amounts to roughly 2,200 people each year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “In 2013 an estimated 697,000 adolescents ages 12–17 (2.8 percent of this age group) had an [alcohol use disorder]” (“Alcohol Facts”). Something has to stop and something has to change from preventing this more because 6 people dying each day from binge drinking alone is a lot, not to mention that 12-17 year olds are having alcohol problems at such a young age. Lowering the drinking age will enforce this act even more, promoting more drinking in fact.

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Why The Drinking Age Should Be 21

138 Words | 1 Pages

Teen drinking is one of the most controversial and serious topic in the United States and other countries. In USA, a person needs to be 21 years old in order to be legally consuming alcohol. However, the age drinking has not always been the same, before 1984 the legal drinking age was 18, but for many reasons the government decided to pass a law to raise it to 21. A lot of people disagree with the drinking age but most people agree that 21 is a reasonable age to be responsibly drinking. The legal age drinking in the United States should stay as 21 and not lower because alcohol consuming needs responsibility,

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Arguments Against Lowering The Drinking Age

738 Words | 3 Pages

Should the legal age for alcohol consumption be lowered? In the United States, The legal drinking age is 21, but in my research, I have found that it is actually allowed, under certain circumstances and situations, to people of even lower age. Though all 50 US states have set their minimum drinking age to 21, exceptions do exist on a state-by-state basis for consumption at home, under adult supervision, for medical necessity, and other reasons. In fact, all but 5 states, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and West Virginia, under age drinking is permitted. Parents are allowed to furnish alcohol to minors if they are under proper supervision.

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Persuasive Speech: Lowering Drinking Age

978 Words | 4 Pages

Teaching children to drink safely starting while they’re 18 and living with their parents will help them develop healthy habits which will stick with them, helping them drink

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827 Words | 4 Pages

In some countries, like in Europe the drinking age is set at 18. Even though people in the US think this is insane, this set age has more positive effects than people think it would. It is known that binge drinking is a problem in the US since it has the highest rate in the world for binge drinking. In Europe, teenagers get their license at age 18, and some drinking ages are lower than that, they figure out how to control their drinking before the drive. Unlike in the US, kids drink and then drive because they either have to be home by curfew or they are too scared to call their parents for a ride, and admit they had been under the

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Argumentative Essay On The Drinking Age

1387 Words | 6 Pages

Over the years, the legal drinking age in the United States has been heavily debated. Some argue that the legal age to drink should be 18 or 19 because people at that age are recognized as adults; others argue that the drinking age should be 21 because people who are able to drink should be more mature and have their lives better planned out. Although people are legally adults at 18, they are not yet mature adults; in fact, according to NRP, “emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don’t reach full maturity until the age 25” (“Brain”). Before earning the right to legally drink, people should allow their bodies to fully develop and gain a better knowledge of how to organize their lives. The drinking age should remain

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The Importance Of Drinking Age

148 Words | 1 Pages

Why should the drinking age be 21 years old, I mean are we even that more mature by that age? “When you are 18 you are judged mature enough to vote, hold public office, serve on juries, serve in the military, fly airplanes, sign contracts and so on. Why is drinking a beer an act of greater responsibility and maturity than flying an airplane or serving your country at war?”("National Youth Rights Association." ) When we turn 18, men get drafted into the military or choose to serve on their own. Either way they have to serve their country.

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