Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

My name is Austin Gansert. I am a high school student at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, CA. I am writing you today to talk about a very controversial topic: the legal drinking age. I believe that there are many benefits to having a lower drinking age of 18, rather than the current drinking age of 21. There are many benefits to having a lowered drinking age, which I will explain in this letter.

The public agrees 72 percent of adults think that lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids, and nearly half think that it would increase binge drinking among teens. Lowering the drinking age would worsen the problems of underage and binge drinking. Advocates often point out that if a young adult is old enough to go to war and vote, he should have the power to imbibe alcoholic beverages. Does society think we should lower or higher the drinking age? Research indicates that when the minimum legal drinking age is 21, people under age 21 drink less overall and continue to do so through their early 20s.

The Effects of Lowering the Drinking Age According to Carla T. Main in “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age” from The Tennessee Electronic Library, the legal drinking age shouldn’t be reduced in result of all of the things that occur due to underage drinking. She talks about how institutions could help by having discussions with the college students about responsible drinking. When the drinking age was lowered between 1970 and 1976, the results were catastrophic. The highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed.

Lowering the drinking age: risky or safe? When teenagers turn 18, they are told that they are adults and are sent into the world. They go to college, get a job, marry or join the military. They do grown-up things like vote, pay taxes and become parents, but they can 't go to the bar for a beer.

“If the legal age were lowered in the US it would have to come with much more education in this area, not just the shock-value of Every 15 Minutes” said Ulrike Skillman, math teacher at Saugus. Skillman suggests the lowering of the drinking age will have to come with more alcohol education and that is the exact purpose of a “drinking license.” Which would allow 18 year olds to consume alcohol, with strict regulations, then take classes to officially receive a “drinking license” at 21 years old. The license would replicate a driver’s license, but be geared toward consuming alcohol.

Becoming Adults: Change Drinking Age to Eighteen In the United States of America, as most know, the minimum legal drinking age is twenty-one years old. There have been many debates when it comes to lowering the drinking age; some are against the idea and some are for the idea. It most cases, once you turn the age of eighteen, you are legally an adult. You have the right to vote and serve in the military.

Why the drinking age is set the way that it is? The national drinking age act of 1984 stated that among 18-20 year old in areas where the drinking age had been lowered have more opportunities of having an accident. Some collage contend that by lowering that drinking age college would be able to bring booze out into the campus and educate students on responsible consumption. For a while Louisiana was a safety place for thirsty teens to drink until the state passed a law that made illegal to buy alcohol if you were under 21. Mothers and many other began to protest for a uniform national drinking age of 21 to help eliminate and keep alcohol out of the hands of less immature 18 years old.

Not only has lowering the drinking age lowered to death rates but its also changed to lives of many. The legal drinking age should not be lowered because of all the aspects that its has already improved. There is no point in fixing something that isn't broke. Changing the legal drinking age should not be changed because it doesn't lower binge drinking, it helps with traffic deaths, and also lowers other acts of risky behaviors. One of the points that has been clearly stated is binge drinking and how if its was legal then people such as college students wouldn’t be faced with the temptations of it, but binge drinking was a problem before the legal drinking age was changed to twenty-one (Deguits 3).

Today in the United States the legal drinking age is 21, but numerous younger people want this changed. Many people argue that once a person turns 18 they are a legal adult. At 18 someone can legally vote, run for mayor, serve on a jury, buy a house, get married, and enlist in the military. People can also argue that can give a person a right to drink alcohol. The big question is do people think long and hard about the circumstances changing the drinking age could be.

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

If young adults at the age of 18 are old enough to vote and enlist in the army, then why can they not purchase and consume alcohol? Over the years, the set drinking age has been a controversial topic among society. Some people believe the MLDA (Minimum Legal Drinking Age) should stay at the age of 21 because it is safer for their kids. However, lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 would change the standards of alcohol as it encourages those of legal adulthood to make responsible decisions as adults, learn to control binge drinking and promote less automobile accidents. To further explain, 18 is the age of majority therefore young adults are mature enough to make their own decisions.

Every 15 minutes, a teenager dies due to drunk driving.(9) Austin Donovan Hall, now 18, lost control of the Chrysler convertible he was driving and smashed right into a tree and telephone pole, while driving 119 mph in a 35 mph lane.(7) He departed from an underage drinking party less than a mile away from where the incident occurred.(7) The vehicle then flew off the road hitting a tree and a light pole in the process.(7) Shawn Gangloff, age 15, was in the same accident.