Drinking Age To 20 Research Paper

One issue that I feel passionate about is the drinking age. I think that 21 is too old, however, I think that 18 is too young. It it were up to me I would make the drinking age 20. To start, 20 is a good age to allow people to begin drinking because once you hit 20 you are no longer a teennager. Even though 18 is legally when you become an adult, you are still a teenager, which means you are not an adult. As soon as you turn 20 you are no longer a child, and can officially be considered an adult. Secondly, by the time you turn 20 you have been allowed to drive a car for four years. Driving a car requires a great amount of responsibility, one slip up and multiple people can be killed. If a person can be trusted to drive for four years, they should be trusted to drink responsibly. Finally, by age 20 most people have finished high school, work full time, or are in college. If people are old enough to complete these responsible tasks, they should be trusted to drink.

While moving the drinking age down to 20 might sound like a good idea, there are a few problems with this idea. To start just because you are 20 does not mean that you are no longer a child. Adolescence is defined as the period of time while you are still living off of your parents money. The majority of 20 year olds are still living at home off of there parents.

The drinking age was specifically set to age 21 to prevent mental impairment to American youth from drinking too early. In reality the brain does not reach full maturity until at least age twentyfive. If America wants to keep its people as healthy as possible, the drinking age should be released to twentyfive. None of the reasons for why the drinking age should be adjusted matter except for the level of development the brain has. For this reason the drinking age should be no less than 21 years