Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age

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.

A lower drinking age would increase deaths from drinking. Most drinkers die at a younger age due to alcohol poisoning and other issues which would increase with a lower age. This should not be something that we should take lightly, and lowering the drinking age would make this issue worse because more people would end up dying from drinking. Younger drinkers would have a higher risk of death, mostly because their bodies are not fully developed yet. Drinking when brains are not fully developed can slow down the development and learning process.

I am in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 because many people say that at the age of 18 you are immature. Immaturity can be at any age, I would say that it all depends in the way children are raised at home and grow up to be responsible to know what life has to bring. Many young people grown up with their family drinking and learn from them in how to be responsible when they drink. I would say

Picture yourself at this amazing party, you are having the time of your life, but you realize that there are so many people trashed and you are the only one that is not as wasted. The neighbors call the police department complaining that there is so much noise happening next door, that they want the police to shut it down or to at least tell them to be quiet. Well imagine your friend answering the door to the police but saying something incredibly stupid. The cops tell you to turn down the music, they really don’t care that you are eighteen and drinking because they know that it is the legal age. You see, most people would disagree that the drinking age should be eighteen because they think that we are still very

Drugs such as alcohol have an effect on all users, regardless of their age; however, alcohol has an especially harmful effect on teens since their bodies are still developing. Studies have shown that alcohol has numerous negative effects on a teen’s body and mental health; for example, a study conducted by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention stated that “alcohol consumption affects the brain’s frontal lobes, which is essential for functions such as emotional regulations, planning, and organization” (“Age”). Teens already have high emotions and difficulties planning and organizing; alcohol will only enhance teens’ struggle. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention also found that alcohol consumption at a young age can potentially cause chronic problems such as memory loss, depression, suicidal thoughts, and poor decision making (“Age”). Teens have a difficult enough time making decisions and organizing their lives, but adding alcohol to the mix will only make matters worse; their bodies are still developing, and they are still learning to be adults. Teens already struggle deciding what clubs to join, what colleges to apply for, what college to attend, what to major in, and much more. Teens should not be allowed to legally drink because alcohol consumption can affect their health and

It’s true there are always teens who defy the law and drink. If we lower the age it will only encourage underage drinkers. If they start young it’s easier to become addicted and harder to fight. It’s believed that other countries teach teenagers how to use alcohol more responsibly and that the family setting it’s used in helps regulate their intake. This is false, other countries deal with more issues with teenagers drinking than America. A greater percentage of teenagers in European countries reported having been intoxicated in the last 30 days, most teens admit to be intoxicated before the age of 13, and their teenager intoxication rates are much higher. Bettina Friese and Joel W. Grube, “Youth Drinking Rates and Problems: A Comparison of European Countries and the United States.” Prevention Research Center Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, PDF. There is no reason we should lower the drinking age except to open malicious opportunities to teenagers and support a poison. Younger people become addicted and affected more easily than adults. America decided to do things differently than other countries for a reason.

One main point that is argued is that younger brains are more susceptible to alcohol consumption and by lowering the drinking age, it would be approving the damage that alcohol causes in the developing brain. Emotional development, organization, and planning are all affected by alcohol consumption. Though it’s true that kids will still likely drink, that doesn’t mean society needs to approve of that decision. Another argument that is used is that more people drinking could create more unsafe environments. When people have too much alcohol, their decision-making skills are extensively lowered. This can lead to fights, unsafe sex, and other irrational and sometimes life threatening behaviors that could carry lifetime consequences. A third and very strong point is that there would be easier access to alcohol. Some kids who are 18 aren’t even out of high school yet. Because they would be legally allowed to purchase alcohol, there is likelihood that they would then provide this to their friends who may be underage, therefore increasing underage access to alcohol. In those countries that allow drinking at 18, although the death tolls from drunken driving is lower, there is a high illegal drinking population in those as young as

According to Alexis Aguirre, a journalist at the Texas State University Star, “The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Once 18, a person is legally considered an adult and should be able to drink.” A person becomes legally emancipated at the age of 18. Emancipation is when one is considered an adult in the eyes of the law. Some “perks” of being an adult include: the right to get married, buy a house, or be charged as an adult in a court of law. Proponents of lowering the drinking age may say if one can buy a house, why can he not buy a alcoholic beverage? According to the same article, “If I want to vote democrat, I can. If I want to ink up my body, I can. If I want to fill my lungs with smoke, I can do that too. Going wine tasting with some friends, however, is somehow too far.” Aguirre also

Do you know drinking is fatal to only to 19 or a younger age? Should the drinking age be lowered from 19 to a younger age? CONS. We should not drink when you are under the drinking age law. Drinking can be all over the world to many countries. With all due respect, I truly think that the drinking age should not be lowered to 19. In my perspective drinking is bad for everyone. Drinking is dangerous to everyone. I am going to explain why not to drink through health issues, younger age people and not to drink and drive.

Accustomed to such inconsistent treatment. ……young people are bombarded with mixed signals about the scope of their rights and the depth of their responsibilities. And most of those mixed signals come from the laws of state and local government.” (Governing.com Page 1) These confusing laws make nothing easier and in fact they make young people’s lives more difficult. My opinion on the whole situation is that the drinking age should be lowered because of binge drinking. Since the drinking age has been twenty-one it has not stopped underage teens for drinking and has actually caused more problems. Binge drinking has especially been caught in college. With the mix of ages ranging anywhere from around 17-24 years old it’s easy for teens to fall under peer pressure. The opposing side to this argument says however that lowering the drinking age would be...”Pushing the drinking problem further down to 16-and 17-year olds.” However there is another problem with the law of the drinking age being

In fact, the law may increase the amount of eighteen to twenty year olds who do drink. It has been shown that, especially in college-age students, there is a tendency to not do what they are told, on the contrary, they will do the exact opposite. The problem with the drinking age being twenty-one is that some students drink purely out of defiance). The number of fatalities is down in all age groups, not just teenagers, and cars driven now are much safer than the cars that were being driven in the early 1980’s, and teenagers are much safer drivers, which can be attributed to the decreased amount of fatalities. Also, in other countries that have lower drinking ages, the number of fatalities has

There has been research that shows the negative effects of lowering the drinking age that goes way beyond drunken incidents. The February 2013 issue of “Mental Health Weekly Digest” showed the findings of Dr. Andrew D. Plunk of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. It is quite obvious that the most abused drug by adolescents is alcohol, and it can have lasting effects. "Furthermore, human brain development continues into the third decade of life, raising concern that heavy adolescent alcohol misuse may produce cognitive deficits and impairment in memory and attention” Plank proclaimed. “Numerous studies have linked binge drinking to poorer academic performance (Mental Health Weekly Digest).” He surveyed citizens born between 1949 and 1972, a total of 24,088 people. In his research, he saw the correlation. Even though he saw that the lowered drinking age didn’t necessarily create greater alcohol consumption, but he saw that more people were binge drinking at a high level. He realized that since they were drinking before the age was increased, they were more alcohol dependent going into adulthood. He noted that college kids aren’t the only concern for binge drinking, but all of the people who have been drinking consistently for

Lawmakers are risking other lives if they lower the drinking age. “An average of 17,000 individuals die each year in drinking related deaths” (Nagin). Alcohol does a lot to how the body functions. In a way it affects how your brain functions. Alcohol has different effects depending on your age. This is why there are different limits in order to drink alcohol. Thinking about lowering the age is a bad choice to consider making. The United States shouldn’t allow this to happen to society. Lawmakers should not make eighteen the legal drinking

I believe that the most effective ways to to teach people the dangers of alcohol is to allow them to drink it before they are independent as they will receive input from guardians and more experienced people. As we look at the effects that a change in the drinking age may have I believe the factor that is most persuading is how the number of fatalities will differ. If people become more educated of the effects of drinking it is inevitable that this statistic is bound to drop immensely. This is supported by Gabrielle Glaser, a well known author in the area of alcohol and its effect on people. She states, “Why expect 21-year-olds to learn how to drink responsibly without learning from moderate models, at home and in alcohol education programs?” (Glaser par. 6). I believe that educating people on alcohol is one of the most fundamentally solid ways of being more safe around alcohol, lowering the age will give more people this opportunity. While some may not have a responsible guardian to turn to the many that do will result positively in the number of fatalities due to