Lowering The Drinking Age Essay

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

She highlights that scientific studies found the 21-year-old law saves lives on and off the road. Dean-Mooney emphasizes the public agrees that “72 percent of adults think that lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids”(Dean-Mooney 3). Another claim of the author it that lowering the drinking age would put more responsibility on the parents and educators. Additionally, she claims that lowering the drinking age would have dangerous long- term effects. Early adolescent drinkers are, “more susceptible to alcoholism”(Dean-Mooney 10).

According to James C. Fell is a senior program director at the Alcohol, Policy and Safety Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation in Calverton, Md. By lowering the drinking age to eighteen it just moves the spectrum down. So instead of an eighteen-year-old drinking underage that will move down to sixteen year olds drinking underage. He believes that it will make alcohol more accessible to younger teenagers, “A 16-year-old or a 14-year-old doesn 't look 21, but they may look 18.” (Ogilvie 2011) Studies concluded that, “Adolescence is a critical stage of development in which the brain undergoes neuromaturation and reorganization characterized by changes in neurotransmission, plasticity, and synaptic remodeling. The results of human and animal research suggest that alcohol exposure during adolescence adversely affects brain development and maturation, causing brain damage, structural alterations, and cognitive deficits.” (Guerri 2010) This simply means that as a young adult, consuming alcohol may lead to severe brain damage as well as stunting the growth of the brain.

Not everybody is full matured by 18 years old. Finally brains are still growing at 18 years old so drinking cannot become legal. Another opposition to the legal drinking age is that 21 years old does not stop teenagers from underage drinking, so why keep it at 21 years old? There are so many kids drinking during high school and college when they are under the age of 21 years, they believe that it should be 18 years of age. Kids that believe the drinking age should be lowered are wrong because it just makes school harder for them to achieve at.

Alcohol Age Limit Would you rather the drinking age limit be lower, higher, or does it even matter? The legal drinking age limit should stay at 21, it is a pretty mature age to handle alcohol and the age limit is always changing. Under aged kids always find a way to obtain alcohol, and often times parents do not care and they’ll buy their kids alcoholic drinks. Does this law really change anything? If this law is so effective then why is under aged drinking still so high on the charts?

If the drinking age is lowered, it will just increase the amount of illegal and unsupervised drinking going on in the nation. Also, lowering the drinking age will cause more car accidents and other types of accidents with younger teenagers. Teenagers will get into cars with their friends to go places, and this can end up badly if the driver has been drinking. Some teenagers can not drive so if they get into cars with their 18-year-old friends who can drink, car accidents are bound to happen. Not many 15-16-year-olds are friends with 21+-year-olds, so this is not as big of a problem currently.

The studies show that after implementation of this restriction, the number of drunken driving cases with lethal outcomes, the number of homicides and suicides as well as injuries among people in the category of 18-20 was reduced. This is claimed to be the result of a working law on limitations. However, even from the economical point of view, the deaths that would be caused by the removal of age restriction to the point of 18 would cost more than the benefits that would be gained from such actions. There is even more to mention. Despite the fact that the legal limitation on alcohol consumption is acting throughout the whole country, the “right to set any drinking age remains in the states' control” (Choose Responsibility) so that the age index may vary.

Finally brains are still growing at 18 years old so drinking cannot become legal. Another opposition to the legal drinking age is that 21 years old does not stop teenagers from underage drinking, so why keep it at 21 years old? There are so many kids drinking during high school and college when they are under the age of 21 years, they believe that it should be 18 years of age. Kids that believe the drinking age should be lowered are wrong because it just makes school harder for them to achieve at. Also if seniors in high school are allowed to have alcohol that just means underclassmen will

However, the real question of debates lies in whether or not the criminal justice system’s primary purpose is efficiency or justice. Is time and money saved more valuable than truth and human life? Even if abolition can’t be implemented entirely, is it not worth implementing at all? For example, current US alcohol laws dictate that people must be twenty-one years or older to drink, however, young people still find ways to obtain alcohol. Even if young people can obtain alcohol, does that mean our system shouldn’t try to restrict it at all and provide it freely?

Being tried according to their age is fairer. A lot of people believe that age should not be considered at all when the felony is extremely severe. Justice needs to be served and they need to pay for the crime they have committed, juvenile or not. According to the Time magazine article ‘What Makes Teens Tick’ Dr. Jay Giedd states that “The very last part of the brain to be pruned or shaped to its adult dimensions is the prefrontal cortex, home of the executive functions.” An adult brain is different than teens, because an adult brain is more developed. Adolescents lack the ability to make good decisions, be more organized, and the ability for good planning.