The Drinking Age Should Be 18 Essay

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. He was thrown from the car and later became a casualty due to his injuries.(7) Max Dechter who was in the car as well, then 17, was taken to the hospital, where he was to remain for months after the accident.(7) Teenagers should not jeopardize their futures and lives for the

The drinking age should not be changed to 18 due to a lack of maturity, the statistics and consequences of underage drinking while driving, and the effect alcohol has on the adolescent body.
Being 18 means that you are only about halfway through being fully developed.(2) Tony Cox, host from NPR News, says, “That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so.”(3) Based on this information, teenagers decision making skills would lean toward seeing the positive side of drinking instead of the negative consequences. The drinking age should be 25, because at this age, people won’t fall under influence from their peers like it occurs with teens.(2) While maturing, the brain encounters major growth and pruning, the brain’s way of removing damaged neurons for better pathways, all the way into adulthood.(2) A specific type of pruning that takes place is synaptic pruning.(2) Synaptic pruning mainly increases during teenage years and decreases during adolescence.(2) An outcome from synaptic pruning is more efficient brain functions.(2) The prefrontal cortex is also more developed at 25 than 18.(2) The prefrontal cortex is accountable for many