The Drinking Age Should Be 18 Essay

Robert Voas states teen pregnancy, sexual assaults, and crime rates have increased due to underage drinking. Alcohol consumption at a college age leads to 600,000 physical assaults and 70,000 sexual assaults yearly according to a study (464). Joyce Alcantara claims if the age were lowered back to eighteen then it would put younger teens at risk (468). People tend to have friends around their same age. So, if eighteen year olds were allowed to drink then their friends which are roughly around the age of sixteen or seventeen would likely have an alcoholic drink in their hand as well. “There’s No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age” explains, on average about eleven teens die daily as a result of drunk driving (Voas 464). When teens throw a party, alcohol is usually involved. Then once the party is over the kids have to get home somehow and they often drive themselves. When an alcoholic drink is placed in an eighteen-year-old hand decisions are made that harm them and others

During adolescence, a great number of changes appear in the body, including hormonal changes and the development of the brain. So, those teenagers who consume alcohol have problems with emotional regulation, planning, and organization. In one study, Brown and her colleagues evaluated the effects of alcohol on the short-term memory of teenagers (15-16 years old). According to the conclusions, “The alcohol–dependent youth had greater difficulty remembering words and simple geometric designs after a 10–minute interval” (Brown et al.). Besides memory and concentration problems, underage drinkers face growth and endocrine problems. As has been mentioned, during adolescence, hormonal changes develop, including increases in the sex hormones, estrogen, and testosterone. These hormones influence the growth and development of the body. Drinking alcohol during this period disrupts the hormonal balance necessary for normal development of organs, muscles, and bones. So, underage consumption of alcohol can lead to some serious issues, such as memory, growth, development, and endocrine

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.

People believe the drinking age should stay at 21 because an 18 year old has less tolerance as compared to a 21 year old. It may be true, but you don’t really know how much you can handle as long as you try it out. Tolerance doesn’t come with age, tolerance come with realization of responsibility and there are people that are more responsible at 15 than some are at 25.

In summary, the drinking age needs to be changed. First of all, health organizations are more involved with raising the drinking age, second of all drunk driving happens more frequently nowadays, and finally young adults and teens should not be drinking under the ages of 21. In addition, staying safe and healthy is all that

“Every year 500,000 teens are injured in a car wreck. Every year 5,000 teens die in a car wreck meaning an average of 14 teens die a day. Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the U.S. Even more than alcohol and drug abuse, violence and suicide”. Teens are always excited to earn their license and drive out on the road for the first time, but not every time will be a success, it might also be their last. I believe that teen’s cause more car crashes because they’re new to driving and don’t know the full responsibilities to the rules of the road. There are many different scenarios that lead to car wrecks, injuries and even deaths, such as texting while operating a vehicle, under the influence, and general lack of knowledge.

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

When the Minimum Legal Drinking Age changed to 21 years old in 1976, there was a decrease in fatal car accidents which saved approximately 21,887 lives (Alcohol Policy MD). Many lives were saved because there were less young drinkers and less people driving under the influence of alcohol. If it were possible to save lives, why wouldn’t you want to do that? An argument is made that if teenagers are allowed the responsibility to drive when they are 16 years old why can’t they drink at an earlier age? This is simply because Alcohol can put people in danger. Drunk driving seems to be a black spot of our civilization. An average of 17,000 individuals die each year in drunk driving related accidents, and drunk driving continues to be an enormously important public safety issue (MADD). With lowering this drinking age we can only expect more cases of drunk driving and more lives are put in danger. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that about 900 lives are saved annually due to fewer alcohol-related traffic crashes involving underage drivers. Surely, it should be a priority for the society to minimize the death toll from drunk driving. A higher Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) is effective in preventing alcohol-related deaths and injuries among teenagers and youth. When the MLDA has been lowered, injury and death rates increase, and when the MLDA is increased, death and injury rates decline (Wagenaar, 1993). In addition, a common argument among opponents of a higher MLDA is that because many minors still drink and purchase alcohol, the policy isn't working on minors. The evidence shows, however, that although many youth still consume alcohol, they still drink less and experience fewer alcohol-related injuries and deaths (Wagenaar, 1993). There is also an argument comparing the European alcohol and drunk diving among the youth compared to the United

Imagine driving the entire length of a football field at a speed of 55 miles per hour with your eyes closed. That is the equivalent of sending or reading a text that takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. While it may seem very minor to take your focus off of the road for only a matter of seconds, the consequences of distracted driving can result in devastating injuries or possibly even death. Distracted driving can range anywhere from texting, eating, putting on makeup, or even daydreaming. When a person is distracted while driving, it can not only harm themself, it also puts the other people in the car and other vehicles and pedestrians around them in danger. According to the article Distracted Driving, in 2015 alone 37,461 lives were

Lowering the age for drinking would lead to a disaster. The law needs to remain at an age of 21 to keep the next generation safe as long as possible. Drinking is extremely harmful and potentially fatal, this is coupled with its addictability, add young adults and the consequences are terrible. Many people follow the law and other countries experience more issues with underage drinking than the US. Keep the drinking age as is, there is no need to expose young adults to something so

“Only the good die young,” is an aphorism that most have heard, but why is it that the leading cause of death in young people is vehicle accidents? The fact of the matter is that teens, for many reasons, are involved in more fatal crashes than any other age group. Teen driver safety, or the lack thereof, is very problematic in the state of Missouri; teens die senselessly every day due to this problem, and most cases could be prevented if people simply became more knowledgeable.

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

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed thirty-one years ago in July of 1984. Since then, it has been contested by many that the minimum age should be lowered to eighteen. Arguments ranging from being able to join the military, or courts trying you as an adult at the age of 18 have long been heard. Others will say the United States is too strict with the minimum age with only six percent of countries having a minimum age of twenty-one. This could mean one of two things: either we are too strict, or we are responsible with the laws created to protect young adults from the effects of alcohol.

to get behind the wheel of a car and drive without parents. The problem with this is many teenagers take advantage of that privilege and become reckless drivers. The government has put laws in place which prevents teenagers from driving alone for the first year and keeps laws in place so teenagers can’t abuse there laws. Meanwhile, many adults still argue the safety on the road even with restrictions in place. These laws are here to keep everyone on the road safe not only the new drivers. The teenage driving age should not be raised because of the safety and emotional health it provides.