Alcohol: is it poison, or a good way to relax at the end of the day? Is it an addictive drug or a party favor? Regardless of your opinion, almost everyone can agree that it is a dangerous substance if used irresponsibly. The US government has made many attempts to restrict its dangerous consumption, through taxes on alcoholic products, and most notably, through the 1984 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MDLA) law, which states that one must be at least twenty-one years old before he or she is allowed to drink.
Since the MDLA was set, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), underage drinking, and subsequent problem drinking, has dropped significantly (Support 21). On the other hand, supporters of the Amethyst Initiative, a document calling …show more content…
Especially when it means lowering the drinking age back to 18, or younger even, to provide as much exposure to safe drinking habits as possible. After all, by age 18 American teens are trusted with voting rights, allowed to fight and die for the US, and are held to every adult standard, except when it comes to alcohol. “ ‘There isn 't that much difference in maturity between 21 and 18. If the age is younger, you 're getting exposed to it at a younger age, and you don 't freak out when you get to campus.’ ” said a Duke University student from Singapore during an interview on the MDLA (Pope, …show more content…
From my perspective, our goal is to keep our youth healthy and addiction free, but alcohol isn’t necessarily unhealthy, only when it is consumed to the point of intoxication. So perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is not “How do we stop these kids from drinking?” but “How do we stop these kids from drinking too
Since the MDLA was set, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), underage drinking, and subsequent problem drinking, has dropped significantly (Support 21). On the other hand, supporters of the Amethyst Initiative, a document calling …show more content…
Especially when it means lowering the drinking age back to 18, or younger even, to provide as much exposure to safe drinking habits as possible. After all, by age 18 American teens are trusted with voting rights, allowed to fight and die for the US, and are held to every adult standard, except when it comes to alcohol. “ ‘There isn 't that much difference in maturity between 21 and 18. If the age is younger, you 're getting exposed to it at a younger age, and you don 't freak out when you get to campus.’ ” said a Duke University student from Singapore during an interview on the MDLA (Pope, …show more content…
From my perspective, our goal is to keep our youth healthy and addiction free, but alcohol isn’t necessarily unhealthy, only when it is consumed to the point of intoxication. So perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is not “How do we stop these kids from drinking?” but “How do we stop these kids from drinking too