Hannah Maier
Elder
1101-91
5 October 2014
One Bourbon, One Scotch, Eighteen Years In Belgium, the drinking age is fifteen years old, meaning teenage McLovin and his friends from the Blockbuster film Superbad would have had no problem purchasing alcohol if they lived there. Unfortunately, they lived in the United States which has one of the highest legal drinking ages in the world at twenty-one. The majority of the world, however, has settled on a drinking age of eighteen. This difference is due in part to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and other sources that have used false information to promote the increase in drinking age. Therefore, the drinking age in the United States should be …show more content…
In the 1980s, Mothers Against Drunk Driving was one of the main lobbyist organizations campaigning for the drinking age to be changed to twenty-one, but MADD has been proven to use false and misleading facts to promote its completely anti-alcohol agenda. A popular tactic used by MADD to reduce the number of underage drinkers involves raising prices and taxes on alcohol, but most evidence concludes that young adults are the least likely age group to be deterred from purchasing alcohol due to price gouging. A report by the U.S. Congress states that “alcohol prices were a less salient determinant of the drinking behavior of college student than they were in other population groups” (U.S. Department of Health). On MADD's official website, several false claims have been stated in favor of the current drinking age. A popular claim often cited by advocates of a high drinking age is that more than 25,000 lives have been saved due to the twenty-one minimum drinking age. This statistic is misleading because the minimum drinking age does not prevent the loss of life; …show more content…
An in depth study done by Berkeley showed that “schooling significantly reduces criminal activity” (Department of Economics UCLA). In a report of the Surgeon General, education was found to “prevent the initiation of tobacco use and reduce its prevalence among youth” (“We Can”). To the same effect, sex education in schools based on scientific fact, not abstinence, has been shown to significantly reduce the number of teenage pregnancies. Just as sexual education is based on fact, alcohol education needs to be based on fact, not abstinence. Additionally, education on college campuses significantly reduces binge drinking. The percentage of college drinkers has reached a “record low level of 78% in 2013. . .[and] binge drinking among college students [reaching] the lowest level yet chronicled (35%)” (“Binge Drinking Statistics”). Since education has significantly reduced the occurrence of other dangerous or harmful activities, it would also work to reduce alcohol related
Elder
1101-91
5 October 2014
One Bourbon, One Scotch, Eighteen Years In Belgium, the drinking age is fifteen years old, meaning teenage McLovin and his friends from the Blockbuster film Superbad would have had no problem purchasing alcohol if they lived there. Unfortunately, they lived in the United States which has one of the highest legal drinking ages in the world at twenty-one. The majority of the world, however, has settled on a drinking age of eighteen. This difference is due in part to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and other sources that have used false information to promote the increase in drinking age. Therefore, the drinking age in the United States should be …show more content…
In the 1980s, Mothers Against Drunk Driving was one of the main lobbyist organizations campaigning for the drinking age to be changed to twenty-one, but MADD has been proven to use false and misleading facts to promote its completely anti-alcohol agenda. A popular tactic used by MADD to reduce the number of underage drinkers involves raising prices and taxes on alcohol, but most evidence concludes that young adults are the least likely age group to be deterred from purchasing alcohol due to price gouging. A report by the U.S. Congress states that “alcohol prices were a less salient determinant of the drinking behavior of college student than they were in other population groups” (U.S. Department of Health). On MADD's official website, several false claims have been stated in favor of the current drinking age. A popular claim often cited by advocates of a high drinking age is that more than 25,000 lives have been saved due to the twenty-one minimum drinking age. This statistic is misleading because the minimum drinking age does not prevent the loss of life; …show more content…
An in depth study done by Berkeley showed that “schooling significantly reduces criminal activity” (Department of Economics UCLA). In a report of the Surgeon General, education was found to “prevent the initiation of tobacco use and reduce its prevalence among youth” (“We Can”). To the same effect, sex education in schools based on scientific fact, not abstinence, has been shown to significantly reduce the number of teenage pregnancies. Just as sexual education is based on fact, alcohol education needs to be based on fact, not abstinence. Additionally, education on college campuses significantly reduces binge drinking. The percentage of college drinkers has reached a “record low level of 78% in 2013. . .[and] binge drinking among college students [reaching] the lowest level yet chronicled (35%)” (“Binge Drinking Statistics”). Since education has significantly reduced the occurrence of other dangerous or harmful activities, it would also work to reduce alcohol related