Drinking Age Should Be 18 Essay

Improved Essays
The drinking laws within the United States should be lowered as the US has much stricter laws regarding alcohol consumption compared to other countries, according to other laws the age of eighteen is considered a legal adult, and allowing teens of eighteen and older to drink in a safe controlled environment can decrease unsafe drinking activities.
First let's talk about why the legal drinking age in the United States is 21. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed by Ronald Reagan. He basically made the states raise the legal drinking age to 21 or he would cut the highway funding to their state. At this time many states have varying laws on buying alcohol. Some state it would be 18 for everything, and some states it would be 18 for beer and 21 for hard liquor. It was all up to the independent states to decide what to set it at. In the United States, laws on drinking are much stricter than laws around the world, especially compared to countries like France. Here in the US, the legal age to drink is 21 while in France the legal drinking age is 16 years old. When alcohol is introduced to younger people there is less urge to get drunk. Drinking in public would be monitored by peers,
…show more content…
When alcohol is introduced at a younger age, there are less occurrences of alcohol poisoning among teens. According to a recent survey by U.S. News, 6 people die from alcohol poisoning everyday. This is likely due to the fact that teenagers, not being able to drink young, sneak alcohol with the intentions of getting drunk. When the drinking age is lower it is more likely that the parents will teach their teenagers about the dangers of alcohol abuse. A younger drinking age, while in a safe environment, will allow for teens to understand their drinking limits before they reach a more mature age, therefore decreasing the irresponsibility of

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Turing eighteen in the United States is the age teenagers are considered to be adults, they are allowed to join the military, buy cigarettes, get a tattoo, vote and etc. Even though they are considered adults they are not allowed to drink or buy alcohol. In the United States, the minimum legal drinking age is twenty-one. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen would cause crimes and personal damages that are caused by alcohol abuse. Keeping the legal drinking age of 21 has helped; the effects of drinking at an early age on the brains development, lowered drunk driving and keep young people safer.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered The legal drinking age should not be lowered as it has been proven it will have negative effects on the individual and society. The legal drinking age started at 21 years old in the 1930’s. During the Vietnam War era the legal drinking age was lowered to 18 to accommodate the soldiers that were in the War. This changed when Ronald Regan proposed the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, majority of the young adults like to do rebellion, things for fun, and because they like the adrenaline they feel about knowing the trouble they will have, if they are caught. David J. Hanson said “research has clearly demonstrated the “forbidden fruit” phenomenon among adults under the age of 21”. The “forbidden fruit” is something desired because it is not allowed, so he agrees that young adults drink because they feel the adrenaline of doing something not allowed. A professional professor gave a statistic and he says that “25% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21, are heavy drinkers” (2). If the age is lowered, the desire of feeling the adrenaline will be less.…

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Any college student could go to a party and drink all they want and not get punished for it by the law. Police officers could walk through a party and not have to arrest anyone for drinking. The only thing the officers had to check was any disturbances or fights that might have been going on. President Ronald Reagan changed all that when he passed the Federal Uniform Drinking Age act of 1984 which increased the age to twenty-one (EDITORIAL: Lowering the drinking age worth debate). Since then, there has been large debate over whether or not it should be changed back to eighteen, keep…

    • 2226 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also a lot of deaths can be prevented from consuming too much alcohol if the age is lowered because there are laws in some states that prevent anyone who partakes in underage drinking and reports their medical problems to authorities will not be punished. This would motivate underage drinkers to seek aid instead of getting injured or…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The legal drinking age is 21 in the United states of America. The majority of teens have at least had one alcoholic beverage in their life. Definitely not all of them but most of them have. There is a lot of debates on the legal drinking age. Some people say it should continue to be 21 and some say it should be 18.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This fact leads to a bigger desire of the under aged students to consume alcohol and they too got the opportunity to get it from the older students. Lowering the drinking age in this case may not affect the number of people consuming alcohol, but it would affect the amount of alcohol drank by under aged drinkers, because if an eighteen year old does not know when he will be consuming alcohol next time he will be drinking as much as he can that if he gets trouble he gets it for a reason. The Dartmouth study of 2007 shows this relationship, by the fact that in the last month less underage people consumed alcohol in the States, than in Europe, but when they drank they drank more than people in European…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Binge drinking, the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol during a short period of time, is a very dangerous situation that many college students participate in before going out to a party because of the fact that they cannot legally purchase alcohol while they are out. Abba argues that If the drinking age were lowered to 18, the majority of college students would be able to purchase alcohol while out, lessening the pressure to have to get drunk beforehand. This would also give students the ability to spread out their alcoholic intake throughout the night and allow them to drink in more controlled environments with security present. While this point is quite accurate it does not completely solve the problem at hand, instead, it just would encourage the consumption of alcohol. College students are not the only underage people that choose to drink, in fact, a study found that 25 percent of eighth-grade students, 40 percent of tenth-grade students, and 53 percent of high school seniors have consumed alcohol(Marcovitz).…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Although 18 year olds are considered adults, some think that they are still not mature enough to make to correct choices about alcohol. Those who think that keeping the drinking age at a higher minimum are trying to keep the demand for alcohol down and are also trying to keep the roads safer from drunk drivers. People between the ages of 18 and 20 will have just started college for the most part and don’t need alcohol interfering with their studies and their ability to succeed in life. Condoning the drinking of newly formed adults would only cause chaos and cause more fatalities. To MADD the cost of drinking outweighs the benefits since the highest numbers of fatalities in the United States are due to alcohol related deaths.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    They compare other countries such as Europe, who’s drinking age is eighteen, with the United States and conclude that the current legal drinking age causes rebellious behavior. To many, this behavior could be prevented by legally allowing younger people to drink. Society believes that if the drinking age were to be lowered to eighteen, those who drink before the legal age of twenty-one will not be compelled to consume alcohol in private which will lead to less binge drinking. However, these opinions are not supported by facts.…

    • 1819 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18 There is no taboo subject in America quote like underage drinking. The principal problem is not the age of drinking, but the hidden binge side of it. When it comes to the law, there is always an opinion. A reform should be made about the age of drinking for numerous reasons in my personal viewpoint.…

    • 1092 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The number of DUI’s has slowly increased within the past 5 years; this is without changing the drinking age. The government has already had problems within the last 5-7 years about misuse of alcohol, lowering the age would put more increase the problems. According to Tara Watson, “Research has shown that a drinking age of 21 does reduce alcohol use by those under 21, including high school students.” That goes to show that if the law is enforced the right way then we could help minimize underage drinking. The earlier you drink in your life, the earlier you are to have complications from too much alcohol.…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Eighteen is considered adulthood, yet, at this age one is still not treated as such. When one turns eighteen, they become a legal adult, and receive their rights, except the right to consume alcohol legally. The drinking age in the United States is currently set at twenty-one. But, some people believe that twenty-one is too high for the minimum age and, think it should be lower. There are others who feel that twenty-one is a decent, mature age, and lowering it would encourage young to take part in alcohol consumption.…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Underage drinking has been pushed to less controlled environments and having the age set at the age of adulthood gives underage drinkers less motive to drink before the legal age requirement. “18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption” however, it would be medically irresponsible to let them drink so early in development, the legal drinking age is now set at twenty one, which is still before full development of the body, and lowering this legal age to eighteen poses an even greater risk towards teens and young…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drinking Age To 18 Essay

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages

    May I See Your I.D? Most countries consider eighteen a responsible age to start drinking, some of them allow sixteen year olds to buy beer and wine, and this is legal in countries like Belgium, Denmark, and Germany (Griggs). While some people may say that eighteen is too low of an age to start drinking, other people believe that eighteen is a very reasonable age to start drinking. Even though it encourages drunk driving, and teenagers already drink underage illegally.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays