There has been an ongoing debate in regards to lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years old in The United States. Some suggest if we were to consider lowering the drinking age to 18 this could mean young people would have access to alcohol. It is not uncommon for 21 year olds to provide minors or those under 21 with alcoholic beverages. Reducing the drinking age to 18 could possibly result in younger teenagers, even as young as 13 having access to alcohol. Minors find ways to get around the 21-year-old limit and will continue to do so in the future. Whereas some argue that since you have the right to get married, the right to vote, and the right to join the military 18 year olds should have the right to make their own decisions about
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Alcohol not only affects our brain, which in turn affects our ability to think, and makes coordination very difficult. Drunk driving is another serious issue that has to be addressed in order to prevent future fatal accidents. A deep concern of this was addressed by President Ronald Reagan, which helped enforce the minimum drinking age. In the late 60s and early 70s, 29 states lowered their drinking age to 18 years old to more closely align with the newly reduced military enlistment and voting age. The results were immediate drunk driving crashes and alcohol-related fatalities increased significantly in those states (Ruth) On July 17, 1984, President Reagan agreed to sign the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years, with the goal being to lower the rate of highway accidents. President Reagan and future governors examined this from three key points. The first stated every age group was increasing in longevity expect one, teenagers and the leading cause of death was drunk driving. Secondly alcohol consumption was affecting the armed forces, the leading cause of non-combat death in the military …show more content…
They will be motivated by the same factors that influenced 18 year olds to drink when the drinking age was 21 which brings up another common argument for those in favor of lowering the drinking age. According to the Prevention Research Center, “Among Americans there is a commonly held perception young people in European countries are introduced to alcohol in a cultural context that reduces heavy and harmful drinking. The idea is often expressed that because the drinking age in the United States is 21, much higher than in European countries, young people miss out on the opportunity to learn to drink within family settings where moderate drinking is the norm (Prevention Research Center). There was an anonymous survey taken from 10th graders by the Monitoring Future Survey. The results showed that a greater percentage of young people from nearly all of the European countries report drinking in the past 30 days (Prevention Research Center). Astonishingly 33% of 10th graders reported they had a drink in last 30days (Prevention Research Center). The survey also showed that U.S adolescents showed equal or fewer rates for intoxication than adolescents from European countries (Prevention Research Center). The survey also concluded that a majority of the European countries have higher
Alcohol not only affects our brain, which in turn affects our ability to think, and makes coordination very difficult. Drunk driving is another serious issue that has to be addressed in order to prevent future fatal accidents. A deep concern of this was addressed by President Ronald Reagan, which helped enforce the minimum drinking age. In the late 60s and early 70s, 29 states lowered their drinking age to 18 years old to more closely align with the newly reduced military enlistment and voting age. The results were immediate drunk driving crashes and alcohol-related fatalities increased significantly in those states (Ruth) On July 17, 1984, President Reagan agreed to sign the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years, with the goal being to lower the rate of highway accidents. President Reagan and future governors examined this from three key points. The first stated every age group was increasing in longevity expect one, teenagers and the leading cause of death was drunk driving. Secondly alcohol consumption was affecting the armed forces, the leading cause of non-combat death in the military …show more content…
They will be motivated by the same factors that influenced 18 year olds to drink when the drinking age was 21 which brings up another common argument for those in favor of lowering the drinking age. According to the Prevention Research Center, “Among Americans there is a commonly held perception young people in European countries are introduced to alcohol in a cultural context that reduces heavy and harmful drinking. The idea is often expressed that because the drinking age in the United States is 21, much higher than in European countries, young people miss out on the opportunity to learn to drink within family settings where moderate drinking is the norm (Prevention Research Center). There was an anonymous survey taken from 10th graders by the Monitoring Future Survey. The results showed that a greater percentage of young people from nearly all of the European countries report drinking in the past 30 days (Prevention Research Center). Astonishingly 33% of 10th graders reported they had a drink in last 30days (Prevention Research Center). The survey also showed that U.S adolescents showed equal or fewer rates for intoxication than adolescents from European countries (Prevention Research Center). The survey also concluded that a majority of the European countries have higher