A very well known issue in the United States is underage drinking. Ever since the legal drinking age was raised to 21 in all states, it has become the most researched law in history (Dean-Mooney). Some people believe that lowering the drinking age can help solve this problem, some do not. Every year about 1,100 underage youth die in alcoholrelated car crashes and another 300 in nontraffic alcoholrelated car crashes (Main). The problem is obvious but the solution is not. Many think that lowering the legal drinking age will change the mindset of the youth thinking they will become more responsible with their drinking habits. Others believe it will harm the youth even more like it did before the 1980s when the drinking age was set at 18. Having
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First an age needs to be chosen as the set legal drining age and then there will be some exceptions or rules made to ensure there will be no harm done to those who drink. Underage drinking will most likely never be gone completely but it can definitely decrease a lot more than where it is at now. No matter the solution, everyone is working to help protect the youth from underage drinking and that is what this country is working towards. One of the opposing sides believes the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Their main reasoning is that if an 18 year-old can vote, fight in a war or own a gun, then they should be able to buy a beer. It is probably thought by many that anyone but a parent would believe lowering the legal drinking age to 18, but not true! John McNair, father of three, also believes that if you can fight in a war then you can drink a beer (McNair). Mcnair also mentions that yes the car crash fatalities have gone down but the attitude of drinking has changed. He shares this belief with a women named Carla Main who also wrote an article on lowering the legal drinking age. She said that the reason for raising the drinking age to 21 in the 1980s “…has outlived its usefullness (Main).” She backs this up by saying that colleges can teach students responsible drinking. Ruth C. Engs, a professor at
First an age needs to be chosen as the set legal drining age and then there will be some exceptions or rules made to ensure there will be no harm done to those who drink. Underage drinking will most likely never be gone completely but it can definitely decrease a lot more than where it is at now. No matter the solution, everyone is working to help protect the youth from underage drinking and that is what this country is working towards. One of the opposing sides believes the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Their main reasoning is that if an 18 year-old can vote, fight in a war or own a gun, then they should be able to buy a beer. It is probably thought by many that anyone but a parent would believe lowering the legal drinking age to 18, but not true! John McNair, father of three, also believes that if you can fight in a war then you can drink a beer (McNair). Mcnair also mentions that yes the car crash fatalities have gone down but the attitude of drinking has changed. He shares this belief with a women named Carla Main who also wrote an article on lowering the legal drinking age. She said that the reason for raising the drinking age to 21 in the 1980s “…has outlived its usefullness (Main).” She backs this up by saying that colleges can teach students responsible drinking. Ruth C. Engs, a professor at