Over 600,000 kids, ages 12-17 suffer from Alcohol Use Disorder (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2017). This disorder causes you to create a dependency on alcohol and makes it more difficult to quit drinking. In discussion of the drinking age, one controversial issue has been if the Federal government should lower the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) back to 18. On the other hand, the government has data which proves the number of traffic deaths and accidents caused by alcohol have gone down since 1988. This is when the MLDA was raised to 21 (Toomey, Rosenfeld 1996). On the other hand, some people believe the MLDA should be lowered back to 18 because people will drink anyways whether the Federal government allows them to
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If people are safer and there are less fatalities because the MLDA was raised again it should stay that way. Lowering the drinking age is dangerous to people’s well-being.
Problems that come along with the drinking age including car accidents, alcohol poisoning, and addiction were thought to be solved or in the process of being solved back in 1988 when the Federal government told the states that if they did not amend their drinking their funding for their highway departments would be taken away (Toomey, Rosenfeld 1996). Certain states resisted but once their funding was in danger they fell in line and changed their MLDA to 21. Drinking has always been a problem, at least in Wisconsin. It is no secret that our state is known for it’s drinking. Drinking is probably never going to go. We will never be able to fully remove alcohol from our world. They tried to make alcohol illegal in 1920 but failed and ended up repealing the 18th amendment which made the manufacturing, consuming, and selling of alcohol illegal. People found …show more content…
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking can interfere with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2017). Most teenagers do not realize the long-term and serious effects alcohol can have on more than just their brain. Alcohol can also affect your liver, heart, pancreas, and immune system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that, on average, alcohol is a factor in the deaths of 4,358 young people under age 21 each year (NIAAA 2016). Compared to the world population this may not seem like a great amount but this number is staggering. This is too many deaths. People may say that people under 21 will drink anyways which may be true but that number has decreased. It can keep getting smaller if we change people’s enviornment. Yes, organizations or schools could go the classic route by lecturing or handing out pamphlets but the truth of the matter is most people don’t pay attention to that information. We need to go to the source. This includes the business and people that are 21 or older who are allowing people under 21 to purchase alcohol from them. If we can inform those sources and make them aware of the harm they could potentially do we could change the
If people are safer and there are less fatalities because the MLDA was raised again it should stay that way. Lowering the drinking age is dangerous to people’s well-being.
Problems that come along with the drinking age including car accidents, alcohol poisoning, and addiction were thought to be solved or in the process of being solved back in 1988 when the Federal government told the states that if they did not amend their drinking their funding for their highway departments would be taken away (Toomey, Rosenfeld 1996). Certain states resisted but once their funding was in danger they fell in line and changed their MLDA to 21. Drinking has always been a problem, at least in Wisconsin. It is no secret that our state is known for it’s drinking. Drinking is probably never going to go. We will never be able to fully remove alcohol from our world. They tried to make alcohol illegal in 1920 but failed and ended up repealing the 18th amendment which made the manufacturing, consuming, and selling of alcohol illegal. People found …show more content…
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking can interfere with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2017). Most teenagers do not realize the long-term and serious effects alcohol can have on more than just their brain. Alcohol can also affect your liver, heart, pancreas, and immune system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that, on average, alcohol is a factor in the deaths of 4,358 young people under age 21 each year (NIAAA 2016). Compared to the world population this may not seem like a great amount but this number is staggering. This is too many deaths. People may say that people under 21 will drink anyways which may be true but that number has decreased. It can keep getting smaller if we change people’s enviornment. Yes, organizations or schools could go the classic route by lecturing or handing out pamphlets but the truth of the matter is most people don’t pay attention to that information. We need to go to the source. This includes the business and people that are 21 or older who are allowing people under 21 to purchase alcohol from them. If we can inform those sources and make them aware of the harm they could potentially do we could change the