Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Drinking Age

The idea that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 is a foolish statement. The drinking age was 18 at one time, but was changed in 1984 for the greater good in the 1984 National Minimum Age Drinking Act. (APIS) I believe the national drinking age should stay the same because the brain doesn’t fully develop by age 18, 18 year olds still hang out with enough minors, and if you’re going to drink for an appropriate reason, most states allow underage drinking anyways. Lowing the drinking age would be a huge mistake. If Alcohol is already bad for the brain at any age, it’s definitely worse on a developing brain. The brain does not develop at age 18. The brain becomes fully developed around age. (Cox, 2011) Americans are already accused of being stupid by other countries. Why would we try and dumb ourselves down even more? When the Drinking age was raised to 21 in 1984, it was to avoid the bad brains that were increasing our traffic fatality rate. (Tietjen, 2015) Our nation should not let alcohol into less developed brains. Our nation should take care of our youth, and keep our legal drinking age the same. …show more content…
I say this because 18 year old still hang out with people under the age of 18. Most 18 year olds are still in high school. 91% of high school graduates graduate at the age of 18 (United State Department of Labor, 2015). Nobody can tell me that 18 year olds that can drink, that are hanging out with younger kids, won’t result in underage drinking. Not only is underage drinking unhealthy for the body, but it can also be dangerous if the underage aren’t driving sober. There is too much interaction between 18 year olds, and those younger than 18 to make an 18 year old drinking age