Minimum Drinking Age

Improved Essays
On July 17, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which he quoted, “The bill we 're gathered to sign today reflects the will of the American people. It takes the battle to stop drunk driving one crucial step further”. Since 1984 the minimum legal drinking is an on going debate for many U.S. citizens. According to Andrew Stuttaford, he believes that if eighteen year old are allowed to vote, marry, join the military and drive why are they not allowed to drink. Even though eighteen year old are considered as an adult for which they should have the right to drink, there are many reasons why alcohol should be kept away from teenagers, for examples drinking at a young age is extremely harmful to the body. Eighteen …show more content…
Since eighteen year old are transiting from high school to college, their first two years is crucial on getting used to the campus plus focusing on the importance of getting their life and career started. Since eighteen year old are not as mature as they would be at twenty-one, getting involved with alcohol during this time frame or younger can cause serious consequences for instance, poor decisions are usually made when it comes to drinking for examples, being intoxicated can cause teenagers to having unprotected sexing with multiples partners which can then lead them on having babies at a young age which then the teenager will therefore have to drop out of school to find a job to support his or her family. Also, waking up from a hangover can cause teenagers to miss classes or work, which can affect their grades and more importantly lose their …show more content…
When the MLDA has been lowered, injury and death rates increase, and when the MLDA is increased, death and injury rates decline”. Since underage drunk driving is the main cause for alcohol related deaths and injuries, the minimum drinking age was increased to from eighteen to twenty-one by president Ronald Reagan in 1984. Wagenaar quoted, “A common argument opponents of a higher MLDA is that because many minors still drink and purchase alcohol, the policy doesn’t work. The evidence shows, however, that although many youth still consume alcohol, they drink less and experience fewer alcohol-related injuries and deaths”. Although some teenagers are still illegally finding a way to consume alcohol, the numbers of fatal accident and injuries are still lower compared to if the minimum drinking age would be at eighteen.
In Conclusion, preventing teenagers from drinking at a young age will help decrease the number of teenage pregnancy, as well as students dropping out of school or loosing jobs from overly excessive drinking or not being able to functions the next morning. Also, not drinking at a young age will give your body a chance to fully develop without the risk of health issues. Lastly but most importantly, preventing underage drinking will help save thousand of innocents people lives by lowering the numbers of underage drunk

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Logical numbers of car crashes under the influence within the age group of 18-20 increased after the change. Within ten years the legal drinking age limit was raised back to 21. In both articles, Mukherjee and Traci L. Toomey et al. mentioned how young adults at the age of 18 can fight and die for their country, have the right to vote and get married, but not able to drink alcohol.…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    MLDA To 21

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to Traci L. Toomey, Carolyn Rosenfeld, and Alexander C. Wagenaar in “The Minimum Legal Drinking Age: History, Effectiveness, and Ongoing Debate” from Alcohol Health and Research World, the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) should stay up at 21 to help prevent alcohol-related problems among youth such as, injury and death, second-hand effects, and health issues. Science is and has contributed to the study of the effect of the MLDA laws. After states lowered the MLDA from 21 in the seventies, traffic crashes among teenagers increased greatly, so the government indirectly returned the MLDA to 21. Along with the MLDA, states created drinking policies to further reduce drinking rates concerning teenagers. In correlation with the MLDA being raised, there were notable declines in vehicle crashes and crash fatalities.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The topic of US’ states lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen or keeping the age at twenty one has been a hot, controversial topic over the past few years. As of July 1988, each of the fifty states have made their MLDA, minimum legal drinking age, twenty one (Eastman). Given that each state has the same drinking age, it greatly reduces drinking and driving among teens because they cannot drive to another state, drink, and return home while intoxicated. Although both sides of the argument propose great reasoning and supporting evidence on what the MLDA should be, it is disagreeable that the age should be reduced to eighteen. It is statistically proven that keeping the minimum legal drinking age at twenty one, in each state, would be…

    • 1803 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When a person turns 18, he or she is allowed to vote, enlist in the military, get married, serve on juries, and partake in many other parts of adult life except for consuming alcohol. S. Georgia Nugent, president emerita of Kenyon College claims that “the illogic of the situation is patent”(Nugent). Students are taught from a young age to make rational decisions based on logical arguments. Nugent asserts “In the case of the minimum drinking age, they can hardly look to their elders to find that kind of behavior modeled”(Nugent). She argues the irrationality of the current drinking, and I agree because of the amount of other responsibilities 18 year olds receive when they become an adult.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    MLDA Pros And Cons

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The National Minimum Drinking Act, passed by Congress in 1984 violates our civil liberties, remains highly ineffective, has created more alcohol related issues, and needs to be repealed. Works Cited Chafetz, Morris. “The 21-Year-Old Under Age: I Voted For It; It Doesn’t Work”. Huffington Post, 2009 Paglia, Camille.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • 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
  • Superior Essays

    In the 1970s, due to lowering the age for alcohol consumption, there was a vast increase in car fatalities involving younger people and drinking (SpeakUP). In response to this drunk driving epidemic, President Ronald Reagan passed the Minimum Drinking Age Act (MDAA), which increased the drinking age to twenty-one (Boston). Drunk driving accidents have dropped by at least fifty percent since this law was passed. The largest proportion among the accidents ranged from 16-20 year olds (Boston). As a minor, ones brain is not fully developed and is not fully matured yet, which causes increased risk for making poorer decisions.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since July 17th, 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act has legally prevented anyone under the age of 21 from consuming alcohol. People who support the act argue that it prevents binge drinking and that alcohol can have negative effects on the brain 's development. On the other hand, those who oppose the legal age of 21 and advocate for an MDA of 18 accentuate that 18 is the age of adulthood in which they obtain many rights such as the right to vote, join the military, and get married and that they should have the right to dictate…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Age doesn’t make a difference in Drinking Under the Influence (DUI) accidents or fatalities of drinking behind the wheel. In fact, there are absolutely no correlations between the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) being 21 in America versus other places, such as Italy, that have a MLDA of 18 and lower. Furthermore, multiple studies taken everywhere have noted that moving the imbibing age to 18 years does not have an impact of deaths relating to alcohol besides DUI’s, such as Alcohol Poisoning. Concluding that if the MLDA was to be moved down to a lower age, we would gradually start to avail the economy with its debt issues only furthermore due to more people of an age group drinking.…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lowering The Drinking Age

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages

    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)…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hundreds of teens have been injured or died each year for underage drinking and driving. The alcohol age should not be lowered to 18, it needs to remain at 21 in order to protect teens from hurting themselves. Many young teens are experiencing the issues of drinking too much, and because of this, underage drinking is a leading public health problem. Some studies show that young people who drink put themselves at risk for potential health problems. About 5,000 people under the age of 21 die because of underage drinking (“Why”).…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved 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

    Alcohol is a dangerous substance that could cause harm if it were in the wrong hands. Alcohol can easily be misused at the age of 18. It is a depressant that slows down living cells, mostly in the brain. The effects of too much alcohol can cause blurred vision, slowed reaction, and short term memory lost. Drinking slows down the body’s reaction, which could cause trouble for teens, especially at parties.…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Accidents while driving under the influence of alcohol have been lowering each year since 1982 which was two years before the act was passed that made the legal drinking age 21. The rate of drunk driving is highest among people over the age of 21 which result in 90 percent of drunken accidents. This statistic alone shows that driving under the influence of alcohol and getting into an accident cannot be pinned on what the drinking age is. In some European countries the legal drinking age is either eighteen or as low as 16 and in these countries the amount of deaths while driving under the influence of alcohol have decreased faster than the rate of those in the United States where you must be 21 to drink legally. It seems as if lowering the drinking age may just keep more people alive rather than increase deaths.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One bottle. Two shots. Three beers. Four missed assignments. Five tardies.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays