Effects Of Lowering The Drinking Age

Superior Essays
Liquid Regret
The legal drinking age should not be lowered in the United States for the safety of all people. There are many negative effects associated with drinking alcohol. The debate of lowering the minimum drinking level is based off of presumptions that younger people can withstand the burdens and responsibilities associated with drinking. Alcohol is dangerous to the consumer, as well as to those around. Whether it be through poor choices such as driving; or making idiotic decisions that could cost jail time, perhaps even the life of an individual. No matter the case, the minimum legal drinking age in the United States needs to stay at 21 for the time being. Lowering the minimum drinking age in the United States would mean that a very
…show more content…
Mixing alcohol with immaturity or responsibility will never result in good outcomes. In lowering the minimum drinking age below 21, it also allows younger people to enter bars which is not a safe environment. Bars can be extremely dangerous for those who are immature and could cause drama. Crime rates just after the age of 21 due to alcohol are the highest compared to any other age (Carpenter and Dobkin 521). Although it does not mean that lowering the legal drinking age would cause crime rates because of alcohol to also be at a younger age, there is a very high possibility for this correlation to show. A young adult who is just beginning to see what the real world is like would have a rough start if one of the first events to happen at the age of 18 would be a crime due to alcohol consumption. Therefore, leaving the legal drinking age can not only save the ones drinking, but possibly even save others from the immature recklessness associated with drinking …show more content…
According to "Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age", in 1970 when the legal drinking age was lowered the amount of car accidents by teens increased. Whether they were the ones who caused the crash or not, there were more drunk drivers on the road causing more accidents. Alcohol is responsible for many deaths in the United States so it makes no sense to allow people to begin engaging in this dangerous act at a younger age. Alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of death in the United States, while being the leading cause of death for youths and young adults tallying up around 75,000 deaths annually. (Henry and Nelson 986). When something is the leading cause of death, the response should be how to fix this problem, not providing easier access to young adults. With research, the major findings since raising the minimum legal drinking age to 21 are decreased motor vehicle crashes and lower rates of alcohol consumption (Wechsler and Nelson 987). These two findings show that by changing the age permitting alcohol consumption, it has helped reduce the damage that alcohol can cause towards society. Many would agree that leaving the minimum legal drinking age at 21 is the best choice, although there are still groups that argue that lowering it is the right of all

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    As a society we have been influenced towards the attitude that a higher drinking age will eliminate many of society’s problems with young people and alcohol and yet society expects these same young people to be mature enough to defend our country, vote for our leaders and live and work as productive contributing members of society. The economic impact of lowering the drinking age also many beneficial aspects for our country. The possibility that the money spent to illicitly purchase alcohol while under the age of 21 could go to benefiting business such as bars and restaurants is monumental. The flow of revenue as more people are legally able to purchase alcohol would have such a positive impact on not only businesses but could be used to fund so many programs on the state and federal level. Take the sigma away from drinking at a younger age and more young people will drink in responsible environments where they can be monitored much better then secretly drinking in fear of getting caught.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lowering the drinking age to 18 would cause even more drunk driving. People age 16 to 20 are 17 times more likely to die in a vehicle crash when they have a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent than when they have not been drinking alcohol. Keeping 21 the minimum legal drinking age has prevented teen drinking and…

    • 1284 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A reason why people may think the drinking age should be lowered is they believe that someone underage will binge drink because they never know when they will be able to drink again. Binge drinking is when you drink a lot at one time and usually in excess. A study conducted in the United Kingdom showed every country had significantly higher levels of binge drinking then the United States. The only country lower than the United States is Turkey, where the Muslim country forbids alcohol use. The use of alcohol available to minors will introduce it more into high…

    • 1073 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    If eighteen becomes the new minimum legal age to drink, many would not have a fine to pay or their license revoked due to a violation of the law. Young adults can easily ruin the rest of their lives due to a simple misdemeanor. Many citizens have a bad record or background due to the minimum legal drinking age being twenty one. Money payed towards a fine could go towards college tuition. A license being revoked could easily lead to the loss of one’s job or a decline in school attendance (Toomey, Nelson, and Lenk 1962).…

    • 1803 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior 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

    So they can go overseas and fight ISIS but wouldn 't be allowed to drink a beer while doing it. Finally, with all the time the police spend arresting underage drinkers they could use that time, energy, and money to focus on more pressing issues like murders and drugs. All of these reasons lead to the conclusion that lowering the drinking age would result in a more positive environment for young people and will help strengthen the government. My main opinion on the drinking age is that it should really be lowered. It makes sense for it to be 18 years old.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first reason we should not lower the minimum legal drinking age is it would be medically irresponsible. Drinking alcohol at such a young age can do much harm to the body as it is still maturing. According to ProCon.org Headlines, the brain develops until around 20 years of age. The brain 's frontal lobes are very important during adolescence. The brain 's frontal lobes are essential for emotion regulation and having alcohol can interfere with development.…

    • 1119 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

    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.…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Although 18 year olds are considered adults, some think that they are still not mature enough to make to correct choices about alcohol. Those who think that keeping the drinking age at a higher minimum are trying to keep the demand for alcohol down and are also trying to keep the roads safer from drunk drivers. People between the ages of 18 and 20 will have just started college for the most part and don’t need alcohol interfering with their studies and their ability to succeed in life. Condoning the drinking of newly formed adults would only cause chaos and cause more fatalities. To MADD the cost of drinking outweighs the benefits since the highest numbers of fatalities in the United States are due to alcohol related deaths.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Putting thought into raising or lowering the drinking age can sometimes be tricky. There are a few reasons why I could see people wanting to lower it but over all many more negatives when discussing this topic. Different opinions go into this discussion from kids under 18 to adults above 21. Although kids may think alcohol is all fun and games but lowering the drinking age to under 21 will cause issues with people not knowing their limits, drunk driving, and abusive behavior. Although some people might see a problem with not lowering and keeping the drinking age to 21, I do not.…

    • 1334 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people believe that if the drinking age were to get lowered it would be medically irresponsible, it can interfere with the brain and cause addiction the feeling of alcohol, more risk taking, and memory loss. These kind of actions would just not happen. Those causes are the outcomes of a being who’s an alcoholic. Teenagers are not automatically alcoholics. There is always an option for safe drinking, if 18 year olds started drinking a the legal age of 18 they still have legal guardians that are responsible for their well being, it’s not as if he or she is out on the own for the rest of their lives.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The number of DUI’s has slowly increased within the past 5 years; this is without changing the drinking age. The government has already had problems within the last 5-7 years about misuse of alcohol, lowering the age would put more increase the problems. According to Tara Watson, “Research has shown that a drinking age of 21 does reduce alcohol use by those under 21, including high school students.” That goes to show that if the law is enforced the right way then we could help minimize underage drinking. The earlier you drink in your life, the earlier you are to have complications from too much alcohol.…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I personally think that the minimum legal drinking age should remain at twenty-one. When a person turns twenty-one they are looking forward to being able to legally drink and buy alcohol when they want to. On a person’s sixteenth birthday they look forward to getting their license, on their eighteenth they are finally legal, and on their twenty-first they can finally drink legally. Turning twenty-one is just another milestone in a person’s life and the drinking age shouldn’t be lowered when consuming alcohol legally goes with that particular milestone. I also think that the minimum legal drinking age shouldn’t be lowered because it is a safety hazard and should be taken seriously.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In contrast, lowering the alcoholic drinking age from 21 to 18 will irresponsibly allow a greater segment of the population to drink alcohol in bars and nightclubs. Raising the alcoholic drinking age decreases drinking among young people, it promotes fewer dropout rates and protects adverse birth outcomes, and alcohol drug dependence. Truly,raising the alcoholic drinking age is an effective law that protects young people…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays