Why The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered To 18

At what age should an individual in the United States be able to experience the pleasure of drinking their first alcoholic beverage? Should the age remain as it is or should the United States follow the majority of the world, where 61% of 196 countries have a legal drinking age of 18-19? The continuous controversy in the United States on whether or not the mandatory legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age has been ongoing for decades. The legal age to consume alcohol in the United States has varied around the country throughout the years. Once upon a time different states in America had the freedom to make laws stating the legal drinking age as low as 16 years old. Today, that law still stands, but due to the Drinking Age …show more content…
“By lowering the drinking age, young adults will be drawn out of private residences, fraternity houses, and dorm rooms and into more open settings like bars, where they can actually be monitored more” (Brown). Having less secretive alcohol consumption going on will prevent, or at least decrease the number of, alcohol-related accidents in younger population. “Parents increasing their children’s alcohol education, partnered with young adults drinking in safer environments, and the basic freedom to buy alcohol is enough to outweigh any potential costs to lowering the drinking age” (Brown). One of the reasons that underage drinking is so popular amongst the younger population is because of the sense of rebellion that comes with the action. If people were allowed to drink at the age of 18, the excitement that accompanies drinking for the first time would occur around family and responsible adults before one was moving away from home to attend college. Lowering the age to 18 will give this population more sense of responsibility, resulting in safer and more responsible decisions regarding alcohol