Drinking Age

For most teens, the 18th birthday is the most desired milestones. It is known as the beginning of adulthood and you now have the luxury of making your own decisions, which can sometimes be dangerous and/or life changing. Teen drinking is on the rise. The SADD reports that “72% of students have consumed alcohol by the end of high school, and 37% have done so by eighth grade”. By the age of eighteen the law recognizes these young people as adults, they are eligible to serve our country, they can be prosecuted and convicted as an adult in court, parental supervision is no longer required, and it is assumed that you are responsible enough to make comprehensive decisions concerning things such as consumption of alcohol. Ongoing debates about the issue of lowering the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen have led to an uproar between government officials, college presidents and parents. Originally, the United States drinking age was raised to 21 in order to primarily reduce highway fatalities, along with teen pregnancy, alcohol poisoning in youth, as well as a future that was thought to be taking a turn for alcoholism. But everyone knows that this has not stopped minors from any of these things, let alone drinking in itself. Although it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase alcohol, it can still be done. “This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn’t reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, into the most risky and least manageable of settings” (McCardell).
In countries such as Canada, where the legal drinking age is 18, it is reported from stats at George Mason University that the rates of accidents caused by drunk driving were practically the same as the rates in the US. The main purpose for the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984 was to try to reduce these fatalities, which is proven to not be working.
Teens that drink alcohol on a weekly basis are believed to view drinking as a symbol of rebellion. If the drinking age were still 18 years old, these teens would not have to worry about getting caught transgressing, as they would be permitted to drink responsibly under adult supervision. Prohibiting people in the age group of 18-20 from drinking, forces them to move it into a less controlled, unsafe environment such as house parties or fraternity parties. This is also where much binge drinking occurs because for this age group, alcohol is known as an “enticing forbidden fruit”, causing them to rebel even further (Engs). With the drinking age being reduced to 18, those who drink underage anyways are now doing so legally, no longer as curious and the fruit no longer forbidden. In attempts to rid of alcohol all together, Prohibition has been experimented with twice in the United States – once in the 1850’s, and again in 1920 – both of which were “unenforceable and created…widespread disrespect for law, the growth of organized crime, and the development of immoderate consumption patterns” (Engs). During the 1920’s Prohibition era, drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased 41% in the state of New York alone (Organized Crime and Prohibition). Alcohol was no longer readily available, even for those who were of age, so people turned to illegally producing, buying, selling and consuming it. In today’s world, we are prohibiting 18 year olds from celebrating on graduation night, and preventing 20 year olds from sipping champagne on their wedding day, the happiest day of their lives, in turn causing this modern-day “age specific prohibition” to be counter-productive, forcing young adults to dissent even further and abusing alcohol.