Higher Drinking Age

Between 1976 and 1983, many states begin to raise the minimum legal age for purchasing alcohol. The primary reason for this was to combat drunk driving fatalities. Then, in 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which stated that states must raise the minimum drinking age to 21 by 1986, or they will lose ten percent of their federal highway funding. This act shows just how serious of an issue youth drinking had become. As a result of this, there has been a dramatic decrease in drunk driving deaths. Today, the debate on what the minimum drinking age should be has become an important question in today’s society. It is a popular belief that lowering the age to 18 would lead to safer drinking habits and less underage drinking, however evidence shows that the dangers that would come with a lower drinking age would far outweigh any benefits people may think it would bring.
The leading cause of deaths for teens in the United States is from car accidents; 38% of all teenage deaths come from them (Noyse). Nationwide in 1996, 10, 341 people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45% of those traffic deaths (4661) were alcohol-related” (Hingson 52). Young drivers comprise of only 7% of drivers, but make up 16% of the drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes (Hall). Yet, somehow there are many people who believe that the drinking age should be lowered back to eighteen. Those in favor of lowering the drinking age argue that in the past thirty years drunk driving fatalities have decreased for all age groups in the United States, and in Canada, where the age is only eighteen or nineteen they have declined just as much, therefore the drinking age does not affect the number of drunk driving fatalities. ("Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?"). Opposers of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 claim that this drinking age has had little or no affect on traffic fatalities in states that have adopted an MLDA of 21 due to federal government pressure through the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. They claim, “The national-21 experiment has failed... any life-saving effect in those states that first raised the drinking age was only temporary, occurring largely in the first year or two after switching to the MLDA21” (Miron). However, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services claims a median 16% decline in motor vehicle crashes among underage youth in states that increased the legal drinking age to 21 years” ("Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age"). Also, according to the National Transportation Safety Board at least 25, 000 lives have been saved by the implementation of the MLDA21. Over the past 35 years, statistics have proven that the MLDA 21 saves lives, and has been extremely beneficial.
Picture a college or university on a weekend, students tailgating and partying; the most common image that comes to mind is students drinking. Binge drinking is a huge issue in the United States. 44% of all college students binge drink (“Binge Drinking on College Campuses”). Advocators of moving the MLDA to 18 argue that if kids learn to drink at an earlier age they will be less likely to binge drink. Many of them refer to Europe as an example, where most countries drinking age is 18 or lower. In theory, modeling Europe’s drinking age policy is great for everyone: teens get to legally drink at a younger age, and at the same time they’re doing both themselves and their parents a service by gaining the experience of how to drink responsibly. Unfortunately, this thought is only idealistic and not realistic. The belief that European teens learn to drink at a younger age and therefore do not suffer from as many alcohol related problems as American teens is a myth. “Studies show that Europe has more underage drunkenness, injury, rape, and school problems due to alcohol” ("Why 21?). The United States Department of Justice compiled a recent survey that concluded that every European country has a higher binge-drinking rate for 15 to 16 year olds than the United States. Lowering the MLDA is not going to help America’s binge drinking problem, it is only going to increase it. Binge drinking is a serious problem and needs to be restricted. Statistics show that binge drinkers are 14 times more likely to report alcohol-impaired driving than non-binge drinkers” ("Binge Drinking."). Also, binge drinking causes many health problems such as, both unintentional and intentional injuries, alcohol poisoning, STDs, unplanned pregnancy, children born with FASD 
(Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders), high blood pressure, stroke, other cardiovascular disease, liver disease, neurological damage, sexual dysfunction, and poor control of diabetes ("Binge Drinking."). The best way to prevent this kind of behavior that leads to danger is to keep the MLDA at 21 and enforce it much stricter than it already is. This will not solve the problem, but it will help it. It is said that, “states with more stringent alcohol control policies tend to have lower adult and college binge drinking rates" ("Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age"). The CDC claims that evidence-based interventions to prevent binge drinking should include “Consistent enforcement of laws against underage drinking and alcohol-impaired driving” ("Binge Drinking."). These are the types of actions states and communities should be taking to reduce binge-drinking rates in teens, not by giving them more opportunities to drink by lowering the MLDA to 21.
Alcohol consumption, especially at a young age, causes many dangers for teens, ranging from unsafe sex to death. Even with these dangers present, “alcohol is the drug of choice among America's adolescents, used by more young people than tobacco or illicit drugs” (“Underage Drinking”). According to a 2008 Nationa Survey on Drug Use, there are 10.1 million underage drinkers in the United States... 39% of current 8th graders, 58% of 10th graders, 72% of 12th graders, and 85% of college students have tried alcohol…Each year, approximately 5,000 persons under the age of 21 die from causes related to underage drinking” (“Underage Drinking”). 5,000 kids each year dies from underage drinking, and many more are injured, or affected from other drunken activities such as unsafe sex, sexual assault, or physical assault. There is a reason the MLDA is set at 21 and it is illegal for teens to consume alcohol. US Department of Health and Human Services claims, “the minimum age for initiation is based on the specific behaviors involved and must take into account the dangers and benefits of that behavior at a given age. The age 21 policy for alcohol takes into account the fact that underage drinking is related to numerous serious health problems, including injuries and death resulting from car crashes, suicide, homicide, assault, drowning, and recreational injuries" ("How to Reduce High-Risk College Drinking"). Alcohol is dangerous for students, and the statistics are shocking. Almost 700,000 colleges students (ages 18-24) are assaulted by someone under the influence of alcohol, almost 100,00 students are victims of date-rape or sexual assault while drinking, 400,000 students have unprotected sex and 100,00 students were too drunk to remember if they had given consent, and around 600,000 college students are accidentally injured because of the consumption of alcohol, (“A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences”). Because of these numbers alone alcohol should remain illegal for people under the age of 21, but there are also neurological reasons too.
Alcohol is known for making people do stupid things that lead to injury, unplanned pregnancy, and death, and these things happen because of the effect alcohol has on the brain. The effects of alcohol that people feel when they are drunk, slurred speech, blurred vision, difficulty walking, slowed reaction times, and damaged memory—all neurological (Dryden-Edwards). Alcohol is harmful for people of all ages, but it is especially harmful for youths because the human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. Many neurologists believe the MLDA should actually be higher than 21 because of this. Up to 80% of alcoholics have a thymine deficiency.