Keeping the Drinking Age at 21
Save Lives by Keeping the Drinking Age at 21
Listening to the news on television, hearing other students talk about it, is it really true, or are they going to lower the drinking age to 18? This is not just a rumor but nowhere have they actually lowered the age. The debate has been talked about for the last few years. The nation has always tried different things to solve the irresponsible drinking problems. In order to try and prevent this problem America has tried a national prohibition in the 1920’s and state prohibitions in the 1850’s. Many believe that rising the drinking age has saved lives of many young adults. There has been evidence that the drinking age of 21 has decreased the amount of tragic car accidents related to alcohol between young adults.
Since 1987 the decrease of drinking and driving problems have gone down. If they did lower the drinking age to 18 or 19 the more health related problems the young adults would deal with once they get older. On the other hand the current law of the minimum drinking age at 21 leads to problems behind the scenes. The amount of students at colleges under the age 21 are more likely to be binge drinkers, which means they have more than five drinks in a row. This can be very dangerous to the body. Many also argue that if a person is old enough to fight for the country they should be old enough to have a beer. Also if a people are expected to be able responsible and live on their own at eighteen they should be able to be responsible enough to drink on their own. There are many pros and cons to lowering the drinking age, but the most important reason not to lower the drinking age is to protect the lives of young adults. A survey found that out of 1,881 surveyed college students 88 percent of males and 86 percent of females said they were drinkers (Gonzalez 2). Many adults have noticed the problem of underage drinking and want to fix the problem. If the states were to lower the drinking age we would be putting many
Listening to the news on television, hearing other students talk about it, is it really true, or are they going to lower the drinking age to 18? This is not just a rumor but nowhere have they actually lowered the age. The debate has been talked about for the last few years. The nation has always tried different things to solve the irresponsible drinking problems. In order to try and prevent this problem America has tried a national prohibition in the 1920’s and state prohibitions in the 1850’s. Many believe that rising the drinking age has saved lives of many young adults. There has been evidence that the drinking age of 21 has decreased the amount of tragic car accidents related to alcohol between young adults.
Since 1987 the decrease of drinking and driving problems have gone down. If they did lower the drinking age to 18 or 19 the more health related problems the young adults would deal with once they get older. On the other hand the current law of the minimum drinking age at 21 leads to problems behind the scenes. The amount of students at colleges under the age 21 are more likely to be binge drinkers, which means they have more than five drinks in a row. This can be very dangerous to the body. Many also argue that if a person is old enough to fight for the country they should be old enough to have a beer. Also if a people are expected to be able responsible and live on their own at eighteen they should be able to be responsible enough to drink on their own. There are many pros and cons to lowering the drinking age, but the most important reason not to lower the drinking age is to protect the lives of young adults. A survey found that out of 1,881 surveyed college students 88 percent of males and 86 percent of females said they were drinkers (Gonzalez 2). Many adults have noticed the problem of underage drinking and want to fix the problem. If the states were to lower the drinking age we would be putting many
Bibliography: C. Ruth. “Why the Drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research”. Applied Health Sciences. Chen Chiung, Dufour Mary. “Alcohol consumption Among young adults ages 18-24 in the United States: Results from the 2001- 2002 NESARC Survey”. Alcohol Health and Research World. October 2004. Gonzalez, Gerardo. “Effects of Drinking age on Reduced Consumption of Alcohol reported by College Students: 1981-1986”. Journal of Drug Issues. Vol 20, Issue 1. Hingson, Ralph. “College-age drinking problems.” Public Health Reports January 1998. Holder, Harold. “Community prevention of young adult drinking and associated problems.” Alcohol Health and Research World. October 2004 pg 245. Johnson, Alex. “Proponents say current restriction driver teen alcohol use underground” MSNBC August 2007. “Nationwide Insurance survey finds parents fed up with “party schools” and politicians who support lowering drinking age”. Mental Health Weekly Digest. September 2008. Wagenaar, Alexander; Toomey, Traci; Lenk, Kathleen “Environmental influences on young adult drinking” October 2004. Pg 230.