Legal Drinking Age

The Legal Drinking Age
Kyra C. Lyons
Bryant & Stratton College
Phil 250
Mike Sulak
July 3, 2012

Increasing or decreasing the legal age at which people can purchase and drink alcohol has been a controversial issue for quite some time now. Some people say that it should be lowered because teens drink anyway, some say that it should increase or the stay the same due to health risk. There are many other viewpoints to both sides and in this paper we are going to explore both sides to the story
Some believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered and we are going to explore why. They say if a person can go to war, shouldn’t he or she be able to have a beer? They American society has determined that upon turning 18 teenagers become adults. This means that they can enlist into the military to serve, fight, and potentially die for their country. Most importantly at age 18 you become legally responsible for your own actions. You can buy cigarettes even though in time you know that they can give you lung cancer. You may even purchase property, sign contracts, take out a loan, vote, hold office, serve on a jury, or adopt a child. But strangely at 18, one cannot buy a beer. In most other countries, the age of majority coincides with the legal drinking or purchasing age. Lots of people drink before they turn 21, despite the current legal drinking age. Doesn’t that prove that the policy is ineffective? The trend over the past decade is that fewer 12-20 year olds are drinking, but those who choose to drink are drinking more. Between 1993 and 2001, the rate of 20 year old who reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days decreased from 33.4% to 29.3%, while the rate for binge drinking increased among the age group over those same years, from 15.2% to 18.9%. (Teens at risk, 2009, p. 2). Furthermore, as compared to 1993, more 18-24 year olds who chose to drink in 2001 were drinking excessively. This was defined by frequency of drinking, frequency of drunkenness, and drinking to get drunk. The youth in other countries are exposed to alcohol at earlier ad engage in less alcohol abuse and have healthier attitudes toward alcohol. Don’t those counties have fewer alcohol-related problems than we do? Though the drinking age is lower in other countries, the United States has a higher rate for dangerous intoxication occasions than many other countries, also much higher levels of per consumption. Recent research published by the World Health Organization found that while 15 and 16 year old teens in many European states, where the drinking age is 18 or younger and often unenforced, have more drinking occasions per month, they have fewer dangerous, intoxication occasions than other American counterparts. (Teens at risk, 2009, p.3). How about if we educate teens about using alcohol safely starting at age 18, would that encourage responsible drinking? The effectiveness of alcohol education is a continuing debate. Various approaches to alcohol education have been developed and can generally be grouped into two sides, those that support abstinence and those that view abstinence as unrealistic. There is formal education through schools and institutions, and informal education through family and peers. While alcohol educations that advocate abstinence have been proven ineffective, interactive education programs have had greater success in not only the ability to educate drinkers, but also alter their drinking habits. (Teens at risk, 2009, p.4). Most evidence in support of moderate alcohol use comes from the cardiovascular research. According to alcohol researcher Eric Rimm, Sc.D., of Harvard’s School of Public Health, about 50 randomized studies show that when consumed in moderation, alcohol increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decreases blood clotting and insulin resistance, all of which reduce the risk of heart disease due to diabetes, high blood pressure and previous heart attack. (Alcohol abuse, 2008, p. 2). Several studies also suggest that moderate alcohol use lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. One trial of almost 6,000 volunteers at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess <Medical Center found that when compared with abstainers, those who had one to six drinks per week had less risk of dementia. Also in Harvard’s famed Nurses’ Health study, women who drank about one alcoholic beverage daily had half the risk of the most common kind of stroke- from a blocked artery (Alcohol abuse, 2008, p. 2).Several large studies have found lower rates of diabetes , less likely to be obese, and slows cancer cell growth in those who drink in moderation. Now there are two sides to every story and there are those who feel that the drinking age should not be lowered. Why do adolescents drink? As children move from adolescence to young adulthood, they encounter dramatic physical, emotional, and lifestyle changes. Things like puberty and increasing independence, they are saying have been associated with alcohol use. So in a sense, just being an adolescent may be a key risk factor not only for starting to drink but also for drinking dangerously. Research shows that the brain keeps developing well into the twenties. Scientists believe that this developmental period may explain some of adolescent behavior, such as the need to seek out new and potentially dangerous situations. For some teens, thrill seeking might include experimenting with alcohol.
Intervention approaches typically fall into two distinct categories, environmental level and individual level interventions. (Teens at Risk, 2009, p. 5.). Environmental approaches can be raising the price of alcohol. A great amount of research has shown that higher prices or taxes on alcohol beverages are associated with lower levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems. Increasing the minimum legal drinking age to 21 has been the most successful intervention to date in reducing alcohol related crashes among people under the age of 21. Enacting zero tolerance laws make it illegal for people under age 21 to drive after any drinking. The zero tolerance states showed a 21 percent greater decline in the proportion of single-vehicle night time fatal crashes involving drivers under 21. (Teens at Risk, 2009, p. 5). Individual focused interventions include school and family based prevention programs. The first- school based prevention programs were informative and often used scare tactics. These programs were ineffective. Today, better programs are available they follow social influence models and include setting norms, addressing pressures to drink, and teaching resistance skills. Setting clear rules against drinking, consistently enforcing those rules, and monitoring the child’s behavior all help to reduce the likelihood of underage drinking. Some say early drinking leads to alcohol dependency. Agrawal and her colleagues examined previously collected data on 6,257 adults, identical and fraternal, male and female Australian twins. They were comparing the AFD, which is the age of their first drink to AD which is alcohol dependency and they came to find that Earlier AFD was associated with a increasing likelihood of lifetime history of onset of AD symptoms. Compared to those with a later AFD appeared to be more susceptible to later AD problems. (Teen Drug Abuse, 2011, p.2). Alcohol influence on accidents and Violence is well connected. Alcohol plays a significant role intrauma by increasing the likelihood of both injury and severity. Heavy drinkers or alcohol abusers are more likely than others to be involved in a trauma event. A drinker is also likely to be hurt more seriously than a non-drinker. An estimated 27 percent of all trauma patients treated in emergency departments and hospitals are candidate for a brief alcohol intervention. (Alcohol Abuse, 2011, p. 3). When I first approached this assignment I didn’t really know what side I would be on but afterwards I feel I have a better understanding of the opposing views. I feel that the drinking age should be lowered because like they said teens are drinking way before 21 anyway and I think that with that legal age being there it only makes teens want to be sneaky and rebellious against it. I think they should promote Alcohol education would promote responsible drinking. They also point out that drinking in moderation can provide health benefits and all the other side is talking about is drinking excessively. Of course doing too much of anything can be bad for you. In the end I say if they are old enough to live on their own at 18, then they should be old enough to drink.