Lowering The Drinking Age Essay

Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Alcohol consumption is the third leading actual cause of death in the United States, a major contributing factor to unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for young people, and it accounts for an estimated 75,000 or more total deaths in the United States annually. There have been a lot of discussions about whether to keep the minimum legal drinking age at 21 or to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18. The minimum legal drinking age in the United States is set at 21. Limiting the age to 21 as the legal age of maturity is preposterous. When someone is 21, it does not guarantee or mean that they are mature enough to consume alcohol responsibly. Eighteen is considered as an adult, and they
If the states do not comply with the law, then the states will face a 10 percent cut of the federal highways funding. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in hopes to decrease the number of drunk driving related accidents. Congress believed that with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, many lives would be saved. Congress also believed that 21 is the right age of maturity. However, I have to disagree with that notion, because 21 does not make them any better than the other person who is under 21, and one cannot use age as an excuse for determining maturity. For example, there are many teenagers in the world that are more mature than 21 year-olds. Therefore, age should not be the focus, but rather maturity and the ability to handle responsibility. In 2008, a group of university and college presidents expressed their discontent with the minimum legal drinking age 21 by signing on to the Amethyst Initiative. This group of college presidents, and their partner organization, “Choose Responsibility,” proposes reducing the minimum legal drinking age to 18, and they encourage the public to hold a debate about lowering the minimum legal drinking