Should Drinking Age Be Increased to 21

Should drinking age be increased to 21. It is no secret, that people drink alcohol before they turn 21. Stories about drinking on college campuses and high school parties are very easy to find. That is why underage drinking can be stopped if the law were changed. The major reason that people drink at an early age is because they feel it is fun and exciting to do something they are not supposed to. However, if it would be lowered to 18, then the trill of doing something illegal would vanish. Besides that, 18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. What is also very important, that other countries had demonstrated that young people, who are allowed to drink at the age of 18, don’t go wild. Although the legal alcohol purchase age is 21, a majority of college students under this age consume alcohol in an irresponsible manner. This is because drinking by these youth is seen as enticing “forbidden fruit”, a “badge of rebellion against authority” and a symbol of adulthood. According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism the major argument for lowering the drinking age is that prohibitions have always provoked over – indulgence. Those of us who have attended college over the last 25 years can certainly attest to the fact that the law has done nothing to diminish freshman and sophomore access to alcohol. It has only pushed underage consumption underground. The statistics show that many underage people drive home after a night of drinking in order to hide it from their parents. If the drinking age were lowered, young adults would feel less pressure to notify their parents that they have been drinking. Ultimately, the greatest threat to people’s safety comes, when young adults drive home under the influence. In addition, we say that 18 year olds are adult enough to kill and die in the armed forces, change the course of a nation in the voting both, judge other adults on a jury, be prosecuted as an adult, enter into binding contracts, operate automobiles and heavy machinery, smoke tobacco, own and operate a business, have a bank account and credit card, own a house, be married and have a family of their own. As a Froma Harrop, nationally syndicated columnist wrote in her Feb. 9, 2010 article “Age Discrimination for the Young” “Being adult who cannot have a beer is highly, absurdly inconsistent. “ According to her, in our imperfect world, the law has to draw lines, however arbitrary. But laws that only appear to address a problem by burdening young people aren’t wise, and they aren’t fair. For the past 20 years, the U.S. has maintained a Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21, while in most other countries is 18, and in U.K. is as low as 16 in restaurants. According to John Cloud, writer for Time Magazine, all those countries with drinking age under 21 tend to have fewer alcohol – related problems, than we do in the U.S. In those countries, people learn how to drink from an early age and do so in the safe and supporting environment of the home. Alcohol statistics say that teens coming from homes that had no alcohol and were not taught how to drink responsibly had more issues with alcohol. The behavior in these teens was less risky if parents allowed them to drink at home. In today’s world alcohol is and always going to be a problem no matter what age we are. However, there is no evidence of massive brain impairment, alcohol dependency, or underage alcohol abuse, which the experts tell us, will be the inevitable result of lowering the drinking age in the United States. By lowering drinking age, young adults would be allowed to drink in controlled environments such as restaurants, taverns, pubs and official school and university functions. In these situations responsible drinking could be taught through role modeling and educational programs. Mature and sensible drinking behavior would be expected. If the drinking age was lowered, it will help kids realize how important alcohol is, and how mature we must become when we are under the influence of alcohol.