Why Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Changed to 18?

Destiny Bell

          An extremely controversial issue today in America is underage drinking. Many people argue that the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen and some say it should remain the same age, twenty-one. The twenty-first amendment gave individual states the right to make a legal drink age until the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 made the drinking age twenty-one (Trex). Let’s face the reality, teenagers will always find a way to drink alcohol and there is no for sure way to prevent that from happening. The only way the government can truly regulate teenage drinking is to lower the drinking age to eighteen. The drinking age should be lowered because 18-year-olds are considered adults to the government, other countries allow teens under the age of eighteen to drink, they could safely drink in a supervised environment, and 18-year-olds being forbidden from drinking only entices them to drink even more.

          When teenagers turn 18, everything changes for them. They can be tried as an adult in the court of law, they do not need parental consent for everything, they earned the right to vote, and they can be enlisted to the military. The only right that 18-year-olds don’t receive is the right to consume alcohol. Giving 18-year-olds the right to decide who the president will be for the next four years is a huge responsibility, if the government determined that they are mature enough to vote for a US president, they should be mature enough to drink alcohol. By the time teens are 18-years-old, they should know right from wrong and should be able to make smart decisions.  Even if they do not make the right decision when it comes to drinking they are at the age where they are forced to live with their mistakes because they are legally an adult. If an 18-year-old or a 21-year-old is pulled over for drinking and driving they are both taken to jail for driving under the influence. If an 18-year-old gets all the same rights and punishments as a 21-year-old then it makes sense that they are should get the right to drink.

          In Europe, the average legal drinking age is from 14 to 16 with adult supervision (“Europe”).  “American teenagers ages 15 and up only drink three-quarters as much alcohol than Europeans, but [European teenagers are involved in less alcohol related accidents or die from alcohol related incidents” (Sessions). Although Europeans consume more alcohol than Americans, they are more responsible drinkers. They are likely more responsible drinkers because they can drink while being supervised by adults so they learned how to handle their liquor by responsible adults.  If the government was to change the legal drinking age to 18, they could pass laws to help regulate the use of alcohol. For example, the government could pass a law stating that an 18-year-old can drink with the supervision of someone 21 or older. This law should help to prevent young adults from drinking irresponsibly, which will keep people from getting too intoxicated. It could possibly decrease the amount of people arrested for drunk drinking and the amount of people killed in drunk driving accidents.

          Some teenagers are enticed to drink alcohol just because it is seen as “forbidden fruit” to them (“15 Reasons”). Since 18-year-olds have always been told that they were not allowed to drink alcohol because they were underage, it may have made them even more curious about it and want to try it. This is an example of the prohibition in the early 1900s. In 1920, the government passed the Eighteenth Amendment making alcohol illegal. People began smuggling in alcohol from Canada and brought to speakeasies where they would drink in secret. Eventually in the 1930s, the government repealed the prohibition because they knew it was not going to work out (“Prohibition”). Being banned from drinking alcohol until they are twenty-one only makes teenagers want to try it more. Just like when you tell a toddler not to do something, they will think about so much that they’ll end up doing it. In a study done by Johns Hopkins in 2105, 7.7 million people ages 12 to 20 admitted to drinking in the past month. It is impossible to stop underage drinking (Stephenson). Possibly some day in the future the government will adopt the law in European and provide teenagers with more structured drinking. 

          When underage drinkers drink they usually do it in private so they will not get caught. Since they must hide the fact that they are drinking, they drink unsupervised, which can be dangerous. Usually, college students will drink with their friends at a party or in their dorm rooms but never out in the open. Several college presidents advocated with the Amethsyt Initiative, which supports lowering the drinking age for the safety of college students (Trex). When college students are drinking, no one is really paying attention to what each other is doing so if someone is binge drinking or getting too intoxicated there is no one who will tell them that they need to stop. If the government made the legal drinking age 18, then 18-year-olds will be able to drink in the public, which is safer. If 18-year-olds can drink in public places, such as a bar, there will be other adults around them making sure they don’t binge drink and if they do drink too much the bartender serving them alcohol can just deny them anymore alcohol. Also, it will reduce the number of underage drinkers getting in the car under the influence because people in the bar could tell them to sober up before they leave or call that person a cab.

          Those who are against lowering the drinking age argue that the drinking needs to remain the same because 18-year-olds brains are not fully developed. Alcohol damages the development of the brain cognitively, emotionally, and functionally (“Lowering”). Whether a person begins drinking at the age of 18 or 21 they will still face long term health risks. Long term effects of excess alcohol can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems (“Facts”). No matter when an individual begins drinking they will still face the same risks. Also, studies show that the earlier teens start drinking the higher chance they will become an alcoholic (“Facts”). To prevents teenagers from becoming alcoholics, high schools could provide seniors with an alcohol education class so they can learn to drink responsibly when they go to college.

          At the end of the day 18-year-olds are always going to find a way to drink alcohol. Making it legal for them to drink would only make them be able to drink safely. When they must drink in secret, it increases the risk of them being in danger. It would be a good idea to try out the system that Europe has developed because it has been very affective for them.

 

 

Work Cited

 

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“Fact Sheets - Alcohol Use and Your Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 July 2016, cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm. Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.

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Company, 18 Feb. 2011, thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/18/drinking-facts-alcohol-problems-around-the-world.html. Accessed 23 Apr. 2017.

Stephenson, Steve. “Prevalence of Underage Drinking.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of

Public Health, 9 Mar. 2017, camy.org/resources/fact-sheets/prevalence-of-underage-drinking/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2017.

Trex, Ethan. “Why Is the Drinking Age 21?” Mental Floss, 25 Aug. 2008,

mentalfloss.com/article/19437/why-drinking-age-21. Accessed 23 Apr. 2017.