Drinking Age in the US regarding college students - Essay Example

However, after 1984, the American government pressured the state governments to declare twenty-one to be the new legal limit for those who wished to consume alcohol (Trex). While their intentions were to curb destructive habits that were common even then among youthful drinkers, their reasoning that the youth were too young at eighteen years to consume alcohol responsibly was not rational. It is preposterous to state that 18 year olds cannot be trusted with alcohol if they are entrusted with the safety of their country as soldiers and also have the right to marry and procreate at eighteen (Wood).

Eighteen year olds in America can be can tried as grown men and women in law courts, pay taxes, vote, serve on juries, drive, conclude financial contracts, and purchase weapons. Essentially, age cannot be used to determine whether or not a person will choose to drink responsibly. Even though there is a lot of media attention given to underage drinkers who become a nuisance to society, there is not much attention given to adult drinkers who exhibit the very same behaviors. In addition, the outlawing of a negative behavior may not necessarily change the way people view that particular behavior.

For instance, posting speed limits in different places does not necessarily stop people from speeding. Raising or Lowering the Drinking Age Limit. Raising the Drinking Age Limit is only likely to increase the number of drinkers who can be referred to as under-age drinkers. It is also likely to cause young adults to start abusing other substances in greater numbers than was the case before. When drinking is presented as the one thing that people may not participate in, it starts being perceived as the ‘forbidden fruit’.

This happens with people of all ages; whether they are adult or underage drinkers. A good example of this is the 1920s when drinking was prohibited in America. Rather than curbing drinking habits, this reality actually increased the numbers of people who turned to drink. In addition, crime families acquired great power due to the popularity of their alcohol producing rackets. If the legal age limit for drinking is raise, young adults who participate in drinking will turn more into binge drinking in an effort to consume all their existing stock, once they purchase it, so that they are not caught by the authorities with alcoholic drinks on their persons.

Lowering the age limit can actually benefit communities that have been indoctrinated with the notion that beer is not some special substance that is only accessible to those of a certain age. All over the world, there are communities that take their daily meals with small doses of alcoholic wine. In the French and Spanish cultures, for instance, children are brought up consuming moderate amounts of alcohol with their parents at all mealtimes (Wood). While drunkenness is a taboo in these cultures, it is not even as big a problem as drunkenness is in places such as the United States where wine is not often consumed during mealtimes.

For people who are brought up around alcohol, and who have the chance to learn how to consume it in moderation from their parents, they do not perceive alcohol as a magic potent or poison. In addition, young adults in such societies do not encounter any extreme pressure to prove their maturity by engaging in overdrinking. This proves that perceiving alcohol consumption