Why the drinking age should be lowered to 18 - Research Proposal Example

Based on this assumption we argue that the age for drinking should be lowered to 18 years old. We will begin with evidence that opposes the lowering of the drinking age and then argue the benefits of it. Gordie Bailey Jnr had been drinking in order to impress some frat house members at his college. The boy drank until her was unconscious and it was assumed that he had 'passed out'. However, Gordie Bailey did not wake up (Roan 2008). This is an example of what terrifies the public and parents in particular.

While this may not be an isolated case, and may occur more frequently but to a lesser degree, there is little control even with legislations over such situations. The 2006 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine conducted research to determine the dangers of underage drinking. The results showed that drinking from the age of around 14 leads to a 47% chance of developing a life-time dependency as opposed to only 9% after the age of 21 (Roan 2008).There appears to be rather conclusive evidence damning the use of alcohol at a young age.

However, the first set of information requires the age of 14 upwards to use alcohol in order to develop dependencies, which is a whole 4 years below the 18 year cut off for legal alcohol use. Even if the legislature legalized the use of alcohol at age 18, the 14 year age group would still drink illegally. The Juvenile Justice Center identifies 18 years old as a critical age for mental growth and change. This period is where the brain discards tissue it has accumulated during the teenage years that is no longer necessary.

This is in order to regulate and balance brain functions (JJC 2004: 2). Drug and alcohol dependencies can be developed during this time and it is noted to be critical in brain development. Despite this, teenagers evidently still use dependence forming drugs such as alcohol and crystal methamphetamines (and other drugs) illicitly. Cracking down on the drinking age does not appear to be a suitable or practical solution to the problem in any event. Some psychoanalytical studies believe that alcoholism is predisposed in people.

Theorists such as Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein relate dependencies to the oral stage of development. This is the stage where the infant is supposed to derive feelings for orally manifest articles. If this stage is deprived or not completed fully, the child develops fixations that carry to adulthood. Other arguments based on psychiatric evidence realte depression and family genetics to alcoholism rather than purely having it available for use. The DSM-IV Sourcebook is the American Psychiatric Association reference sourcebook used for diagnosis of disorders states: "The morbid risk rates for alcoholism in antisocial personality were significantly higher for relatives of patients with nonendogenous/nonmelancholic depression" (DSM-IV 1996: 217).

While this does evidently not rule out the effects of underage drinking, it does explain why some youth may become dependent faster than others, if at all. There is a co-dependency of a number of variables that have to be present before a person can formally be called 'alcoholic'. A study done by Marlatt, Demming and Reid also challenged the hypothesis that alcohol abuse was pathological. Their study showed that when