The Legal Drinking Age - Essay Example

Drinking Ages The debate on the legal drinking age has been a long standing issue among academics and students in the United States. Compelling arguments for and against for whether drinking age should be 21 or lower are presented that are accompanied by statistical data and solid facts. Moreover, the United States constitution has also stated 21years to be the legal drinking age, and this has faced criticism from skeptics over the course of years. However, I believe that 21 years is the appropriate age for imbibing alcohol legally under law. The legal drinking age is the appropriate age established by law that allows an individual to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages or alcoholic food. These laws encompass an extensive range of actions and issues associated with alcohol consumption; they clearly indicate when and where alcohol can be imbibed. However, the legal age for consumption of alcohol can be different from the legal age for purchasing of alcohol (Kindelberger 197). Furthermore, these laws are variable among different countries and many laws have room for exemptions under special circumstances; and most laws only restrict the imbibing of alcohol in public places, with no imposition of restriction on alcohol consumed at home. Many countries have different age restrictions for different kinds of alcoholic beverages. The United Kingdom is the only country that has set a minimum age restriction for imbibing alcohol at home. Whereas, in some countries minors are not restricted to consume alcohol, but the alcohol can be seized, and some restrict selling of alcohol to minors. Although the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 clearly specified that individuals of 21 years of age or older are allowed to purchase and consume alcohol, there have been intermittent debates whether the drinking age should be 21 or be lowered to 18. Scientists supporting either side come with substantial evidence. However, popular sentiment tells that there are more people supporting the legal drinking age of 21 than those supporting 18 years of age. The arguments from both sides are primarily centered on adults of age 18-21, and college and university students (Kiesbye 57). A large number of college and university officials have sparked debates that current alcohol drinking laws have poorly failed; that instead of drawing students away from alcohol, they have simply forced students to take underage drinking in secrecy toward dangerous extremes, and it has established a wide-spread culture of clandestine drinking among young adults, especially college students. University officials say that they are often faced with two impossible choices to make between regulating and ignoring alcohol consumption on campus. They contend that alcohol laws at present have only increased binge drinking. The president of Vermont Middlebury College proposes that drinking age should be brought down to 18 years after adults of 18 or more years have been issued ‘drinking licenses’ after they have completed a comprehensive and elaborate education program on alcohol. To this proposition he states that individuals of 18 years should be looked upon as adults and that the legalization of drinking alcohol at age 18 would decrease the excessive underage use of alcohol. In addition, he also states that owing to the rebellious and breaking-of-rules attitude in juvenile years of students, underage students tend to turn to hard liquor as opposed to those who consume light alcoholic drinks, such as beer more often. According to him, this is more easily practiced because hard liquor like Vodka is easier to smuggle in water bottles on campus (Bonnie, Richard and OConnell 269). However, public health researchers refute such claims; they say that binge drinking has remained at 44% among college students for the last 10 years and lowering the drinking age would exacerbate the situation. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention quoted reviews of 49 research journals published in 2001 and concluded that drunken driving accidents involving young people increased by 10% when legal age for alcohol consumption was decreased in the 1970s and decreased by 16% when the age restriction was raised. This translates into some 900 lives of people between 16-20 years saved every year. The organization Mothers against Drunk Driving also disapproves the softening in the law of drinking age; it states that between 1982 and 2006 deaths in drunken driving accidents among people 16-20 year old decreased by 60% while non-alcohol related deaths surged by 34%. They believe it would increase the number of drunken driving accidents and subsequent deaths. According to statistics, about 23000 lives are saved every year from lowering of drinking age. In opposition, critics state that the decrease in car accident deaths is also due to more awareness of drunken driving among people, better safety measures, use of seat belts and air bags in cars. Furthermore, they state that due to the current legal drinking laws youth now encounters alcohol at college parties, and having no prior upbringing for controlled use of alcohol, students start consuming alcohols at extreme levels. In support of lowering of drinking age, critics suggest that parents will introduce their children to alcohol in a controlled environment and alcohol education programs will better accoutre young adults with the harms and danger of binge drinking. However, people concerned with the increase in binge drinking also state rightly that about 1700 students die every year from alcohol use; this is accompanied by injuries sustained because of alcohol consumption, sexual assaults and other crimes that are committed under intoxication from alcohol (Underage Drinking 97). In addition, health experts say that lowering of drinking age to 18 years would eventually bring alcohol to high schools and legal access of high school students to alcohol would be promoted by the alcohol-making industry. In addition to this, studies suggest that newly-legal drinkers often buy liquor for their underage friends or sell alcohol secretly to underage teenagers. Surveys reveal that the primary source of alcohol among 18-20 year olds is their 21-24 year old friends or acquaintances. Scientists also emphasize the harmful effects of alcohol on the brain structure of young adults, since the brain develops till the age of 20. They state that lowering of alcohol drinking age would promote cognitive disabilities among young individuals. Studies conducted by health experts also revealed that people who began consumption of alcohol before age 15 are four times more susceptible to becoming dependent on alcohol during their lifetimes than those who started consuming liquor at age 21 or later. Scientific findings suggest that lowering of alcohol consumption age would be a medical dilemma because of the brain lobes at the, important for cognitive functions like organizing, planning and emotional settlement, continues to grow till young adulthood. Liquor consumption can leave these functions impaired, potentially creating chronic disabilities such as greater susceptibility to depression, addiction, memory loss, reduced decision-making ability, suicide, dangerous risk taking behavior and violence. As a consequence, universities and colleges are also criticized for not acknowledging the fraternity parties on campus that have open alcohol consumption. In order to solve this problem or at least contain it, health experts suggest that colleges should expand education and counseling, end practices that make liquor more attractive and accessible and develop better methods for controlling alcohol on campus. A poll taken in 2005 on the 21st anniversary of National Minimum Age Drinking Act discovered that 73% of young adults aged 35 and under disapproved of the lowering of drinking age. Similarly 80% of the age group 35 and above also supports the legal age of 21. The public at large appears to support the current drinking laws. Furthermore, studies suggest that drunken driving accident deaths have drastically decreased among all age groups with the greatest decrease in deaths of people among 16-20 years old. Moreover, the lowering of alcohol drinking age would also affect the law enforcing agencies. According to the Uniform Drinking Age Act, states failing to comply with the aforementioned law would lose funds for federal highways, constraining their abilities to better regulate traffic laws. Furthermore, lowering of alcohol drinking legal age would promote consumption of alcohol by a larger proportion of population in unsafe environments, such as nightclubs and bars. Studies suggest that 76% of bars in the past have sold alcohol to already heavily intoxicated people, and most drivers arrested while driving under intoxication or killed in drunken driving accidents consumed alcohol at places licensed to sell liquor. Moreover, places with more nightclubs, bars and other liquor-selling places report higher number of assaults and other crimes (Merino 33). It is also revealed that restrictions on alcohol consumption among young adults reduces consumption of alcohol overall. A study was conducted in 2007 that proved that 87% of the findings showed lower alcohol consumption associated with higher legal drinking ages. In 2009 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed in a study conducted, showed that majority of drivers on weekend are found with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 and higher with sometimes 5.4 % from two years after the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1986, to 2.2 percent in 2006. Organizations supporting current alcohol laws suggest that legal drinking age should not be decreased to mimic European drinking laws because alcohol consumption is lower among the teenagers in Us than in many nations like Europe. Youngsters in United States also demonstrate equal and sometimes lower levels of excessive drinking and intoxication caused by alcohol among teenagers in many European countries, which is why there is a higher rate of binge drinking and alcohol intoxication in children between the ages of 13 and onwards in European countries. In addition, a study conducted for the journals of Studies of Alcohol and Drugs showed that individuals who start consuming alcohol at a younger age are more prone to using other illegal street drugs. Minimizing the age of drinking would lead us to an increment in the total of underage people who consume liquor and therefore increasing the total number of underage people who consume liquor and thus increasing the total number of teenagers using street drugs. Lastly, the legal drinking age should be kept at 21 because people at the age of 21 are more mature and responsible. at the age of 18- 21 youngsters are in the new phase of starting their new lives away from adult supervision and exposed to risky sexual activities, drinking and other dangerous behaviors due to lack of maturity. Works Cited Merino, Noël. Underage Drinking. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Print. Bonnie, Richard J, and Mary E. OConnell. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003. Internet resource. Underage Drinking. Richmond, Va.: Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 2011. Internet resource. Top of Form Kiesbye, Stefan. Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered?Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Print. Top of Form Kindelberger, John. Calculating Lives Saved Due to Minimum Drinking Age Laws. Washington, D.C: NHTSAs National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2005. Internet resource. Bottom of Form Read More