Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 in the USA - Essay Example

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 states that only a person above 21 years of age can purchase or publicly possess alcohol.

There has been an intense debate regarding the lowering of the legal age to 18. Those in favor of the age reduction argue that the act has failed to stop underage drinking – the main reason for its enactment. Underage drinking contributes to 17.5 % of total alcohol sales. As youths are not allowed to possess alcohol, they consume it in unsupervised spaces such as house parties which are the hotspots of binge drinking and drug abuse. Lowering the age allows them to drink alcohol in a regulated and safe environment. Another issue is the underreporting of alcohol-related accidents due to fear of legal consequences which lead to death in many cases. Proper medical care can be provided in accidents if the action is not illegal and is reported promptly. Proponents of the move also claim that if the drinking age is lowered, it will no longer be a taboo which will make young people less prone to take up drinking as an act of rebellion. Excessive drinking can be controlled if moderated drinking is made part of the culture and not banned. One of the very important reasons the age should be lowered is the lax administration of law. Police personnel has a lot more pressing cases to handle rather than chasing youth below 21 who are drinking. As the law cannot be enforced effectively, it needs to be altered.

The most pressing concern in lowering the drinking age is drunk driving. More than 11000 people died in 2010 due to drunken driving. Research also shows that incidents of drunken driving are more common in youth below 25 years of age and reduce with the increase in age. If the drinking age was lowered to 18, more young people would get behind the wheel drunk leading to a spike in the number of deaths. The nation cannot be responsible for this catastrophe and thus drinking age should not be lowered. Binge drinking is a common phenomenon in US colleges. Youth regularly have bets with each other to see who can drink the maximum. This leads to alcohol poisoning and causes death in many cases. Lowering the drinking age will invite more cases of binge drinking which is harmful to young people. Youths under the age of 18 are exploding with testosterones. This explosion of hormones makes them violent and aggressive. Alcohol has been associated with an increase in this violent behavior and causes several fights among youth. Lowering the drinking age will cause an increase in campus and street violence leading to death and lifelong harm to the bodies of young people.

17-year-olds are allowed to vote in primaries and caucuses in 19 states. Many people argue that if 17 years old are allowed to have a say in government formation then why don’t they have a say on whether they are allowed to drink or not?18-year-old is considered an adult in the USA. As an adult, he can vote, marry, decide whether he will go to college or not, and choose his occupation. If he is allowed to take so many important decisions, we should trust our children to drink responsibly. Of course, there will be some who will overdo it leading to drunken driving, accidents, and even deaths. However, there are criminals in every age group. It will be futile to paint everyone with the same brush simply because of a few irritants. Read More