Lowering the Drinking Age - Essay Example

Paragraph 1: Whether the drinking age in the US should be lowered to 18 years or not has been a subject of intense discussion across the US.

Paragraph 2: The ethical concerns that will be highlighted will touch on what the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 says, the effects that underage drinking has caused, and what 18-year-olds are constitutionally allowed to do. In general, it will be shown that 18 years olds are mature enough to make good judgments for themselves.

Paragraph 3: The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 will be discussed in this paragraph. It will be shown that the interpretation of this Act does not prohibit 18 years olds from alcohol drinking. Scholarly materials which take similar views will be highlighted.

Paragraph 4: In this paragraph, it will be shown that underage drinking still takes place and is harmful. Using statistics from various authority bodies, it will be shown that underage drinking is rampant and the current stand that only 21-year-olds and above should be allowed to drink alcohol is not very reasonable. It will also be argued that it is because of this stand that underage drinking often leads to unfortunate situations such as binge drinking and consequential road accidents.

Paragraph 5: In this paragraph, I will show the significance of other decisions that 18-year-olds make. The decisions I will talk about include voting. I will argue that if 18-year-olds are allowed to make important such as choosing leaders, they should equally be allowed to make decisions on whether to drink alcohol or not. I will also talk about cigarette smoking about alcohol. The argument here will be that smoking is more harmful than taking alcohol but yet 18-year-olds can smoke but cannot take alcohol. Furthermore, it will also be shown that 18 years often face harder decisions than that deciding whether to drink alcohol or not – for instance, 18 years olds often take part in military activities some of which may end their lives instantly, for instance, when they are on the battlefield.

Paragraph 6: To make my argument comprehensive, I will use this paragraph to respond to critics of lowering the drinking age to 18 years. Some of the areas that this paragraph will cover include underage drinking accidents and the argument that lowering the age of drinking will entice younger people to engage in drinking. Logical arguments will be used in making these arguments in this paragraph. Scholarly views aired against these arguments will also be highlighted.

Paragraph 7: This paragraph will be used to restate my stand on the topic of whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years.

They already are required to make serious decisions in matters related to their health (such as whether to smoke or not) and country such as electing public officials. Read More