Lowering Drinking Age in the US - Essay Example

Lowing Drinking Age in U.S In the United s, an individual at the age of 18 is considered an adult legally and is a person who is mature enough to make life-alternating choices such as signing up for the army, buying property, buying cigarettes and voting, but not mature enough to drink alcohol. The drinking age was passed in order to reduce the cases of accidents induced by drunken teenagers would reduce. However, since the passing of the law rising the drinking age from 18 to 21, the number of accidents cases involving drunk driving in the age bracket of 18 to 21 has increased by 53% compared to barely 15% for countries like China that have their drinking age at 18 years. The American policy makers can evaluate the reduction in the accidents involving drunk driving in the age bracket 21 to 24 which is 18%, which clearly shows that restriction causes more harm than good in this case. The drinking age should therefore be lowered to 18. This is because banning drinking age at 18 has no effects of reduction in teenagers’ drinking patterns. It is also more hazardous since teenagers are forced to hide when they are drinking which exposes them to more danger. Furthermore, 18 years old does not differ from age 21 in terms of judgment. This is because at the legal of 18 years, individuals are faced with some fairly big decisions to make, some of which have more bearing on their future than the choice of whether or not to consume alcohol. Such decisions include the choice of smoking which has major impacts on health, vote and most importantly, the decision to enlist as this can lead even to death when such individuals are shipped to war-torn countries. When an individual is given such huge responsibility, it is only logical that they be given the right to make decisions regarding their drinking behavior, as part of their maturity in decision making (Walters, 2010). Banning alcohol to 18 years olds does not stop them from drinking in fact, it adds the thrill. Most adults are on the impression that since it is made illegal to drink at age 18, then it would stop teenagers from drinking. On the contrary, teenagers get curious which has the effect of encouraging teenagers to drink. It is even more dangerous when they hide when they are drinking as adults or supervising authority may have the impression that they have stopped drinking but in fact the drinking just went underground. This time, teenagers drink without the presence of an adult supervision and this an unsafe environment for kids to drink. It is in this environment that excesses happens that often leads to fatal outcome that some college presidents have aired their concern that drinking underground contributes to alcohol excesses among teenagers (Saylor, 2011). Also, it is in this environment that beer binges and fighting occurs because teenagers tend to seize the moment and drink a lot until they could no longer control themselves. When the drinking age is lowered to 18 years, the curiosity of the forbidden fruit is lowered and even teenagers who may have taken alcohol may not take it as the curiosity is lower when permission is granted. Implementing the curiosity and tasting alcohol especially in college and school going students is very easy, given that such teenagers already have a friend that is 21 years or above since a tow or three years difference is significant in college friendship. When teenagers belong to the same social groups as 21 year olds, get easy access to alcohol especially in parties, events or bars (Saylor, 2011). Once they get access to alcohol, there are a lot of risks involved since they take more of it considering they do not know the next time they will get access to it. This leads to increased cases of fatal accidents involving drunken teenagers. This is different from countries like China where cases of rebel are less due to the lower drinking age limit. In China, since the drinking age is over 18 years, such teenagers are able to drink in the public as opposed to dangerous and hidden places. As such, they are highly protected and supervised by the health workers, security guards, police and their guardians, thereby making it safer than in the United States (Walters, 2010). Lowering the drinking age in the United States will lead to safe drinking habits to 18 year olds coupled with parental guidance and supervision. This is because alcoholic consumption in teenagers is very expensive considering they have no source of income and the high monetary cost of alcoholic as a result of high taxation rate of alcoholic beverages (Chung et al, 2014). Teenage alcoholism is illegal and teenagers must show a prescription at the pharmacy in order to get alcohol. As such, teenagers must pay a premium amount to access alcohol. This increases the cost of accessing alcohol and therefore causing money problems immediately after getting the pocket money or the allowances. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that 72% of teenagers abusing alcohol have their alcohol bought and delivered by another person. Money problems cause the teenagers to have hefty debts which may cause depression and pressure in their social life due to failure to pay debts. Another way they finance the money problem is by engaging in criminal activities in order to get easy money to drink. Teenagers get easy money by selling drugs, prostitution and robbery (Vick, 2010). The high cost of alcohol has forced many teenagers to consume substandard alcohol which poses health problems. Since they are not allowed to take alcohol from designated places like bars and restaurants, coupled with the fact they lack the money to drink in safe environments, most teenagers access their alcohol from very dirty environments where there is cheap liquor. Cheap alcohol is sold in places with high level of immorality leading to increased risks of prostitution, spread of HIV and indulgence in high-risks sexual behavior. By lowering the legal drinking age to 21 years, such problems will be evaded. In China, alcohol and wine drinking forms part of their folklore, culture and heritage in special occasions and holidays. Most of the people in China are highly responsible with their drinking behaviors based on their upbringing since historically, alcohol has been regarded as sacred liquor or "Water of History". As such, it has ancestral connotations thereby commanding respect. As such, teenagers do not feel the need to go behind the government and their parent’s backs and engage in alcohol as it does not considered exotic and evil as in the American context. Furthermore, China has experienced a constant decline in the taxation rate of alcoholic beverages which then increases the affordability of wine and alcohol hereby making it affordable to teenagers above 18years. Despite the increase in the importation of alcoholic beverages in China following the reduction in the tax, there has been generally less heavy drinking patterns compared to the social drinking trends in America. The implication of this behavior is low alcohol-related mortality (Chung et al, 2014). Works Cited Chung, Roger Y., Kim, Jean H., Yip, Benjamin H., Wong, Samuel Y. S., Wong, Martin C. S., Chung, Vincent C. H. and Griffiths, Sian M., ‘Alcohol Tax Policy and Related Mortality. An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of a Rapidly Developed Chinese Population, 1981–2010’ US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, PLoS One. 9(8) 2014. Saylor, Drew K., ‘Heavy Drinking on College Campuses: No Reason to Change Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21’.Journal of American College Health Jan-Mar, Vol. 59 Issue 4, p330 4p. 2011. Vick, Dwight. Drugs & Alcohol in the 21st Century: Theory, Behavior, & Policy. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2010. Print. Walters, S. T. ‘If the drinking age were lowered, what then? A view from the year 2020.’ Journal of American College Health (J AM COLL HEALTH), May-Jun; 58 (6): 579-81. 2010. Read More