Should Drinking Age Remain 21

Submitted By Glorimar-Martinez
Words: 1006
Pages: 5

The drinking age should remain 21 because lowering the drinking age would cause more danger to our youth and increasing the drinking age would bring down sales but also there will be many more cases of underage drinking. The drinking age has been questioned by many people, with the minimum drinking age being twenty one. Some think it should lowered while some think it should be raised. It is important to understand the logic and reasoning behind why there is controversy and indifference with the decisions that have been set in stone. The drinking age has been revised by legislators and civil servants who have decided and set the appropriate minimum legal drinking age.

Is twenty one actually that, the appropriate minimum legal drinking age? According to many including Karen MacPherson in “National Drinking Age of 21 Successful, Popular”. Macpherson states “research indicates that the brain continues to develop until age 21, and young brains can be irreversibly damaged by alcohol” alcohol has been known to be almost as dangerous as narcotics when it comes to affecting the mind of an adolescent. If you were to lower the age it would cause a “domino effect” states researcher Andy Dicken “It is like the domino effect currently, eighteen year olds drink lowering the age will cause even younger kids to drink” as a recent high school graduate and new college student it has been very noticeable how underage drinking is now common and almost accepted within many communities. Most eighteen year olds have an older sibling who will irresponsibly provide them with alcohol while some even steal it from parents. Since 1984 when the drinking age was raised it has lowered the overall average of “20,000 lives [a year] since the states began implementing them (new drinking age law)”. With this being said its hardtop believe anyone would want to lower the drinking age putting millions of teenagers. Lowering the drinking will give many adults or eighteen teen year olds access to alcoholic beverages. Many believe in the more common misconceptions, which are that if one is allowed to vote, buy cigarettes and risk their own live for their country they should be allowed to drink freely and responsibly. Indiana University professor Dr. Ruth C. Engs agrees in her article “Why the drinking age should be lowered: Opinion based on research” she states “the legal drinking age should be lowered to about eighteen or nineteen and young allowed to drink in controlled environments”. Dr. Engs believes that if young adults if monitored will be able to drink in a more responsible manner. Engs continues on to say that if you dangle “the forbidden fruit(Engs)” in front of a young adult he or she will more likely be willing to rebel against authority. There is some truth behind these beliefs you could say most eighteen year olds are doing it anyway so why not make it legal. Sam Tracy researcher and writer for the Huffington post stated “its no secret that the legal drinking age is one of America’s most frequently violated drug laws”(Tracy) he continues on to say that it is almost an insult to those who can get married, gamble and risk there lives. If they are prepared to do these things they must be responsible enough to drink responsibly. The pros do not ultimately outweigh the cons but even if so some believe the drinking aged should rise higher than 21. The raising of the drinking age from its current standing point of twenty one years old has more than one outcome for those who believe it should be raised. If there are already major statistics on underage drinking with the minimum at twenty one. It begs to ask how high these average overall rates for underage drinking would increase if the minimum was raised to the age of twenty five. The Australian medical association president Dr. Steve Hambleton thinks it should be raised “We