Introduction
Thesis: The legal drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18 years.
Body
It will make our youth drink responsibly
Alcohol is readily available, and if the drinking age is lowered to 18, illegal selling of alcohol to the youth will be reduced.
Youths are allowed to consume the number one killer drug, tobacco, why should they be restricted from taking alcohol yet they are of age
Opposing view and counterarguments
It is not fair to deny young heroes (young soldiers) an opportunity to drink
Conclusion
Introduction
Alcohol abuse has become a major issue among our youths in the world today. It is deliberated as one of the most abused drugs by the youths around the globe. Many campus students are indulging in excessive drinking despite the fact that the drinking age is restricted to 21 years. Lowering the drinking age has become a notorious topic both in the United States for many years now. There are those who argue that, the drinking age should remain at 21 years, while others maintain that, it should be dropped to the age of 18 which will help reduce the number of underage drinkers. The legal drinking age for citizens in the US has been restricted to 21 years and above, yet there are several reported cases of youths under the age of 21 consuming alcohol. Alcohol is readily obtained in our markets despite its restriction, and that is why our underage youth are drinking alcohol at an alarming rate. As a result, many youths take alcohol illegally because of the restrictions imposed on them. Therefore, it is necessary for the legal drinking age to be lowered to 18 years to reduce the drinking rates in our youth. Our youth indulge in binge drinking because of the restrictions, therefore, if the drinking age is lowered, they will drink responsibly. Underage alcohol drinking is a significant issue in our community today, and it can be solved by lowering the drinking age, thus no restrictions for our youth.
The drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18 years so as to make our youths drink responsibly. Our youths drink irresponsibly because of the age restriction, if the legal drinking age is lowered, they will make ethical decisions about their consumption of alcohol. It is apparent that, any citizen who is 18 years and above can be prosecuted by the court law, and then why should they be denied the chance to drink alcohol. Moreover, at the age of 18, a citizen is allowed to vote, own a gun, as well as paying taxes. Why deny them the right to take alcohol yet they are responsible citizens (Toumbourou et al. 569). Therefore, it is important to lower the legal drinking age to 18 because, our youth deserve this chance, and it will help them drink responsibly.
Secondly, the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years because alcohol is readily available in our markets for our underage youths. The federal government has imposed a restriction on the legal drinking age to 21 years, yet, many teens even below the age of 18 get easy access to alcohol (Carpenter and Carlos 140). Most of these teens use fake ID’s to buy alcohol, and this shows that, restricting the legal drinking age to 21 years does not solve teenage binge drinking. Hence, the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years, and this will help reduce teenage binge drinking because, they will start drinking conscientiously since there are no restrictions.
People are caring so much about the consumption of alcohol among the youths than tobacco, yet tobacco is one of the leading killer drugs in the world today. Why should youths who are 18 years allowed to consume a number one killer drug, and denied the chance to take alcohol yet they are of legal age? It is true that drinking alcohol is addictive and can be harmful to the health of our youth. However, tobacco intake has more detrimental effects on the lives of our youth compared to alcohol, and if restricted from alcohol, they will opt for tobacco (Toumbourou et al. 570). Therefore, instead of restricting the drinking age to 21 years, the government should constrain the youth from tobacco products, which is a number one killer drug in the world today because of its adverse effects on the human health.
Opponents argue that, the legal drinking age should be restricted to 21 years because lowering it will increase the number of alcohol addicts among the youth. Moreover, they argue that, there will be increased rates of accidents caused by teenage drinkers (Dejong and Jason 118). However, their arguments are overblown because, according to many studies done on teenage drinkers, many of them are already addicts because of the restrictions. Moreover, if the issue is accidents, then let the government raise the driving age. Additionally, most teens can get access to alcohol illegally because of the restrictions, and this makes them drink excessively. But if the legal drinking age is reduced to 18 years, they will purchase alcohol in a legal way and drink sensibly because they will feel accountable for their action after drinking. Furthermore, lowering the drinking age will lessen the illegal sale of alcohol and this will be best for our underage teens. They will not be able to obtain alcohol easily, and those of age will only access alcohol in legal alcohol selling stores.
The legal drinking age should be reduced to 18 since at that age one is legally considered an adult. At this age, one can do anything they want with their body through activities such as smoking, inking up, vote among other things. If one has been trusted with such decisions that appear to be more important or serious that taking alcohol, why can they be allowed to just take it? It is not ethical to tell young people who just came from war in Iraq or Afghanistan that they cannot drink due to their age while they have been to battlefields. Reducing that age to 18 years will also help lower the amount of stress college students undergo and encourage them to go to bars or clubs which are much safer than the house parties because in a bar or nightclub there are taxi services and bouncers try to ensure that nobody tries to drive home drunk.
In conclusion, underage drinking has become a serious problem in the United States today. Many youths are consuming excessive alcohol without thinking of the effects. Due to this, there have been an ending debates on the exact legal age of drinking. There are those advocating for lowering the drinking age to 18 years, while others are arguing that it should remain at 21 years. Nonetheless, I believe that lowering the legal drinking age will bring positive effects to our youths other than restricting it at the age of 21 years. If the drinking age is lowered, at least our teenagers will start drinking responsibly because there are no restrictions. In addition, alcohol is readily available to our teens, and if the drinking age is lowered, there will be a reduction of illegal sale of alcohol to our teens. Furthermore, there will be few cases of teens (college teens) getting in trouble with the law because of underage drinking because they will not be required to drink secretly. Accidents caused by young teens after drinking will be reduced because most of them will learn to drink responsibly. Even though there are still a lot of controversies on the legal drinking age, it is necessary to lower it to the age of 18 years in order to reduce reckless drinking on our campuses.
Works Cited
Toumbourou, John W., et al. "Should the legal age for buying alcohol be raised to 21 years?" Med J Aunt 200 (2014): 568-570. Print.
Carpenter, Christopher, and Carlos Dobkin. "The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Public Health." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25.2, (2011): 133-56. Print.
Dejong, William, and Jason Blanchette. "Case closed: Research evidence on the positive public health impact of the age 21 minimum legal drinking age in the United States." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 17 (2014): 108. Print.
