The U.S Congress passed the 26th amendment, on July 1, 1971, which made it where 21 was no longer the age of voting but that now it would be eighteen years of age (Hingson, 2006). When this amendment was accepted twenty nine states from all over the country started trying to get the drinking age to come down from 21 all the way to 18 years of age. However, this moment was short lived by 1984 the Uniform Drinking Age Act was allowed (Zhang, 2011).The Uniform Drinking Age Act made every state put the drinking age back to twenty one years of age in a quickly. They had to lessen the federal transportation subsidy, for every state in the entire nation just so that they could use this new bill (Wechsler, 2013). With that said, I believe the drinking age should stay at 18 years of age.
The first reason why the drinking age does not need to stay at 18 years of age is because of maturity issues. A lot of studies are showing that the adolescent brain or those that are under eighteen are physically and emotionally mature enough to manage the effects of alcohol (McLellan,) There are more drinking deaths at the age of 21 than there are at 18 because the older they are, the more likely that they will do something that is more crazy due to the fact that they know that they are at the legal drinking age. Lastly, there is no evidence that explains that those at age 18 are and less likely to hold their alcohol than someone at 21. Basically, it is the same.
People say eighteen year olds can’t handle alcohol, for the reason that they make a lot of mistakes. If a person starts to drinking at eighteen or twenty one your acceptance is still going to be the same. Which means, that no matter what age a person starts drinking nobody really knows how much they can handle until you start drinking? So when individuals start saying eighteen year olds make too many mistakes when they drink, it is not true, studies show that twenty one year olds will make the same mistakes as an 18 year old. Also, society uses young teenagers as victims for alcohol issues when really it does not matter if your 18, 21 or 40 years of age. Alcohol is still a severe problem among a lot of individuals. Which means the issue does not go away when a person turns become 21 years of age.
Research shows that a lot of teenagers drink irrespective of the drinking age. Maybe it could be at home, parties, or just in hanging out at the park. As a result, individuals make the disagreement that because teenagers can get to alcohol, if the drinking age is lowered twelve and thirteen year old children will likewise be able to get their hands on alcohol even easier and begin drinking beer or liquor at an age that is even younger, but then again that is not the case at all, since even now 75 % of seventh graders in the U.S mention that it is rather easy for them to find alcohol. With that said, it would not even make that much of a difference if the age was brought down to 18. That is another matter that individuals debate and are incorrect on.
The next point is going to be that I believe that there should not even be a drinking age. If there was no drinking age being enforced the teens would not look at alcohol as if it is some kind of forbidden fruit and be more accountable with it. As Dr. Deborah English mentions “ The displaying of the current age-specific ban is willingly apparent among teenagers who, since the raise in the lowest legal drinking age, have had a tendency to to drink in a more abuse way than do those that are 21. This, obviously, is precisely what happened in the general public throughout national Prohibition.” (Snow, 2012)This quote is making the point that since the drinking age is 21 when adults that are younger discover alcohol they have a habit of drinking a lot more for the reason that they do not know when they will be able to find alcohol another time. I mean it is a known circumstance that ever since the drinking age has turned to 21 years of age the proportion of younger individuals drinking has dropped, nonetheless the quantity of alcohol taken in by an adolescent has increased. Bringing down the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen would permit 18- to 20-year-olds to drink alcohol much more safely in places that are regulated with supervision. Stopping them from drinking in restaurants, bars, and other licensed places just causes them to drink in unsubstantiated places. For instance, these places could be house parties or up in the mountains where there are no adults that are responsible around which means they are more probable to binge drink and other dangerous behaviors. Furthermore dropping the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen would make alcohol less of a constraint for individuals just getting into college and the labor force, it would take away the thrill that numerous young individuals get from flouting the law, and by doing this it would cause alcohol consumption to be a more standardized activity that would be done in restraint.
The last reason why the drinking age needs to be 18 is because research shows that an 18 year old in Unite States has the right to vote, and serve in the military (Hingson, 2006). If an 18 year is old enough can make up their mind as to who the potential leader of the nation can be and take die for their nation or even get drafted if there is a war then they would need to have every right to buy and drink some alcohol (Wechsler, 2013). Also, if the legal drinking age were to be 18 years old, universities would be able to control the use of alcohol so the pupils do not get excessively drunk. They can be checked although when they are drinking and hiding it will not be possible to go smelling their cups or making accusations that are false.
In conclusion, there is so much proof that maintaining the drinking age at 18 is the best thing to do. It is obvious that those that are up under that age are not that mature enough to handle drinking. I think that the fact there is evidence from doctors that show that if they drink up under the legal age, there is a huge chance that they could do a lot of damage to their brain and not to mention other organs in the body. Studies are showing that keeping the drinking age at 18 keeps down a lot of drinking accidents. It is clear that the studies show that there is much less alcohol poisoning at 18 than there is at the age of 21. It is clear that those up fewer than 18 are not able to handle alcohol because they are not at an age where they can make mature choices.
Reference:
Carpenter, C. &. (2011). The minimum legal drinking age and public health. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(5), 133-156.
Hingson, R. H. (2006). Age of drinking onset and involvement in physical fights after drinking. Pediatrics, 17(4), 872-7.
McLellan, D. L. (2012). Unintended consequences of cigarette price changes for alcohol drinking behaviors across age groups: Evidence from pooled cross sections. 6(4), 23.
Snow, W. M. (2012). Alcohol use and cardiovascular health outcomes: A comparison across age and gender in the winnipeg health and drinking survey cohort. A. Age and Ageing, 13(5), 206-12.
Wechsler, H. P. (2013). Will increasing alcohol availability by lowering the minimum legal drinking age decrease drinking and related consequences among youths? American Journal of Public Health,, 986-92.
Zhang, N. &. (2011). Alcohol policy, social context, and infant health: The impact of minimum legal drinking age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3), 3796-809.
