Drinking Age Should Not Be Banned
The Drinking Age in The U.S. Should Be Lowered When a person turns eighteen, he or she can get married, vote, pay taxes, purchase cigarettes, be tried as an adult for crimes, legally use their own credit card, purchase real estate, and even enter the military. When a United States citizen turns eighteen, that person is considered a legal adult. According to The United States Constitution, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen-years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.” In other words, being a legal adult entails so many new responsibilities and they are legally responsible for the consequences of their own actions. Adults should be entrusted with how they handle their alcohol, just like how adults are entrusted with how they spend their money and what they spend their money on. However, being a young adult has one inequitable setback from all the other adults who possess the same responsibility: They cannot legally purchase or consume alcohol. This concept is not only unfair but also unreasonable. If the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) was lowered, society could benefit because there would be less accidents and drinking under the influence, citizens are equal, and there would be less reasoning to for teenagers and young adults to go out and party in uncontrolled environments. The United States needs to lower the Minimum Legal Drinking Age to eighteen because it would benefit society as a whole to have younger people who have a better understanding of the effects of alcohol. The controversy over buying and consuming alcohol started during the Prohibition Act in 1926 and continued from 1987, which still remains a social problem today. As a nation, the government in the 1920s started the National Prohibition that banned alcohol for all United States citizens. This is a reoccurrence of the prohibition laws that were embedded in the United States in the 1850s. Twice
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