Preview

Explain Why The Minimum Drinking Age Should Be Raised To 21

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
888 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Explain Why The Minimum Drinking Age Should Be Raised To 21
The minimum drinking should be raised to twenty-five because alcohol has greater effects on immature bodies, young people are more likely to harm and/or even kill themselves or others by drinking prior to 21, and with age comes wisdom. About 2 billion people worldwide consume alcoholic drinks, which can have immediate and long term consequences on health and social life. Over 76 million people are currently affected by alcohol use disorders, such as alcohol dependence and abuse. Depending on the amount of alcohol consumed and the pattern of drinking, alcohol consumption can lead to drunkenness and alcohol dependence. It can result in disablement or death from accidents or contribute to depression and suicide.

The minimum drinking age should
…show more content…
For instance, other research shows that the younger children and adolescents are when they start to drink, the more likely they will be to engage in behaviors that harm themselves and others (NIH). This confirms that having a bad behavior at or under the age of 21 can lead to people getting harmed, harassed, or even killed. Also, driving under intoxication can lead to major car accidents and people can get hurt or even die. Another example is, frequent binge drinkers (nearly 1 million high school students nationwide) are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, including using other drugs, having sex, and earning grades that are mostly D's and F’s in school (NIH). This proves that people can get sexually assaulted while intoxicated and don't even know. You can also be failing your class or classes because alcohol can start deacon functioning your brain and be unintelligent, if you keep on continuing and not stopping at all. The minimum drinking should be raised to 25 because young adults are more expected to abuse and/or even murder themselves or others by consuming above-mentioned to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should people between the ages of eighteen and twenty be allowed to drink adult beverages that contain alcohol?…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient civilizations dating back to the Neolithic period around 10,000 B.C. have fermented and consumed alcoholic drinks. The Egyptians believed that the god of wine, Osiris brewed the first beer with the most fundamental essence of life, and the alcoholic drink was essential to their survival. Whether it be with the purpose of getting drunk, to appease the gods or as primitive medicine, every developed society throughout human history has held alcohol to be an important aspect of life in some way. Only now, in the modern day United States of America alcohol carries much more controversial social implications. The authorities, our government, and worried parents see it as the devil’s drink, bringing with it only irresponsibility, self destructive habits, and a general decline in standard of behavior. Meanwhile it is held up by social media and marketing to cater to our adolescents, flooding their malleable minds with images of fame, fortune, sex appeal, care-free living and artificial maturity that will presumably accompany the use of alcohol. This duality that the consumption of alcoholic beverages holds brings a difficult question to the table. Where do we draw the line? How old is old enough to be trusted with a drink that can so drastically warp one’s conscious thought? As of now, 21 years old is that line, in an effort to discourage young drinkers, stop drunk driving and binge drinking. But the attempt to constrict and criminalize alcohol is a primary source of these issues in and of itself. Allowing individuals to drink earlier on in their lives, but under safe, regulated conditions will teach our youth the dangers of alcohol and how to consume it responsibly early on. It will significantly diminish the thrill of breaking the law to consume alcohol, and it will not promote general disrespect and disobedience in other aspects of the law. That being said, it is important that we consider the benefits of lowering the age that it will be legal for an individual…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I. Introduction: Starting in 1970 21 states reduced the minimum drinking age to 18. Another 8 reduced it to 19 or 20. However, these states noticed increases in alcohol-related fatalities among teenagers and young adults. As a result, of the 29 states that had lowered their drinking age, 24 raised the age again between 1976 and 1984. By 1984, only three states allowed 18-year-olds to drink all types of alcoholic liquor. The enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 prompted states to raise their legal age for purchase or public possession of alcohol to 21 or risk losing millions in federal highway funds. The states who raised it were given highway funding by the government becuase the governement felt that teen drinking was directly connected to car accidents among teens.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do teens usually wait till the age of eighteen to begin consuming alcohol? If eighteen years of age is the legal age for adulthood, why can’t it be the legal age to begin drinking? Is the government contradicting themselves? Over the years studies have shown that most teens do not wait until the age of twenty-one to begin drinking. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen would allow eighteen to twenty year-olds to drink alcohol in safe places with supervision. Keeping teens from drinking in unsafe environments would lower the amount of drinking related car accidents. Also, individuals are viewed as adults at the age of eighteen. There are many privileges and responsibilities all within the realm of that adulthood. Eighteen year olds are allowed to smoke, be married, vote and more so why isn’t drinking on that list? I believe the legal age for drinking should be lowered to eighteen in order to provide a safe environment for teens, decrease the amount of drinking related accidents, and give eighteen year-olds the full amount of adulthood.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The problem is the people question why the drinking age is 21 and not 18 when can you buy tabaco legally at the age of 18 and you can’t buy alcohol at 18 too. I believe the drinking age should be 21 because teen’s brains are not done growing at the age of 18 and they could be damaged. My first reason is that when the law was moved to 21 the drunk driving dropped. My second reason is that when teens start drinking at such a young age they can have several health problems when they get older so by making it 21 it will lower the risk of having health problems when you get older. My third reason is that teens could become violent or have destructive behaviors.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most children are very excited about turning 18 because it means adulthood, running off to college, and gaining freedom. When turning this age, you are allowed to join the military, get married and receive all the rights and responsibilities of an adult. However, having a wedding at this age means that during the celebration, one is not allowed to share a glass of Champaign during the toasts because the drinking age is 21. The United States is one of the few countries in the world to have such a high legal drinking age. Therefore the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because you are able to sign your life away and go to war, young adults in other countries are able to handle the responsibilities, and the different age limits do not coordinate with the responsibilities.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Good Morning, the issue I have chosen is if we should raise the drinking age to 21.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bigjohny, Alinda. “Opinion: Should the Legal Drinking Age Stay As-Is?” Opinion: The Legal Drinking Age Stay the As-Is?” Manchester.edu, n d Wed 13 Apr 2016 http://www.manchester.edu/OSD/OakLeaves/archives/Issue_14/OpinionShouldtheLegalDrinkingAgeStayAs-Is.htm…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although this is not harmful to the person, it can create a damaging attitude and harmful habits that can affects them in their later life. By keeping the drinking age at 18, there is less of a risk as it is likely young adults will drink in controlled…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The legal age of which an individual can purchase and consume alcohol in Manitoba is 18, this seems fitting as it is the year you legally become an adult. The age of an individual in no way determines when they are ready to consume alcohol. At the age of 18 a youth’s body and brain is still developing and alcohol is a great way to cause issues in the present or future with themselves or people around them. At the age of 21 a youth has had three extra years to develop their body and gain responsibility. Raising the drinking age to 21 prevents severe underage drinking cases, helps ensure the safety of today’s youth, and allows for teenagers brains to develop without barriers.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1984, the Uniform Drinking Age Act, a law which would severely penalize states who failed to restrict the drinking age to 21 or higher, was signed into law (Hoover). It is odd to think, in today’s day and age, that 35 years ago the drinking age was below 21 in over 70% of US states (“Minimum Legal Drinking Age…”), however, this all changed when the federal government took away highway funds and dangled them in front of these states like a carrot, waiting for them all to raise their legal age for consumption of alcohol. For a law that is broken by over 70% of those to whom it is applicable (Muhlenfeld), this age has been given relatively little debate, mostly because it has been so engrained in our culture that underage alcohol is wrong. The national de facto drinking age of…

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Drinking alcohol causes a substantial amount of deaths every year. Approximately 88,000 deaths and around 2.5 million million years of potential life are lost every year (Fact Sheets). One in ten people die every year, aged twenty to sixty,…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking underage is a serious problem that the U.S is facing. There is a lot of problems with the drinking age 21, but if you lower or upper the drinking age not much difference will happen. The human brain isn’t fully developed until the age 21. Teenagers don’t know enough to make informed, smart decisions relating to alcohol. The drinking age shouldn't be lowered because of three very real risks like: drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and violent and/or destructive behavior. We have research reasons from three articles that could convince you to keep the average age to drinking 21.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking Age

    • 1002 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Alcohol is harmful to the development of younger people. Research has shown that an adult is less likely to binge drink (have five or more drinks in a row). According to statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, teens become intoxicated twice as fast as adults. Because the teens get drunk faster they are less likely to know when to stop and to go past their limit, causing harm to themselves and others.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Legal Drinking Age

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Alcohol is the number one drug problem in the United States. Americans spend a slightly under 100 billion dollars on alcohol each year. Just a little fewer than 50% of Americans have either experienced or knows someone in their family that have experienced alcoholism (Drug Rehab.org). “Alcoholism is when the body becomes physically dependent on alcohol.” According to World Health Organization, “there are an estimated 140 million alcoholics around the world!” Addiction is very hard to break out of and may even be part of their lifestyle for the rest of one 's life. Since alcoholics usually cannot control their behavior after drinking, they often have problems in their home and workplace (AlcoholAddiction.info). About 12% of alcoholics are unemployed (Drug Rehab.org). Statistics show that a person who consumes alcohol before age 15 is at a higher risk of becoming addicted later in life than a person who start to consume alcohol at a later age (AlcoholAddiction.info). These reasons show that leaving the legal drinking age at 21 would be more beneficial to the United States than to lower it to 18, and risk teenagers of having a higher chance of getting addicted to alcohol.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays