Legal Drinking Age Research Paper
Kristi Patterson
WR-115
Fall 2010
Mr. Carver
Legal Minimum Drinking Age 18
75% of students have consumed alcohol by the end of their high school career (Clapp, 288). Prohibiting the sale of liquor to young adults ages 18-20 creates an uncontrolled atmosphere where alcohol abuse has come to the point of being fatal. Young adults cannot learn how to drink safely and in moderations in these uncontrolled environments that the law has lead them into. We have seen what happens when drinking is banned by the history of the prohibition it was made the forbidden fruit, this is the same way young adults see it today and once they get ahold of it is over indulge in unsafe ways. The legal age to join the army, vote and pay taxes is 18; at the age …show more content…
Drinking occurs frequently within the college environment. It was reported that 87.3% of college students under the legal minimum drinking age had tried alcohol, when 50% reported heavily drinking in the past year (Clapp, 275). Heavy drinking can cause many consequences, from mild ones as hangovers to severe problems such as suicide attempts and death. Although mild problems like hangovers are most common, “the heavy use of alcohol among college students has been estimated to result in approximately 1,400 deaths and another 500,000 alcohol-related traumas each year”(Clapp, 275). Research done by Miron and Tetelbaum, shows that the minimum legal drinking age has only a minor effect on teen drinking. College students under the age of 21 are drinking in uncontrolled environments, they are left to learn for themselves how to drink at a moderate and safe rate. This learning process cannot be approached in these unsupervised environments, where young adults play drinking games and form ruinous drinking habits. The environment witch you are drinking in can relate to how and how much alcohol you …show more content…
This issue of drinking and driving is big just in general not just for young adults. There are nearly 1.4 million driving-while-impaired arrests that occur in the United States each year this is of the age group greater or equal to 21, the drinking age limit is not what we really need to focus on; it’s the stricter enforcement and better education on drunk driving. Research done by Wagenaar and Toomey, shows that the legal drinking age topic has “little or no research in the peer-reviewed scientific literature”
WR-115
Fall 2010
Mr. Carver
Legal Minimum Drinking Age 18
75% of students have consumed alcohol by the end of their high school career (Clapp, 288). Prohibiting the sale of liquor to young adults ages 18-20 creates an uncontrolled atmosphere where alcohol abuse has come to the point of being fatal. Young adults cannot learn how to drink safely and in moderations in these uncontrolled environments that the law has lead them into. We have seen what happens when drinking is banned by the history of the prohibition it was made the forbidden fruit, this is the same way young adults see it today and once they get ahold of it is over indulge in unsafe ways. The legal age to join the army, vote and pay taxes is 18; at the age …show more content…
Drinking occurs frequently within the college environment. It was reported that 87.3% of college students under the legal minimum drinking age had tried alcohol, when 50% reported heavily drinking in the past year (Clapp, 275). Heavy drinking can cause many consequences, from mild ones as hangovers to severe problems such as suicide attempts and death. Although mild problems like hangovers are most common, “the heavy use of alcohol among college students has been estimated to result in approximately 1,400 deaths and another 500,000 alcohol-related traumas each year”(Clapp, 275). Research done by Miron and Tetelbaum, shows that the minimum legal drinking age has only a minor effect on teen drinking. College students under the age of 21 are drinking in uncontrolled environments, they are left to learn for themselves how to drink at a moderate and safe rate. This learning process cannot be approached in these unsupervised environments, where young adults play drinking games and form ruinous drinking habits. The environment witch you are drinking in can relate to how and how much alcohol you …show more content…
This issue of drinking and driving is big just in general not just for young adults. There are nearly 1.4 million driving-while-impaired arrests that occur in the United States each year this is of the age group greater or equal to 21, the drinking age limit is not what we really need to focus on; it’s the stricter enforcement and better education on drunk driving. Research done by Wagenaar and Toomey, shows that the legal drinking age topic has “little or no research in the peer-reviewed scientific literature”