Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered to 18? Essay Example
A very controversial argument amongst Americans is determining that the current legal drinking age which is 21 should be lowered to eighteen or not. Researching the following propaganda made me understand the dangers to the youth and people in America if the drinking age were to lower. Therefore i will argue with whoever disagrees with me that the drinking age should be lowered. I'd like to explain six reasons to why the drinking age should not be lowered beginning with the strongest reasons. First reason being is that alcohol effects the brain badly in many ways such as effecting a persons memory. This is not good since adolecent brains dont stop growing until their mid twenties. Recent studies included "animal studies suggest that alcohol may have a greater impact on an adolescent than an adults memory and these results may be long lasting" (Makweise et al.,1998, Pyapali et., 1999). Not only alcohol effects ones memory but alters a persons ability to make any logical decisions. This concludes me to my second reason that people who are under the influnence are more then likely to make wrong decisions and choices. One choice being choosing to go behind the wheel and drive. This is not only illegal but dangerous. This isn't safe for the driver nor the others on the road. Many innocent people die in car accidents each year by the individuals who decide not to think rationally and drive under the influence. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administraion "estimated In 2010, 10,228 people died in drunk driving crashes — one every 52 minutes — and 345,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes "(Accident Analysis and Prevention). Drunk driving is a serious issue because alcohol causse the brain to slow down acting as a depressant which causes the drivers reflexes to slow down tremendously. Another record involving drinking indicates in fatal crashes in 2010, "the highest percentage of drunk drivers was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (34%), followed by