During the class argument this week, we debated on the legal drinking age and if the age should be raised, lowered, or done away with. After having had more time to think about my stance on the drinking age, I am still in favor of having the age lowered to eighteen instead of the current twenty-one.
The government of the United States allows a person to sue someone at eighteen. The United States also allows one to carry firearms and buy cigarettes. All of these things have some serious consequences if they are allowed to come into fruition. Why are we not letting people buy alcohol, when a person does not even half to smoke a cigarette, just be in the vicinity of them, to cause serious health problems?
Lastly, the United States allows anyone of the age of eighteen to get married and to vote. Getting married, voting, and the aforementioned topics are personal choices. Thus, drinking and any sort of drug using are personal choices. One of the main aspects and attributes to college of life (whether a person acknowledges it or not) is parties which usually involve alcohol and drugs. Why then is it so important that the legal drinking age be twenty-one when college students will most likely drink before then simply because they want to experience college life?
I'm not sure where the age 21 came from. Maybe it was left over from prohibition. There's 2 reasons I can think of why the age won't ever change. Every day, 4 people under the age of 21 in the United States dies from an alcohol related driving crash. That age limit does curb some people under the legal age from drinking. So if it were lowered to 18 years of age, then more people would feel it's ok to drink and get behind the wheel. Alcohol related crashes would increase.
ReplyDeleteThe second reason I don't think the age will ever be lowered is because law makers are usually older people. They really don't see a good reason to let young people start drinking earlier.