Dec 09, · Argumentative Essay Oct. 29, Lowering the drinking age to 18 The legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one and older. Some states have been pushing to lower the age to eighteen. Some say that lowering the age would make it more dangerous, but that is not the case. This would be beneficial to the government and to the public Mar 01, · The minimum legal drinking age(MLDA) in the United States was 18 years old until , when all fifty states raised their legal drinking age to 21 or older. The drinking age should be lowered from 21 years old to 18 years old because at that age one legally becomes an adult, it would reduce the amount of unsafe drinking activity, and there are fewer drunk driving car accidents in many other Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins The Drinking Age Should Not be Lowered From 21 to words 4 page (s) So many young adults desperately want the drinking age to be lowered to Although 18 over are considered adults, drinking in a young age, when the body is still developing, could have negative effects. The health consequences that most young adults will face are severe
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The minimum legal drinking age in America is twenty-one years old, and when this law is violated heavy penalties are given to those who have broken it. After the party, my friend Peter and I decided to walk home to the dormitory, which was a short twenty minutes. On our way through the gate, Peter and I were detained by the gate guard due to the smell of alcohol on my lowering the drinking age essay. The breathalyzer confirmed my inebriation, surpassing the limit of.
I was locked up inside a cold confinement facility in Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. As a young military member, I was charged with underaged drinking under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military version of the justice system. A week after the incident, I was given a letter of reprimand and base restriction order by my commanding officer.
The punishment seemed harsh at that time, but I was very fortunate. According to the state of Mississippi website, if I was arrested by a peace officer outside the confines of the base, I would have spent a night in jail, served at least thirty days of community service, ordered to pay a fine up to five hundred dollars and have a misdemeanor on my record www.
Ever since then, I thought the minimum legal drinking age set by the government was unfair because it targeted young adults and I did not know the origin of the law.
Now, as a concerned parent, I am in search to understand why the minimum legal drinking law was passed in the first place. Why other countries allow younger drinking age? The United States should lower the minimum legal drinking age, lowering the drinking age essay. There are substantial benefits in lowering the drinking age to eighteen. Today, the minimum legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one and this is widely accepted norm in our society.
Most people do not know that the current drinking age was a recent modification made in Prior to that, each individual state was able to set its own legal limits ranging from eighteen to twenty-one years of age. Fueled by statistics of increased alcohol use and alcohol-related traffic deaths published by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in Prior to the bill being passed, President Reagan was hesitant on signing the bill, but eventually signed did so making it into a law in June ofdue to pressures from hardline supporters driven by advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving National Youth Rights Association, para.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act required the States to prohibit the sale, possession and consumption of alcohol to anyone under the age of twenty-one CDC Fact Sheet, n.
Any state that did not enforce this law would eventually lose valuable federal highway funds over time. In some states, this meant losing millions of dollars in funding. For the state leaders, this was a significant amount of money needed to maintain their roads and highways, lowering the drinking age essay. Understanding the risk of funding loss, it would make sense to comply. By setting the drinking age to twenty-one, the goal was to reduce underage drinking along with drunk driving fatalities among teenagers, and ultimately save lives.
So, after three decades, did the law reduce drunk driving and fatality rate? Peter Asch and David Levy, researchers from Rutgers University studied the drinking age and fatality rates. This means young adults were not experienced in drinking responsibly and when mixed with driving motor vehicles, it proved to be a very dangerous combination.
It also suggested that drivers age eighteen to twenty may have less accident and fatality rates if the drinking age was raised to twenty-one. In the years to follow, there would be an eventual rise in accidents and fatality for the twenty-one and over age groups. One can say that safety features installed in newer vehicles helped save countless lives. For example, the mandatory use of seatbelts while operating or riding a motor vehicle significantly decreased fatalities during automobile accidents CDC,p.
The reduction of fatality rates was a positive outcome and proved that the minimum legal minimum age law worked to some extent, but it also created the problem of illegal underage drinking.
Lowering the legal drinking age will reduce unsafe, illegal drinking activity because young drinkers do not have to hide from the law. Inover a hundred college university presidents from all over the United States signed a statement saying that underage students are still drinking even though the minimum drinking age was set at twenty-one.
This collaborative group is known as Amethyst Initiative. Their main focus was to reduce underage drinking and to teach the young students about responsible drinking.
They even suggested lowering the drinking age. Even with the strict laws set in place, college students under the legal drinking age will find ways to get drunk, lowering the drinking age essay. It has been reported that underage drinkers will steal booze from their own house or even buy alcohol illegally. I interviewed Skylar Jauregui, a college senior currently attending Sacramento State University and an avid supporter of lowering the drinking age agenda.
Recalling from the house party she last attended, she witnessed excessive drinking during their beer pong games. Her friend Jessica was chugging big Solo cups of beer after losing the game. Jessica drank four cups of beer within lowering the drinking age essay minutes, an incredibly short amount of time to drink 48 ounces of beer.
This was binge-drinking! All of their friends cheered while she downed her drinks. Nearly twenty-seven percent of adults eighteen and older have engaged in binge drinking NIH Fact sheet,para. She said that one of the hosts, who was underage, has a fake ID so he can buy alcohol. Lowering the drinking age essay the drinks were purchased by an older friend.
In some instances, adult relatives bought alcohol for the young drinkers. Needless to say, if young adults were determined to drink alcohol, they will find a way to get their beverage.
In college lowering the drinking age essay, there are unlimited access to beer and hard liquor. I asked about enforcement of the law if underage drinkers were to get caught. So, due to lack of enforcement of the law, this dangerous practice of underage drinking will continue. Lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen will promote responsible drinking habits among young adults.
According to Dr. Ruth C. We can understand that having a responsible parent or other adult figure present at home when drinking can influence a young adult to have a responsible drinking habit, lowering the drinking age essay. A habit which will lowering the drinking age essay on later in life. This is especially lowering the drinking age essay when drinking alcohol in Europe. Drinking age in Europe varies from country to country ranging from as young as sixteen to twenty years old.
For example, German population in general have an opposite stance on drinking when compared to the American norms. For example, drinking in Germany starts when young adolescents turn sixteen years of age. Drinking is more of a tradition, for social connection and is not considered taboo.
The German society openly embrace alcohol as part of their culture. It is even celebrated during their fall festival, widely known as Oktoberfest. This festival happens once a year where hundreds of thousands of their citizens and tourists alike let loose, drink beer and lots of it and have a good time.
It is also common to see young adolescents drinking beer or wine with their meals with their parents at a restaurant. I called on my German friend, Simone Backes to provide me with information on their current laws and social attitude towards the norms of drinking. Backes is an eight-year veteran of the Polizei, the German Police, and grew up in Germany until her mid-twenties. During the interview, I first asked her differences between the United States and Germany towards the legal drinking age.
It was a custom in her household to have beer or wine with their meals. On her sixteenth birthday, lowering the drinking age essay, her father poured her first glass of wine at an Italian restaurant to celebrate that momentous occasion.
She also said that drinking was a lifestyle for her family, lowering the drinking age essay. It was a way to unwind, lowering the drinking age essay. She emphasized that drinking alcohol was also done in moderation. Due to her early exposure to alcohol from home, it was instilled in her that drinking should be enjoyed and not abused. In other words, Ms. The drinking age is significantly lower in Germany, but drunk driving incidences among young adults are much lower in comparison to the Unites States.
New drivers must go through long and costly schooling. Young drivers were only allowed to drive a car with bigger engines when they reach the required time and experience level. To better understand the reason behind this, think of it as teaching a child how to ride a bike for the first time. Their first bike was small and appropriate to their body size. The bike also had training wheels installed to prevent the bike from tilting sideways.
When kids first master maneuvering the bicycle, that is when the training wheels were removed. Backes stated she did not own a car until she was in her early twenties as mass transportation was cheaper and very efficient. In comparison to the United States, the German lowering the drinking age essay were allowed to drink at an early age but took them longer to get to drive, lowering the drinking age essay.
The young adults in Germany use public transportation while the American teens drive as young as sixteen and do not have a horsepower limitation. Another point as to lowering the drinking age essay lowering the legal drinking age is beneficial is that it will help improve the economy, lowering the drinking age essay. According to the National Youth Rights organizations website, if the legal drinking age were lowered to eighteen, there would be more people drinking and revenue from taxes in the alcohol industry would increase by an estimated million dollars and would contribute millions in income to restaurants and bars throughout the country Barajas, In a population survey conducted init was estimated that there were over twenty thousand adults age lowering the drinking age essay to 20 living in the city and nearby suburban area www.
I imagine if a third of that population segment were to drink, there will be more revenues from customers frequenting bars, restaurants and entertainment complexes. I spoke to bartender at a local restaurant in West Sacramento. personal communication, Oct 15, As you can see, many businesses as well lowering the drinking age essay the government will benefit financially if the legal drinking age was lowered to eighteen.
It is true that becoming an adult in America does come with numerous responsibilities and consuming alcohol at eighteen should be one of them. The minimum drinking age set by the government over three decades ago has resulted in the reduction of drunk driving fatalities, however it also spawned dangerous underage and irresponsible drinking trends. Underage drinkers are afraid to admit that they drink since it is against lowering the drinking age essay law and fear the consequences if they get caught.
This causes them to drink in places in uncontrolled and unsupervised environment, usually at house parties.
Persuasive speech: Lowering drinking age
, time: 4:20Lowering the Legal Drinking Age - Free Essay Example | blogger.com
Lowering the Legal Drinking Age The minimum legal drinking age in America is twenty-one years old, and when this law is violated heavy penalties are given to those who have broken it. This was a hard lesson I learned about thirty years ago after drinking at a friend’s party during the summer of After the party, my friend Peter [ ] Drinking Age: Lower it. After Prohibition, nearly all states adopted a minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one. Then, between and , twenty-nine states lowered the MLDA to eighteen, nineteen, or twenty. Advocacy groups urged states to raise their MLDA to twenty-one Mar 01, · The minimum legal drinking age(MLDA) in the United States was 18 years old until , when all fifty states raised their legal drinking age to 21 or older. The drinking age should be lowered from 21 years old to 18 years old because at that age one legally becomes an adult, it would reduce the amount of unsafe drinking activity, and there are fewer drunk driving car accidents in many other Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins
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