Lowering the drinking age in the United States

¶ … lower the minimum drinking age. Alcohol is something that damages people's body and their social personality as well. The drink if taken in excess has been adverse effects and increase is the risk of assault and crime. Alcohol is directly linked to increased car crashes and fatalities as well. Due to all these reasons, it has been emphasized that the drinking age should not be lowered.

Alcohol

Alcohol is something that is a temptation for all those who can't drink or aren't legally allowed. Even though it is quite a popular drink in the American culture regardless of what the occasion is or who is drinking. Sporting events have overload of beer where as wine flows freely on weddings and elegant events. Alcohol is merely an entertaining tool and it has to be there as a necessity for some. This can be explained easier if some people gather together on an occasion, they always eat. Whether it is food or snacks or a proper three course meal, food is a must. Similarly, in about seventy percent of the cases, alcohol is a must as well. Many like it either before food, during food or after food. Times when people are happy such as a celebration dinner, birthdays and weddings, alcohol is mandatory as well. Seeing how the American culture brings in alcohol in so many places, many often wonder if the drinking age should be lowered or not?

The Minimum drinking age should not be lowered below 21. The major reason for going against this that it causes a lot of damage to a person's body. The major organs of the body such as the brain and the liver are affected by alcohol. Furthermore, alcohol also causes teenagers to drive recklessly and get into fatal accidents. Alcohol itself increases risky behavior and increases the incidence of crime and assault. Seeing how alcohol is available openly in many places, many think that the drinking age should be lowered so the teenagers don't get into illegal acts. However, many other things like drugs are there in the open, but just because of that use of substances cannot be made legal.

Alcohol itself is a stimulant of the nervous system. It affects the body and the brain on many different levels. There is a reason why 21 is the threshold set for drinking alcohol legally. Even though alcohol is attainable through illegal forms in a lot of places, it is still illegal. It is also known that getting alcohol itself or drinking it a part or something is not very hard. However, a major reason that the drinking ages shouldn't be lowered is because how alcohol affects the body. This is a very irresponsible act to take out when a person is not twenty one. The frontal lobes of the human brain are quite essential and reasonable for many crucial actions of the human mind. They are required for the proper development of the personality the way a person plans and thinks. Things like regulating emotions and organizing thoughts and actions is also a major function of the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe develops throughout adolescence and young adulthood. Everyone knows that alcohol can cause developmental issues in the growing baby during pregnancy. If alcohol can reach a baby inside the womb, surely it can affect your brain development as well. Therefore alcohol consumption at a young age causes a person to end with long lasting problems. (Birckmayer & Hemenway) A person could get addicted very easily, have reduced decision making ability and develop more risk taking behavior. It can also lead to depression, memory loss, violence and ultimately suicide. All these facts therefore tell us that starting to drink at younger age will just get the person in more trouble sooner.

As mentioned earlier, alcohol is available through various means. Even though it is available, all those means and routes are illegal. Regardless of how confident a child or a teenager is in bringing in supplies, there would be a little bit of danger and hesitation in this process. For a lot of teenagers, the fear of being arrested or caught keeps them away from drinking. Along with keeping them medically safe, alcohol reduces the risk of irrational behavior as well. There is a big difference in drinking and drinking irresponsibly. If the minimum drinking age is lowered, then the major segment of the drinking population would go on to drink in nightclubs and bars. 76% of the bars are known to sell alcohol to people who have been drunk bound the safe levels. These bars don't really care if these people would go on to drive after drinking. This drunk driving then not only gets themselves in danger but others on the roads in danger as well. Bars and nightclubs are also locations that have high crime rate and frequent assaults. If immature teenagers end up going there, they can be fooled into a lot of dangerous activities.

A study done in 2002 revealed that due to the two minimum drinking ages being 21, the amount of fatalities and traffic accidents has lowered. There were about 102 analyses done, and out of these 100 of them revealed that the reduction is due to the minimum drinking age being 21. (Wagenaar & Toomey) The national highway authority stated that the number of accidents and fatalities for eighteen to twenty-year-old decreased by about 13%. This amount is surely huge and it shows how many lives are saved due to the drinking age being 21. There has to be some sort of correlation between the driving age being 16 and the drinking age being 21. Many people argue that the legal driving age is 16 and 18 is the age when a teenager is basically an adult and can even move out. The transition from driving and being able to drink is there so teenagers get a hang of driving. This is there so they know what they are doing on the road and they know how to handle a car. Drunk driving has been a killer for a lot of teenagers and if the drinking age is lowered then the accidents were not only increase in number but become more fatal as well.