This paper argues that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18, asserting that eighteen-year-olds are legally recognized as adults with significant responsibilities including voting, military service, and marriage. The author examines the historical origins of the 21-year-old drinking age through MADD advocacy, analyzes DUI statistics comparing the United States to countries with lower drinking ages, and argues that the current law creates dangerous contradictions in transportation safety. The paper also addresses how the gap between adult status and drinking privileges undermines legal respect and creates societal problems, concluding that lowering the drinking age would be more effective than current enforcement approaches.
A person should be able to drink legally at the age of eighteen. The law that states it is legal to drink at age twenty-one should be changed so that eighteen-year-olds would be allowed to drink alcohol legally. At eighteen, you are now an adult and you are expected to act that way. Legally, you can vote, get married, buy a lottery ticket, serve in the military, and be tried as an adult in the United States court system. These are very important responsibilities that become yours when you reach adulthood.
In the United States, when a person reaches eighteen, they are considered an adult in the eyes of the law. Being an adult in the eyes of the law means being mature enough to vote, buy cigarettes, buy property, and sign up for the Army. The law says an eighteen-year-old is mature enough to make life-altering choices, but not yet ready to drink alcohol. This contradiction lies at the heart of the drinking age debate.
In the United States, there are different rules for different ages, but when a person turns eighteen, they typically move out of their parents' house and begin to socialize more actively with their peer group. The typical eighteen-year-old has at least one friend who is twenty-one, as a two-year age difference is hardly significant. The issue with the drinking law is that it forces citizens in the same social group to have different laws. The drinking age law should be amended to state eighteen as the definitive age of adult maturity—meaning all rights are granted at eighteen. The contradiction between granting significant adult responsibilities while withholding drinking rights creates legal inconsistency and social problems.
The drinking age was moved from eighteen to twenty-one when MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) started to gain popularity. MADD was started after a thirteen-year-old girl was killed by a drunk forty-six-year-old driver. MADD, with the help of the United States Congress, created the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The goal of MADD was to have more mature consumers of alcohol so that the number of DUIs would decrease. This act introduced a federal penalty of ten percent of federal highway dollars for states that did not raise the minimum legal age for the purchase and possession of alcohol to twenty-one.
MADD used underage drinking and driving as the fuel to get this law passed—ironic due to the fact that the original drunk driver was well over twenty-one. Despite this legislative effort, the actual outcomes have not matched the original intentions of the law's creators.
Since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act passed, the number of DUIs for those in the eighteen- to twenty-one age bracket has increased significantly. Fifty-three percent of fatal DUIs are caused by drivers eighteen to twenty-one. Once a person enters the twenty-one to twenty-four age bracket, they are eighteen percent less likely to be in a fatal DUI. In England, where the drinking age is eighteen, the prevalence of fatal DUIs is seventeen percent lower than in the United States for those eighteen to twenty-one.
Eighteen- to twenty-year-olds feel compelled to drink and drive because they have very limited options for safe transportation home. A taxi will not work because the caller would be breaking a law by being intoxicated, calling a parent while illegally drunk is a difficult task, and it is not always possible to walk home. Laws are making it harder for underage drinkers to get home safely. In Ohio, a sober driver who is under the age of twenty-one can get a DUI for driving an underage drunk person home. This law effectively eliminates the option to call a sober friend to drive. The harsh truth is that eighteen-year-olds will continue to drink, even with the scarce safe transportation systems available. The laws are not helping decrease DUIs; they are practically forcing anyone who engages in underage drinking to drive while intoxicated.
The drinking age was moved to twenty-one because it was believed that twenty-one-year-olds were mature enough to drink responsibly. However, one of the biggest decisions an eighteen-year-old can make is to enlist in the military. This means an eighteen-year-old can be shipped to another country and possibly die for his or her country. Another right granted to eighteen-year-olds is the right to choose the next leader of the United States through voting. Smoking, one of the most unhealthy habits, is legal at eighteen. Although it is a matter of perspective, eighteen-year-olds have to face fairly significant decisions—ones that have more bearing on future events than the choice to consume alcohol.
In movies and television shows, college is portrayed as one giant social gathering where everyone, regardless of age, is drinking. When a freshman enters college, it is accepted—even assumed—that they will consume alcohol. The flaw with this thinking is that alcohol under the age of twenty-one is illegal. Yet the widespread cultural expectation creates a disconnect between law and social reality.
The lack of respect for the drinking age causes young people to question other laws. This leads a person to break the law and makes it appear acceptable to pick and choose which laws to follow. A law has to be respected to be followed. While there are ever-present consequences to underage drinking, the people who are affected by the law do not feel like they are committing a crime while engaging in underage drinking. If the majority of those affected by the law do not feel guilty, the law loses its importance and moral authority.
At eighteen, you are an adult, but you lack all adult privileges. The two-year gap of having all the rights but one causes many legal and societal problems. A law needs to fit the norms of society and have its reasoning understood to be respected and followed. The current drinking age creates a contradiction that undermines the entire framework of legal adulthood.
The author believes lowering the drinking age could and would be very effective. There are several programs and studies that support lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen. One of them, Choose Responsibility, believes the minimum drinking age in the U.S. of twenty-one appears to be ineffective and counterproductive. It was passed with good intentions, but has had some of the worst outcomes. Reform efforts continue to challenge the current framework.
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