While the age requirements for these rights and privileges are more or less accepted, the legal drinking age remains a contentious issue in the United States. Email Send me the sample. Accessed January 7, Get ideas now. citizens are qualified to join the military.
Essays Related To Lowering the Drinking Age to 18
One of those regulations is the drinking age of our country. In the United States, drinking age lowered to 18 essay, the drinking age has been 21 since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed by Congress in When the drinking age was raised, the goal was to reduce highway driving fatalities. Despite the fact that this has been the law for 34 years, if the drinking age was lowered to 18, it would greatly boost the economy and benefit the community. At the age of 18, U. citizens are qualified to join the military. It is no secret that in most states, people the age of 18 are also allowed to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Deciding which, alcohol or tobacco products, is worse than the other has been a standing argument for years, but the reality of the situation is at our fingertips. Some individuals may choose to see the other side of the argument, even with the presented facts at hand. Binge drinking and alcohol poisoning are a serious risk to underage alcohol consumers. If public drinking was allowed, there would be no hiding or sneaking involved in the consumption of alcohol, therefore making it safer for the public. Want to get an original essay on this topic? According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, underage drinking accounts for about Drinking age lowered to 18 essay into numbers, that results to about With that being said, lowering the drinking age would make public drinking more common.
From the suburbs, to college campuses, to inner cities, kids find ways to get around the 21 year old limit. Instead of hassling to sneak alcohol into concerts, sporting events, and other activities, year olds could drink comfortably and more responsibly. With more people buying alcohol throughout the country, this would greatly boost economic revenue. And as long as college students can go to bars, the bars are going to keep making money. With more people buying drinks from liquor stores, small town bars and restaurants, this will cause the tax revenue to increase as well, bringing in more money for the community. As John Mccardell of Middlebury College puts it, the drinking age of 21 has been an abysmal failure. It has not reduced or limited drinking activity in minors, but simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, and in private.
The truth of the matter is, underage drinkers are going to get their hands on alcohol regardless of the law. Underage drinking has become a new norm in society. Police officers are beginning to realize that they cannot stop it, they can only contain it. Authorities find themselves making two arrests or convictions for every thousand violations. If efforts of police officers were more focused on alcohol abuse, the overconsumption of alcohol, and d. driving instead of trying to chase kids with a beer in their hand, they would be more successful in keeping society safe. If people the age of 18 were able to drink legally, there would be no reason to hide their alcohol consumption, thus making it easier for authorities and also guardians to control and regulate.
Upon turning 18, they are now eligible to enlist in the military, vote for local, state, and national government positions, and they are allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products. As stated by The Odyssey, more thanpeople die each year from smoking cigarettes, while drinking causes nearly 88, deaths per year. These numbers show that smoking cigarettes cause four times more deaths in America per year than consuming alcohol. If this is the truth, what sense does it make for the product that causes the most deaths to be available at a younger age? If an year-old can make the decision to smoke cigarettes and increase their risk of getting cancer, then it should be up to them to consume alcohol responsibly. As stated before, year-olds can make the decision of going into the military and fighting for their country.
Drinking age lowered to 18 essay most people, this is a big decision, as it should be. If an year-old is capable of making the decision to fire a weapon and put their life on the line in battle, they should be able to enjoy a refreshing adult beverage if they wish. Alcohol is a sedative and a depressant that affects the central nervous system, relaxing your muscles and soothing the mind. With this being said, if an individual is mature enough to make life-altering decisions such as smoking cigarettes and joining the military, they should be able to enjoy alcoholic beverages as well.
Some people may choose to view this topic from the other side. While the risk of underage drinkers binge drinking and getting alcohol poisoning is a real concern, most teens consume alcohol with the fear of being caught and the uncertainty of when they will be able to drink again. If the drinking age was lowered to 18, drinking age lowered to 18 essay, college students and other people of the same age could consume alcohol comfortably and in a safer manner, lowering the risk of alcohol poisoning. If year-olds could legally consume alcohol, drinking age lowered to 18 essay, it would take away that adrenaline rush factor they get from consuming alcohol at their age and they would be more controlled instead of feeling the need to always overdo it.
As stated before, the 21 drinking age has not prevented the consumption of alcohol in minors in the slightest. The law has created a culture of reckless behavior and unsupervised binging. With this in mind, normalizing alcohol consumption as something done responsibly in moderation will make drinking alcohol less of a taboo for young adults entering drinking age lowered to 18 essay and the workforce. In conclusion, lowering the drinking age to 18 would boost the economy, benefit the community, and prevent kids under the age of 21 from binge drinking and reduce the risk of alcohol poisoning in minors. Every time a party gets busted and every underage drinker gets a ticket, authorities are pushing the issue further and further underground.
The reality is, kids are going to find ways to escape the limit, no matter what the law says. Dropping the age to 18 would nearly eliminate the behavior that teenagers exhibit when they come in contact with alcohol. Furthermore, drinking age lowered to 18 essay, this would allow them to experience alcohol consumption in moderation, instead of acting recklessly and being irresponsible, on top of dealing with possible health issues that could come with it. With that being said, drinking age lowered to 18 essay, lowering the drinking age to 18 would greatly benefit society and in drinking age lowered to 18 essay, keep young adults safer and teach them how to be responsible instead of teaching them how to be sneaky. Lowering the Drinking Age to com, Jul 10, Accessed January 7, comJul Order paper like this.
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Police officers are beginning to realize that they cannot stop it, they can only contain it. Authorities find themselves making two arrests or convictions for every thousand violations. If efforts of police officers were more focused on alcohol abuse, the overconsumption of alcohol, and d. driving instead of trying to chase kids with a beer in their hand, they would be more successful in keeping society safe. If people the age of 18 were able to drink legally, there would be no reason to hide their alcohol consumption, thus making it easier for authorities and also guardians to control and regulate. Upon turning 18, they are now eligible to enlist in the military, vote for local, state, and national government positions, and they are allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.
As stated by The Odyssey, more than , people die each year from smoking cigarettes, while drinking causes nearly 88, deaths per year. These numbers show that smoking cigarettes cause four times more deaths in America per year than consuming alcohol. If this is the truth, what sense does it make for the product that causes the most deaths to be available at a younger age? If an year-old can make the decision to smoke cigarettes and increase their risk of getting cancer, then it should be up to them to consume alcohol responsibly. As stated before, year-olds can make the decision of going into the military and fighting for their country. For most people, this is a big decision, as it should be. If an year-old is capable of making the decision to fire a weapon and put their life on the line in battle, they should be able to enjoy a refreshing adult beverage if they wish.
Alcohol is a sedative and a depressant that affects the central nervous system, relaxing your muscles and soothing the mind. With this being said, if an individual is mature enough to make life-altering decisions such as smoking cigarettes and joining the military, they should be able to enjoy alcoholic beverages as well. Some people may choose to view this topic from the other side. While the risk of underage drinkers binge drinking and getting alcohol poisoning is a real concern, most teens consume alcohol with the fear of being caught and the uncertainty of when they will be able to drink again. If the drinking age was lowered to 18, college students and other people of the same age could consume alcohol comfortably and in a safer manner, lowering the risk of alcohol poisoning.
If year-olds could legally consume alcohol, it would take away that adrenaline rush factor they get from consuming alcohol at their age and they would be more controlled instead of feeling the need to always overdo it. As stated before, the 21 drinking age has not prevented the consumption of alcohol in minors in the slightest. The law has created a culture of reckless behavior and unsupervised binging. With this in mind, normalizing alcohol consumption as something done responsibly in moderation will make drinking alcohol less of a taboo for young adults entering college and the workforce. In conclusion, lowering the drinking age to 18 would boost the economy, benefit the community, and prevent kids under the age of 21 from binge drinking and reduce the risk of alcohol poisoning in minors.
Every time a party gets busted and every underage drinker gets a ticket, authorities are pushing the issue further and further underground. The reality is, kids are going to find ways to escape the limit, no matter what the law says. time understanding the logic of the law. In addition, the accepted notion by young people in the United States is that when one turns 18, he or she receives the responsibilities of an adult and the rights that accompany the age. When a young individual turns 18 years he or she is considered ripe for decision making, this transitions to alcohol consumption and many choose to consume alcohol despite the laws against it. Legally the Constitution of the United States contains clauses that render prohibition of alcohol to individuals between the ages of constitutionally incorrect.
Amendment 14 section 1 of the US Constitution states that no state shall be no state laws shall impede the constitutional rights and privileges of the citizens making the drinking age an impediment of legal adults year-olds Engs, It is ad fact that the onset of puberty is accompanied by a rebellious nature in teenagers. The normal teenagers consider breaking rules or the law a norm and a way to fit in among peers. Research carried out among high school students revealed that while peer pressure and enjoyment are a major cause of underage drinking, breaking the law is the primary cause. The rebellious nature in students recognizes drinking as one of the major ways of breaking the law without dire consequences, and they embrace the practice. Lowering the drinking will reduce the rebellious appeal of alcohol reducing the number of young consumers.
Increasing the accessibility of alcohol reduces the mysterious appeal of alcohol among the young generation. The thrill associated with alcohol abuse will significantly drop when alcohol restrictions are loosened. Also, the thrill associated with underage drinking can be a recipe for fatal consequences. Binge drinking, a dangerous activity, is a common phenomenon in many American Universities. On the contrary in countries where the drinking age is eighteen, the behavior is entirely different. For instance, American students between the years who study in the UK have a different lifestyle to students in the US What drives underage drinking: An international analysis, Americans in the UK have been robbed of the thrill of law breakage when drinking alcohol.
Consequently, the students there drink moderately as a social activity without the usual fanatical approach adopted by American students. Underage drinking, especially for college students in the United States, is rarely referred as a normal and social activity but rather as a way of impeding the law and the existing societal structure. Lowering the drinking age will reduce the thrill which will subsequently curtail the need to drink as a form of rebellion. On one side of the debate are those who want to maintain the current minimum legal drinking age at 21 years; on the other side of the debate are those who want to lower it to 18 years.
Lowering the minimum legal drinking age may come across as problematic at first, but is actually a sound policy and counterintuitive solution to some issues related to drinking among the youth. Firstly, setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 years is incongruent with the age of majority set for other rights and privileges. The main reason why the drinking age exists is the belief that young people do not have the maturity it takes to responsibly handle alcohol. While this general principle in itself is true, at least as far as children and younger teenagers are concerned, it nonetheless does not make sense that the drinking age is set at 21 while many other rights and privileges require a far lower age.
The minimum legal age for driving, for instance, widely varies among the states. Some states such as Alaska, Arkansas, and Kansas allow teenagers as young as 14 years to drive, while the maximum age for the other states is 16 years Witmer, Meanwhile, the minimum age to vote in the general elections is set at 18 years while some states even allow voting at 17 years for primaries USA. gov, The right to vote and the privilege to drive have minimum age requirements for the same reason that there is an age requirement for purchasing alcohol—that is, the belief that people younger than those ages lack the maturity and responsibility entailed in driving and voting.
Examination of the differences in age requirements, however, reveals how flawed the drinking age is. It simply does not make sense how a person 14 years of age can be considered as having the maturity and responsibility to drive yet still be regarded as immature and irresponsible to handle alcohol. If adulthood is requisite to drinking, then 18 years should be set as the drinking age rather than 21 years for the same reason that this is the age when a person is considered an adult and therefore entitled to vote. Another reason why the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years is because it demystifies drinking and therefore may help lower the number of teenagers who drink alcohol. According to studies, one of the primary reasons why the youth drinks alcohol is the desire to project maturity and independence National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], Because alcohol is not allowed for people younger than 21 years, drinking becomes a symbol of maturity and independence.
As a result, young people turn to purchasing and consuming alcohol in secret. Lowering the drinking age to 18, on the other hand, will help demystify alcohol. When it becomes more accessible to people 18 years of age, it loses its symbolic value. Hence, lowering the drinking age has the potential to discourage young people from drinking alcohol, seeing how it is no longer restricted to a higher age group and therefore no longer as appealing to younger people.
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