The drinking age should be lowered in the US | Teen Ink

The drinking age should be lowered in the US

August 3, 2011
By ashley_white11 BRONZE, Auburn, New York
ashley_white11 BRONZE, Auburn, New York
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The drinking age should be lowered back to the age of 18. I feel that for many reasons including that people are adults at that age and should be able to make their own decisions. Setting the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) to 21 is unconstitutional and setting the drinking age to 21 sent the wrong message to teens in the US.

The drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old because people are considered adults at that age. When you are 18 you receive the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. When you are that age you can vote, drive a vehicle, get married and even join the military. So why not be able to consume alcohol? When you are 18 you should be able to make your own decisions about alcohol consumption. This includes taking the responsibilities of life or death.

Another reason is that when the US lowered the drinking age it sent the wrong message about alcohol consumption to people under the age of 21. In this case it seemed like they raised the drinking age to 21 because people where more mature at 21 years old than they are at 18. So teens want to consume alcohol to appear more mature. If the drinking age were lowered it would disable this misconception. Also if it were lowered it would take away the thrill teens get by drinking and breaking the law in the process. Also if it was lowered then parents would teach their children how to drink in moderation and then their children wouldn’t have to sneak around when they are drinking because they would be able to without breaking the law. If it were 18 their children would be able to drink in an observed place where they know that their kid is safe.

Setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 years old is unconstitutional. It is discrimination against the particular age group of 18 to 20 years old. Also lowering the drinking age stop many teens from breaking the law. If you teach your children how to drink in moderation at a young age they would be less likely to drink and drive. They also would be less likely to drink on school nights and mess up their academic work going to school hung over. Statistics say that when the drinking age was 18 their where more car accidents. But truthfully the accident rate just moved from the ages 18-21 to the ages 21-25. Underage drinking is allowed in 29 states if done on private premises with parental consent, 30 states if for religious purposes, and 13 states if for educational purposes.

Therefore the drinking age should be lowered for the age 21 to the age 18 for many reasons. Including that people are adults at the age of 18 and should be trusted to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. Setting the minimum legal drinking age to 21 years old is unconstitutional. Lastly it sends the wrong message about alcohol consumption to teens in the United States.


The author's comments:
This was my English essay and I was told to publish it on here.

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