Drinking Age Should Be Lowered | Teen Ink

Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

May 18, 2008
By Anonymous

People use alcohol for numerous reasons; peer pressure, celebration, anxiety, sadness, boredom, rebellion and insomnia are just a few. Teens fall under the category of “people”. The legal drinking age is currently twenty-one, but illegally drinking age is as low as zero. Why? Is the main question asked. I can assure you the under age drinking age percentage would drop if the age is lowered.

Few reasons for teens drinking are: peer pressure, enjoyment, etc. But the main reason for doing so is “breaking the law.” 87% of high school seniors have used alcohol. That means that a large quantity of teens under the age of seventeen to eighteen have used alcohol before. We all know why teens drink, I mean is common since. Just the feel that they get of breaking the law is huge. Being rebel and not following the rules is an important role of a teen’s life. Consequences are the one that change them, but we don’t want them to experience the consequences of being under the influence of alcohol because we know them and they are fatal. Dying in a car accident and killing others is a mess that we don’t want to clean.

Despite the fact that is illegal for young teens to purchase it, they are able to get it through their parent’s own liquor cabinets, unscrupulous store clerks, or older friends who purchase it for them. As we all see, is not hard for teens to obtain alcohol. Why not lower the drinking age then? I mean any way you put it, they are getting it.

We have all heard of the famous saying “we want you to join the military and protect your country.” Blah blah blah. Well, you are telling me that I can legally kill someone at the age of eighteen, while I sign up with the military and go to war but I can’t have a sip of alcohol. Due to this none senseless situation, age should be equaled. In other words, if voting and military sign up is eighteen, then drinking should also be eighteen. Besides at the age of eighteen you are legally an adult. Why can’t we drink then?

Drinking age in Australia is eighteen, and in UK is as low as sixteen in restaurants. Studies have showed that those teens/adults are perfectly fine. In fact, Dr. Ruth Engs; professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington, uses this examples to propose the following: “……the drinking age be lowered to about 18 or 19 and permit those of legal age to consume in socially controlled environment such as restaurants and official school and university functions” (direct quote from Dr. Engs).

Drinking age should be lowered, and I know that by lowering it we can drop the percentage of reckless teen alcohol abusers. It is worth trying it , and if everything goes the opposite then change the law once more (which is done lots of times, for dumb reasons) and raise the drinking age back to twenty-one. Changes are always good (most of the times), and I know this one in particular is an excellent one.


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This article has 740 comments.


basketballer said...
on Mar. 21 2013 at 12:22 pm
You should be able to drink. If you want to drink then you should take a class in high school and you have to pass a test if you want to drink at 18-20. You can get married at 18, yo can go to war at 18 but you cant decide to have a beer. One mothers son died because of an overdose but the kids could have saved him if they whernt afraid to call the cops and tell them they where drinking under age.

Ellison0 said...
on Mar. 15 2013 at 9:18 am
Are you like stupid all you reasons are bad.Just because they are drinking anyway does not mean that we should make it easier for them to drink. Yes at 18 you are legally an adult but you have to ease into it. You get to taste freedom but if we give people drinking, voting and everything that goes with it, all you will do is drown them in freedom. They need to learn the ropes a little at a time. Think of it like a game do you get all your abilities at once, No you get a few learn how to use them and then get more. Or like math you don't have all your classes at once kids don't learn there times tables and algebra1,2 geometry,triginetry,calc,etc all at once. You learn algebra then you start algebra 2. Just because you want to drink does not mean we should change the law. The world does not revolve around you,grow up. Lowering the drinking age will make it easier for 18 year olds to drink but it also makes it much much more easier for even younger kids to get beer. Some teenagers are smart and can drink and not have any issues but most are not. Look at any real stastics they will all say that lowering the age will raise the rate of teen drunk driving accidents.

mc.x said...
on Mar. 6 2013 at 5:41 pm
that whatz up

maryylooo said...
on Jan. 29 2013 at 5:22 pm
it makes sense, not since.

trisharenee said...
on Jan. 25 2013 at 10:50 am
i totaly like your comment(:

on Jan. 21 2013 at 5:18 pm
plathfanatic GOLD, Elmont, New York
10 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If there is a god, I bet he looks down at us and laughs at our foolish ways."

I completely agree! I had my first drink when I was about fourteen and for two years, it had consumed my life. I started drinking, only because i knew it was wrong, and i am not saying the drinking age should be lowered to fourteen, but i think 18 is just right. At 18 youre a legal adult, like many people have also stated in these comments. You can live on your own, work, enlist in the military, etc. You should be trusted to be responsible enough, to enjoy a drink or two. Anyway, check out my poem "Fifteen" it talks about just this! Teenage drinking, drug use, depression and so on! :)

Mr Me said...
on Nov. 16 2012 at 12:27 pm
I agree with the point of this article completely, but not how you expressed the point and the reasons either. I'm 16 and a sophomore in high school, and have alot of history with drugs and alcohol, and I have yet to meet a person who drinks, smokes, or commits any other crime for the sole purpose of "breaking the law". Everyone I know drinks and smokes pot because 1) It's a fun activity; the buzz you get from this is normally an enjoyable experience, and why not pursue enjoyable experiences? 2) Teens have stress problems, and considering the ammount of articles on this website expressing so, that point surely could have come to your mind. When you get drunk, you are definately not going to be worried about any of the horrible things you may have been worried about sober.
Regardless, it is a pretty good article.

swaggteen21 said...
on Nov. 5 2012 at 9:28 am
i think the author is corrrect because if the teens feel like they have less of a law to break :)

on Oct. 23 2012 at 9:30 am
You can go to war at eighteen, sometimes before. Going to war does happen to involve the possibility of death and/ or killing another human being.

Roxo said...
on Oct. 21 2012 at 6:41 am
Now a post that makes since. thank you it seems that you understand that teens have a natural urge to break a rule. as they say "Rules are made to broken" honestly  rules just put curiosity in the brain. i bet if you had a glass of alocohol and you set it by a teen who in their life never heard that drinking illegal would probaly not touch it and if they do touch it then that means they really wanted to try it doubt they would drink alot though. I assume that alot of parents read this website and we all know that alot of highschool kids really have not touched the real world yet, and still beleive that what everyone thinks is more important than being yourself. Anyway i really liked the way you thought on this artice good thinking.

DMac said...
on Oct. 11 2012 at 2:38 pm
Drinking age should be lowered because It is true, teens only drink more because they know they are breaking the law. By doing that they feel “cooler” our country would only benefit by the taxes and stuff.

joanna said...
on Oct. 11 2012 at 2:21 pm
i disagree with this us teenagers think are responsible but were not when it comes to drinking we think that its ok to wake up feeling sick and all that but its truly not a good feeling befor thinking of drinking we should learn to mature a little and then think is drinking.

doryforever said...
on Oct. 11 2012 at 1:57 pm
i agree about how teens drink just to brake the law but i  have a question? is drinking with your family illigal ?

on Sep. 22 2012 at 7:00 pm
ChickenLegHouse BRONZE, Brighton, Michigan
3 articles 0 photos 44 comments
Oh, no that was at nav291. I agree with you.

on Sep. 21 2012 at 2:59 pm
Aeliss-Novak-the-Zombie-Space-Pirate BRONZE, That Place With All The Trees And Stuff, Oregon
1 article 3 photos 150 comments

Favorite Quote:
Impossible is not a word, just a reason not to try.~Kutless

I'm going to smile and make you think I'm happy, I'm going to laugh, so you don't see me cry, I'm going to let you go in style, and even if it kills me - I'm going to smile.~Anonymous

I didn't say that...

on Sep. 21 2012 at 7:02 am
ChickenLegHouse BRONZE, Brighton, Michigan
3 articles 0 photos 44 comments
I agree that the age should be eighteen, but simply because you're an aboult then (legally at least) and the government shouldn't be able to tell you if you can or not. Your reasoning seems a little backwards though, if you lower the age them of course the underage drinking will be smaller. Because alot of the people who where underage now aren't.

on Sep. 21 2012 at 6:54 am
ChickenLegHouse BRONZE, Brighton, Michigan
3 articles 0 photos 44 comments
So you support murder, good to know. Nobody should ever be shot, I don't care who it is.

.Dimples said...
on Sep. 7 2012 at 8:27 pm
.Dimples, Long Beach, California
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments
^^In Addition To The Comment Dont take this the wrong way, I did enjoy your article. I believe you have every right to state your opinion. In certain parts, I did agree with you, however, you had some unnessassary statments and facts. Over all, keep writing. I would love to read more.

.Dimples said...
on Sep. 7 2012 at 8:16 pm
.Dimples, Long Beach, California
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments
In paragraph one, last sentence, you wrote, "I can assure you the under age drinking age percentage would drop if the age is lowered." First of all, that just a silly statement. That doesnt make quite sense. Its the same saying that, this would just have a bigger population of drinkers; but in a nice way. Your article would have been a lot stronger if you let that out. Another thing, you continued to repeat the reason too many times. I did not find this article persuasive. Other than that, your writing skills are good (I enjoyed that).

on Sep. 7 2012 at 2:23 pm
I think that drinking consumption in teens would lower if the age was lowered. Its suppodesly 'Cool' do drink when your not supposed to.