Drinking Age
Should it be lowered to 18?
Pros
- US citizens are considered adults at 18, they can vote for the Country's leaders, join the military, get married, etc.
- Lowering the age to 18 would decrease unsafe drinking activities by allowing them to drink in public, safe, supervised places.
- There are fewer drinking-related car accidents in Country's with lower drinking ages.
- This would eliminate the 'thrill' teenagers get from drinking, probably resulting in less drinking.
- The majority of teens interact in underage drinking already.
- Other 'enjoyable' recreation activities, such as smoking, are legal at 18; the country doesn't have a right to deny adults of this activity.
Cons
- Lowering the age to 18 would be considered medically irresponsible.
- It would allow more people to drink at bars and clubs, which are considered unsafe environments.
- A higher drinking age reduces total alcohol consumption.
- Lowering the age would cause more drinking-related highway crashes.
- The American Public support the drinking age of 21.
- A higher drinking age prevents underage binge-drinking.
Personal Opinion
I think the MLDA should be lowered to 18. In the United States we are considered 'adults' at the age of 18, and are expected to make our own responsible decisions, go to college, vote for our leaders, etc. It's legal at 18 to join the military and risk your life, smoke cigarettes, and many considerably 'dangerous' activities; it should be legal to drink. If the drinking age was lowered to 18 there would be less underage drinking going on in dangerous places, and the 18-21 year olds who drink regardless of the MLDA could drink in safe and supervised places instead of being in danger. Other countries who have a lower drinking age have much less drinking-related car accidents than those who have higher; if 18year olds were allowed to legally drink, they would be more safe about it and less drunk driving would occur.