There has been an ongoing controversy on whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or still be at 21. Underage drinking has been a major issue for a long time, and people are still trying to come up with measures that will help curb the issue (Dean-Mooney, 2014). Despite the raising of the drinking age, teenagers and young adults under the age of 21 still buy alcohol using fake IDs, get into bars and even hold parties where they drink excessively. As a young adult, I am certain that these things are happening not only in colleges and universities but also in high schools as well. Many articles have been written trying to show the essence why the drinking age should be lowered while others disagree with the concept thus creating a controversy over the issue.
There are many factors that lead a teen or a young adult into illegally consuming alcohol. One of them is peer pressure. Most teens hang out with seniors who have attained the legal drinking age, and therefore, they feel that they need to take alcohol so as fit in. Also, today's advertisements for most liquor companies showcase the culture of taking alcohol as a cool one. We all know that teens and young adults are usually attracted to things that tend to make them cooler before their peers. Therefore, these ads somehow contribute to teenagers and young adults illegal drinking. Another contributing factor is the fact that most of us young adults have a tendency of wanting to do what we asked not to engage in; the notion of the forbidden fruit (Tracy, 2016). They are motivated to take these alcoholic drinks, and yet they know they not supposed to.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
From the major debates that have been going on over the issue, here are some of the views given by each side. One side is for the legal age being retained at 21 since they feel that by keeping it that way, teens and young adults under this age will be safe from harm caused by alcoholism. One of their main argument is that having a higher drinking age will help reduce road accidents caused by drunk youths. Also, lowering the drinking age will lead to long-term consequences such as those who drink early having a high chance of becoming alcoholics in future and even developing diseases related to alcoholism earlier than when they would have, if they started taking it at 21 (Dean-Mooney, 2014).
Moving on to the other side of the debate, those who feel that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 have their valid reasons too. One of them is that this will lead to a decrease in binge drinking among teens and young adults and also provide an atmosphere where they can drink in formal areas where they can be supervised (Glaser, 2015). Also, since it will not be a forbidden fruit anymore, most of these youths will not have the urge to want to break the law. Also, there has not been any significant change to the situation even after changing the drinking age to 21. Young adults have been taking alcohol and having easy access to it despite the set rules.
Analyzing the whole situation, it is clear that maintain the drinking age at 21 only drives underage youths’ alcohol use underground, in that, they will continue using it in hidden places which is more harmful. If I was to give my opinion, I would support the side that champions for lowering the drinking age to 18. By doing this, the number of youths who actually use it will reduce since it will no longer attract the taboo status that it enjoys today.
References
Dean-Mooney, L. (2014). A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe . Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/09/08/a-lower-age-would-be-unsafe
Glaser, G. (2015). Return the Drinking Age to 18, and Enforce It . Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/02/10/you-must-be-21-to-drink/return-the-drinking-age-to-18-and-enforce-it
Tracy, S. (2016). Is the National Drinking Age Doing More Harm Than Good? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-tracy/national-drinking-age-doing-more-harm_b_4629417.html
