Lowering Drinking Age: Argumentative Essay

Bryant Burleson        

9/30/15        

Honors

Argumentative essay

The Drinking Age

To drink or not to drink, that is the question. I personally believe that we should lower it to 18. To begin with, when you turn 18 you are considering an adult and you are able to participate in adult recreational activities. Secondly, countries with an MLDA of 18 have fewer accidents and lowering the MLDA to 18 would reduce the number of underage people who are hurt from alcohol-related injuries or accidents due to fear of legal consequences if they sought medical attention.  Another reason is that the state governments should have the right to establish a lower legal drinking age that reflects their unique demographics, legal context, and history. Finally, my last reason is an MLDA of 21enforcement is not a priority for many law enforcement agencies. Police are inclined to ignore or under-enforce MLDA 21 because of resource limitations, statutory obstacles, perceptions that punishments are inadequate, and the time and effort required for processing and paperwork. An estimated, two of every 1,000 occasions of illegal drinking by youth under 21 results might get arrested. (Pro-con)

            When you turn 18 you are considered an adult and are able to make much life changing decisions. (Pro-Con) One thing will be, you are able to join the military. Joining the military is a big decision because you could be in combat and risking your life for your country or in a different area surrounded by strangers and/or enemies who you could also be in combat with those people you see. Another decision you can make when you turn 18 is being able to purchase tobacco products and other harmful substances. Those harmful substances could be dip, cigarettes, and other addicting substance. If the government is worried about liver disease and losing brain cells from alcohol but allows you to buy cigarettes, that causes lung cancer and is very addicting, then they are really making a bad decision on what they are trying to do for us. Besides cigarettes, another tobacco product is spitting tobacco or dip. In which you can also purchase at 18, is spitting tobacco. Spitting tobacco can cause gum cancer and is also very addicting. Another thing that you could do when you turn 18 is the gamble. Gambling is very addicting and can ruin someone life. It could put a person in debt if they cannot control them self especially if you let a teenager who just turned 18 and has not had enough time to mature to where they would be able to control them self. Gambling and alcohol have one thing in common; it can make you go in debt so what is the point of having cigarettes and gambling at 18 and drinking at 21 when they are all the same thing, bad! Above all, the biggest decision when turning 18 is voting for the President of the United States. Voting for the president is very important because not only will effect this generation but also future generations. Also when you turn 18 and still in high school, you are able to drop out. Finally, when you turn 18, you are able to find an apartment and live on their own. When you are able to live under your own roof and do all that other stuff when you turn 18, why are we not allowed to drink?  

            Secondly lowering the MLDA to 18 would have fewer accidents and reduce the number of underage people who are hurt from alcohol-related injuries or accidents due to fear of legal consequences if they sought medical attention. (Pro-Con) For example, when I turn 18 and go to a party with alcohol and drink too much and possibly hurt myself by cutting open my arm; I would not go to go to a hospital right away but instead just wait till I sober  up and then go, which could cause serious injury if not treated right away. Another reason for lowering the MLDA to 18 would be for teens to practice safe drinking with adult supervision. Keeping it at 21, teens will do a lot of underage drinking in unsafe environments. If teens are able to practice safe drinking under adult supervision and in a safe environment, then accidents and deaths will go down from unsafe drinking. Teens are still going to find a way to drink, legal or not and it would help decrease the amount they over drink. Teens look at alcohol now as something they may never have again until they turn 21 so in turn going to drink as much as they can of it. If the MLDA would lower, they wouldn’t try to drink as much as they can at once because they know they will be able to buy it again    

            Another reason is that the state governments should have the right to establish a lower legal drinking age that reflects their unique demographics, legal context, and history. The Uniform Drinking Act, which compelled states to set the legal drinking age at 21 by withholding ten percent of highway funding from states that kept the minimum legal drinking age at 18, is an example of federal government overreach into state affairs. Many states that were happy with their MLDA 18 bowed to federal pressure rather than lose millions in annual highway funds. (Procon). States should be able to change the drinking age if the people wanted it lowered. The government should not withhold highway funding just because the states do what the people wanted them too.

Finally, an MLDA of 21 enforcement is not a priority for many law enforcement agencies. Police are inclined to ignore or under-enforce MLDA 21 because of resource limitations, statutory obstacles, perceptions that punishments are inadequate, and the time and effort required for processing and paperwork. An estimated, two of every 1,000 occasions of illegal drinking by youth under 21 results will get arrested. (Procon) The police do not have the time or money to arrest every underage drinker. If we lower the MLDA to 18 then the police will have less to worry about and would have more time to worry about the burglary and other important crimes. Even if the police did try to step up and arrest every underage drinker, it would not stop them. The teenager would just and try to find another way to get the alcohol. It might be by fake I.D. or paying someone who is 21 to buy it for them. So there is really no way to stop underage drinking, kids are too immature to obey the law.