...Minimum Drinking Age Do you think the current drinking age should stay the same? Nearly every country, all over the world has a certain drinking age. The minimum drinking age shouldn’t remain at 21. Other countries throughout the world, have a drinking age of at least 18 years or under. The U.S. has one of the highest drinking ages (Minimum Drinking Age). As a result of having the 21 and over drinking law, it has actually made it become a more dangerous environment. The national minimum drinking age act, needs to be reconsidered. First of all, while having a minimum drinking age may sound like a good idea, it only prompts private drinking. In today’s society, drinking is promoted as a noviolet activity. For example, the minimum drinking age actually makes the youth drinking culture less safe by encouraging irresponsible drinking habits among those under age. For instance, since it’s illegal to purchase or drink alcohol, teenagers often drink in unsafe environments. “Instead of drinking in a controlled situation, going to a bar with a drink limit or something, they’re doing it at keg...
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...Should Abortion be Legal? PHI 103 Should Abortion be legal? Part I: Thesis As we approach a presidential election, a hot topic has been abortion. The candidates have announced their stance of either being pro-choice or pro-life. Many people have based their choices on who they will vote for based on this stance, especially women. The United States of America was founded by those fleeing from religious persecution. In an article from the News Mail Bundaberg, the writer wrote that they did not “believe abortion should be used as a lazy form of contraception, but nor do I believe women's bodies should be legislated. Some say abortion is "playing God", but then so is all medicine” (unknown, 2010) Legalizing abortion guarantees that women receive the basic right to choose what happens with their own reproductive systems. Part II: Argument The right to choose is a big deciding factor in agreeing that abortion should be legal. There are certain instances in which a woman should be able to choose if they would like to continue with their pregnancy. For example, if a woman was raped and became pregnant, they should be able to choose whether or not they would like to have that child. Otherwise, they will end up with a child that they have to take care of that will be a constant reminder of that rape. Another instance is incest. If a woman is pregnant and the fetus is fathered by a family member, that woman should have a right to choose if they would like to have that child or...
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...Annotated Bibliography for Underage Drinking Heather Myers DeVry University Annotated Bibliography for Underage Drinking The author stares that, “39% of current 8th graders, 58% of 10th graders, 72% of 12th graders, and 85% of college students have tried alcohol” (Bowersox 2013). Now think in eighth grade the teen is only fourteen years old! That is seven years under the state designated drinking age of twenty-one years. Why is the community allowing teens to drink under the age of twenty-one? Maybe because they think it makes them “cool” parents. This shouldn’t happen there are many reasons on why adults should become less lenient and should not allow their children, friends or family to drink underage the legal drinking age. Our community should be aware of the effects that alcohol has on teens, families, school, and communities. Our young generation does not need alcoholic beverages because those years leading up to the 21st birthday are years to cherish that don’t involve alcohol. After the 21st birthday adults have their whole entire lives to go out and drink minimally without damaging their bodies. Bowersox, J. (2013, March 29). NIH Fact Sheets - Underage Drinking. Retrieved September 22, 2014. This source is categorized in past, present and future facts. It shows different facts about underage drinking in the United States. For example, in the year 1960 to 1970 the legal drinking age in the U.S. was only 18 years old. Later, it was raised to 21 years. This kind...
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...Persuasive Essay I can’t wait until you turn 21 and then you can buy us alcohol!” something I’m sure many of you have said to an older friend or sibling. Well, many of you may not know this but I was surprised when I learned that the law in IL only states that the possession and purchase of alcohol for those who are underage is illegal. ProCons.org informs us that exceptions do exist on a state-by-state basis for consumption at home, under adult supervision, for medical necessity, and other reasons. So this brings about a very controversial question that I have. Why can’t we lower the drinking age? Yes, there are risks, but there are also many facts that bring the pros of this recreation to light. (First, let me say, that I am definitely not delusional in saying this would be a perfect plan, but even though there are risks they do not outweigh the good) Before we go into the pros and cons of this situation I think you should all know the reason as to why the drinking age is 21 anyway. Well, according to a blog from a reputable source called the mental floss, we ended up with a national minimum age of 21 because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. This law doesn't prohibit drinking per se; it merely requires states to outlaw purchase and public possession by people under 21. So, that being said, the first risk everyone seems to touch upon is that drinking under the age of 21 can interfere with brain development. I have learned from previous classes that...
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...The drinking age should be lowered in the US By ashley_white11, Auburn, NY More by this author Email me when ashley_white11 contributes work The drinking age should be lowered in the US Image Credit: John W., Evergreen, CO The author's comments: Quotes This was my English essay and I was told to publish it on here. Quotes 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...
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...Assignment 1.1: Conflicting Viewpoints Essay - Part I Prewriting Antonio Smith Professor Erin DiCesare PHI 210 Critical Thinking April 20, 2015 Drinking Age Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18 years old? I think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old. There are some interesting subjects that oppose my thinking that can be argued to be true. First, lowering the drinking age would be medically irresponsible. Second, lowering the drinking age would give high school and middle school students easier access to alcohol. Third, lowering MLDA 21 to 18 will irresponsibly allow a greater segment of the population to drink alcohol in bars and nightclubs. It would be medically irresponsible to lower the age limit from 21 to 18 years old to legally drink or purchase alcohol. There are studies that show alcohol consumption can interfere with the growth and development of a young adult brain’s frontal lobes. The frontal lobes are essential for functions such as emotional regulation, planning, and organization. The potential for chronic problems such as greater vulnerability to addiction, dangerous risk-taking behavior, reduced decision-making ability, memory loss, depression, violence, and suicide is greater when drinking at an early age. [1][2][3][4] What’s interesting about this view is that the brain is still growing and effected by early drinking. If I was to look from this angle I would understand that younger people already have a hard time planning...
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...Essay 2 Rough Draft Writing 123 Enthymeme: The minimum legal drinking age in the United States should not be lowered from 21 to 18 because the legal drinking age is in place to protect young people at a time when irresponsible behavior is prevalent. The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Debate Since 2008, 136 college chancellors and presidents have signed the Amethyst Initiative, asking that the United States reconsider the minimum legal drinking age-21 (MLDA-21) laws that have been in place in all 50 states since 1984. The Amethyst Initiative argues that the MLDA-21 laws simply do not work, create a culture of binge-drinking, and that a policy of legalization and education would be more effective in protecting the safety of American adolescents. Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, the president of Sweet Briar College in Virginia and Amethyst Initiative signatory writes that 70 percent of the student population is underage. Teaching abstinence to students that blatantly ignore the MLDA-21 laws, or urging responsible behavior while drinking underage and breaking the law, are both hypocritical positions for the college administration to be in (Muhlenfeld 2). The Amethyst Initiative position is that current MLDA-21 laws have created a culture of heavy alcohol use by making drinking clandestine and extreme (Saylor 1). The statistics seem to back up this claim. Recent survey's of the 18-20 year old population by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that a full 72 percent report...
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...Addiction and Recovery: APA Liberty University Abstract American advertising and the influence it has on today’s American youth is oppressing. In this essay I will be pointing out my views and opinion on this matter. In particular I will focus on alcohol ads and the pull it has on our youth. I will also point out how the alcohol ads portray itself to the young community and other audiences as well. The attitudes and behavior of today’s youth seem to be affected by what the world of advertisement is telling them is ok. The American youth is not yet very experienced; I feel the advertising world recognizes this and has a lot to gain from it. I will then go into the attitudes and behaviors of American youth and how advertisement affects them. I will discuss some research and facts from, “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” on the long term effects of alcohol use, as well as other research facts. (CDC, 2015) Buzzle.com. (2015). [Advertisement].Retrieved from http://www.Buzzle.com AMERICAN ADVERTISING & AMERICAN YOUTH American advertising has a tremendous pull on our youth today. It seems as though every time we turn around we are being exposed to some kind of advertisement. In this essay I will be focusing on alcohol ads and how they are portrayed to our youth today. It is in my opinion that alcohol ads make drinking look fun and harmless. In all reality, the alcohol companies are only trying to sell their product and make money even at the cost of possibly ruining...
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...Should the Legal Drinking Age be lowered to 18? Ryan A. Conklin is a soldier who enlisted into the Army at the age of 17. He was deployed to Iraq when he was just 20 years old. In his book, he wrote about his daily duties of a soldier in Iraq and all of the sights and sounds that he witnessed. He makes a comment in his book about the drinking age in the United States. He states “I was twenty years old, and on April Fools’ Day, I would turn twenty-one finally legal to drink in a bar. Unfortunately, I was two-and-a-half years into serving my country and was living in a combat zone, and I found it odd that until then I was still not allowed to drink alcohol in the States. A law I hope will be changed in my lifetime.” Different cultures and societies respond different to alcohol in terms of how much they can drink and what their bodies can handle. The legal age to consume alcohol in the U.S. should be lowered to eighteen for the sake of the people, the economy, and safety. When a male or female turns the age of 18, they now reserve the right to serve in the military. When war broke out with Iraq, people were chosen to go over that just turned the age of 18. In the book “An Angel in Hell” by Ryan A. Conklin, he stated “he would always wake up hoping that that day was not the last day he would be on this Earth. He was always on high alert while on patrols, dodging bullets and shooting his own gun just to stay alive.” He also said, in his book, “that he found it odd and annoying...
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...Underage Drinking at Home: Big Problem Rabia Badar University of Phoenix COMM/215 December 10, 2012 Carol J. Amato, M.A. Should minors be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages in their homes with their parents’ consent? Underage drinking is a big problem throughout United States. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. This Act helped decreased the cause of deaths of minors because minors didn’t purchase it. This law only prohibited the minors from purchasing it but not from drinking it. The president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for example, accused the university heads of "not doing their homework" on the relationship between the drinking age and traffic fatalities (Tetelbaum 2009). The university was accused they said the deaths only occur between the ages of 18 – 20 but actually the deaths were occurring 16years or younger due to underage drinking. They believe underage drinking shouldn’t be allowed even if it’s at home. What are we really teaching our kids? This is something I talk about all the time at school with my kids and encourage parents to discuss with their kids. The more we discuss this topic with our generation they more they will understand the importance of underage drinking. Underage drinking costs Americans taxpayers approximately 61.9 billion dollars annually and in 2000, only 71 million was spent on prevention. Whereas 1.8 billion dollars...
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...Age Restrictions on Alcohol Relative to Military Eligibility I expect you to protect our country. I am going to give you a gun and when ordered to I expect you to take another human life without question. I expect you to be willing to die and watch others around you die. However you will not be allowed to drink alcohol and if you do you may face military and criminal charges. This is what we tell our soliders that are under the age of twenty-one. While most of us agree that the legal drinking age should be twenty-one plus there should be exceptions for our military personal who we expect to protect our country and die if needed. The minimum age to join the military in the United States in seventeen years old with parental consent or eighteen years old without parental consent. If we consider this in greater detail we can surmise that at age eighteen you are old enough to make the choice to join the military and put your life at risk. You are also given a great responsibility of protecting our country. For those that do not enlist in the military their responsibilities are typically much less. While there are certain to be exceptions, most young adults between the age of eighteen and twenty-one are concerned with school, work, friends and dating. Their level of maturity and understanding on life is not fully developed and they are just starting to explore the world on their own. Prior to 1984 some states did allow people to buy and consume alcohol at the age of eighteen...
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...Sin Taxes for Rising Health Care Costs Shante Dennard Eng. 122 Composition II Instructor: Jessica Harnish April 1, 2013 Over the years many states have failed to adjust tax rate inflation which has resulted in a loss of billions of dollars in potential revenue. That revenue could have help funded essential health and human needs programs or reduce the deficit. Revenue from alcohol and tobacco continues to be of more importance these days as our economy tries to overcome budget deficits. A 2008 report of the Congressional Budget Office estimated that increasing and reforming federal alcohol taxes could generate more than $28 billion in new revenue over five years. Alcohol and tobacco imposes enormous cost on society an according to the latest government estimates some $185 billion per year. Alcohol and tobacco should be taxed because health care imposes an enormous cost on society. This is associated with the underage use of alcohol and tobacco, traffic crash fatalities, certain crimes and alcohol related health problems. The author (Green, R. (2011) uses a public health nursing model, the Public Health Code of Ethics (Public Health Leadership Society, 2002), the American Nurses' Association (ANA) Code of Ethics (2001), and other relevant ethical theory to weigh and balance the arguments for and against the use of sin taxes. Some say that an increase in “sin taxes” will increase health care costs, but the government will take a greater role in regulating health...
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...Today, the consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 is generally illegal across the United States; however, there are some states that have exceptions allowing underage consumption of alcohol in certain circumstances. Underage drinking is allowed if done on private premises with parental consent or for religious purposes. In Ruth Engs’ opinion, based upon her research, “as a nation we have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems. This was during National Prohibition in the 1920’s and State Prohibition during the 1850’s. These laws were finally repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash towards them caused other social problems. Today we are repeating history and making the same mistakes that occurred in the past. Prohibition did not work then and prohibition for young people under the age of 21 is not working now” (Engs). On many campuses around the country, led by the so-called Amethyst Initiative, the legal drinking age continues to be a controversial issue since it is believed that “twenty-one is not working” (Sanghavi). The old familiar argument is that turning 18 bestows the rights and responsibilities of adulthood such as voting, serving on juries, getting married, signing contracts, joining the military, buying cigarettes, watching porn and upon prosecution, trial as an adult. If adults from the age of 18 are trusted to do all of these things, they should also be trusted...
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...Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18? Every teenager anticipates the day that they will finally be eighteen years old. This is the day they are finally seen as being an adult in the eyes of our government. Eighteen year olds are now free to make their own life choices and be held accountable for them. At the age of eighteen, you are free to put your life on the line and fight for your country, if you commit a crime you can be tried as an adult in court, and you are also give the right to vote in your country. So, why should the drinking age be twenty-one years old when you are considered an adult at the age of eighteen? At the age of eighteen you are not mature and responsible enough to purchase and consume alcohol. Alcohol has been around for centuries, showcased at parties, bars, sports events and just about everywhere. For these very reasons every day in our country the drinking age is being ignored and violated by young adults, teenagers, and even children all under the age of twenty-one. “On average ninety-five percent of those who will be alcohol consumers in their lifetime take their first drink before the age twenty one. Fifty percent of eighteen to twenty year olds consume alcohol on a regular basis” (McCardell 1). Based on these statistics we can conclude that the enforcement of the legal drinking age has fallen short. The most commonly known place where alcohol is consumed very heavily is on our college campuses. Many college students participate in binge...
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...Learning Team Debate Paper A topic with considerable debate is the legal age to consume alcoholic beverages. “Most cultures where alcohol consumption is legal have a mandated threshold age at which buying and/or consuming alcohol becomes permitted” (International Center for Alcohol Policies, 2011, para. 5). Currently, the United States has set the legal age to drink at 21. The age was once 18; however, society has changed its views concerning this issue. Because the legal drinking age changed to 21 there was an increase in mortality rate at age 21, increase in motor vehicle accidents, and increase in suicides. Even though 18 is considered an adult and a person should be able to make his or her own decisions, the drinking age should not be lowered because teens lack the maturity to handle alcohol and teens are at a higher risk of alcohol-related deaths. This debate has two sides as some people are for lowering the age to 18 again and some against. Many will argue that the average drinking age around the world is 18. According to International Center for Alcohol Policies (2011), “Minimum drinking and purchase ages in countries around the world range from 16 to 25 years of age, with 18 being the most common age limit” (para. 6). Others say that if a person age 18 is old enough to serve and die for his or her country, he or she should be permitted to consume alcoholic beverages. Should the drinking age be lowered to 18? This paper will weigh the pros and cons as well as identify...
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