...Jordan Bryant-Smith 10/23/14 English 120 John Small Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 19 seems to be an automatic yes for college students under 21, but is it actually anything genuinely wrong with lowering the drinking age? Are there any potential benefits to restoring the drinking law to pre-1984 levels? In an article written for CNN, William Cohan argues that the standard drinking age is “all a farceâ€(Cohan), when alcohol consumption should be the first step towards responsibility. Robert Voas from CSMonitor, however, believes there is no possible benefit to lowering the drinking age. Both authors want to solve the problem of underage binge drinking. Cohan and Voas also agree that the minimum drinking age is not enforced strongly enough, however, they disagree on the effectiveness of the law. Robert Voas believes that the minimum drinking age is effective as it stands and lowering it would be a huge mistake. He feels particularly that society would be beneficial would be better off with the current law. In contrast, William Cohan argues that the national drinking law is incredibly ineffective and should be lowered to 19. William Cohan wants to solve the issue regarding underage binge drinking by simply lowering the law to 19. Cohan referred to the minimum age law as a “national joke†(Cohan), after considering the frequency of its violation, “every week if not every dayâ€(Cohan). He asserts that we should completely refocus our attention instead...
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...The legal drinking age should be lowered in the United States. This makes the most sense because kids legally become an adult at the age of 18 where they are granted other rights as well, such as the ability to enlist in the army. If we are legally an adult and trusted to protect our country we should be trusted with a couple of drinks. Lowering the drinking age also decreases unsafe drinking in regulated environments and less drunk driving accidents. With regulated drinking kids become more aware with their alcohol tolerance and get used to it in a safe environment without doing it illegally. This creates a safer environment for everyone. With kids more aware of their intake of alcohol less accidents such as drunk driving will happen. The is why the drinking age should be lowered to the age of when you actually become an adult. Kids legally become an adult at the age of 18. At this time in your life you receive the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Some examples of the choices that you might or can make are enlisting in the army, voting for president, buying lottery tickets...
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...up drink alcohol. Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 would be morally irresponsible. At the age of 18 you are not very mature, you can be vulnerable to using illicit drugs, and alcohol can have negative impacts on one’s health. First, lowering the legal drinking age to 18 is not a good idea because it is morally irresponsible. When you are 18 you tend to be less responsible and less mature than you are at the age of 21. With age comes maturity. Second, lowering the legal drinking age to 18 is not a good idea because alcohol could potentially lead to the use of other drugs. When drinking alcohol and becoming intoxicated you tend to not think as clearly as you would being sober. This may cloud your judgment and allow you to make choices one would normally not make if not drunk. Third, lowering the legal drinking age to 18 is not a good idea because it would be medically irresponsible. At the age of 18 your brain is still developing. Introducing alcohol at this point could have grave results such as; memory loss, vulnerability to addiction, and risk taking behavior. It is also known that alcohol is a depressant, with this could come depression and the potential of suicide is greater. Although the legal drinking age of 21 has not stopped teen drinking even provoking underage binge drinking into more private and uncontrolled environments it is important we do not legalize drinking at the young age of 18. It is clear that there are more risks than benefits in doing...
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...whether or not the national drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old. Evidence will be presented for both sides to determine if lowering the drinking age would lower dangerous underage drinking also. This research paper will be presented to our Iowan Representatives in Congress to decide whether of not having a minnimum drinking age of 18 would benefit the U.S. Background There are some states that have considered petitioning the drinking age. The 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act requires that States prohibit persons under 21 years of age from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving State highway funds (“The 1984 National”). South Dakota, a state that permitted persons 19 years of age to purchase alcohol, challenged the law (“South Dakota v.”) In a 7-to-2 decision, the Court held that Congress, acting indirectly to encourage uniformity in states' drinking ages, was within constitutional bounds (“South Dakota v.”) Twenty-three years after raising the legal drinking age to 21, Vermont lawmakers are revisiting the issue, despite the threat of losing highway funding if they lower the age minimum (“Vermont Considers Lowering”). Typically, when states flirt...
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...Topic: Drinking Age in the United States Specific Purpose: to motivate my audience to protest for lowering the Drinking Age from 21 Central Idea: Lowering the legal alcohol consumption age will reduce the rate of underage drinking charges: INTRODUCTION I. The Attention Step A. 10.4 million kids reported drinking last year so obviously this law is not working. The average teen begins drinking at 14, seven years before they can legally drink. 1. I’m sure at least a few of you have taken some of your parents alcohol without them knowing about it or have participated in underage drinking at some point in your life up to now and if not you might in college. 2. If you haven’t and don’t plan on it because it is illegal, just know that if the legal drinking age were changed, one would have nothing to think about. Transition: So why do we need to lower the drinking age? II. The Need Step: A. Since the drinking age was raised teens have tended to drink in more of an abusive manor. 1. In 2011 in the United States, 13,000 underage kids died from alcohol poisoning. The next closest country had just 5,000. 2. If the number of underage drinking charges in America reduces, then the overall rate of crime in America will drop therefore making America a safer country. 3. A recent Kansas City newspaper asked 8,726 students if the drinking age should be lowered. Out of 8,726 asked 7,992 said yes B. Underage kids want to consume alcohol and them not being of legal age will not be...
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...Drinking Age Here in America alcohol is used for many different reasons. Some drink alcohol leisurely at a barbeque or party. Some drink it to get drunk and alleviate stress, some people even become so addicted they are physically dependent on consuming alcohol. Regardless of the reasons you drink it, legally you must be 21 years of age. This leaves a lot of room for heated debate. 21 is the magic age for youth, it allows you to now go out to night clubs, gamble, and of course buy and legally consume alcohol to name a few things. In regards to alcohol, many feel as if the age should be 18. As the man in the video was arguing, if you’re able to serve your country why can you have a beer? That is the argument many people will have. I do not agree that the legal age should be 18 in general, but I do feel that military men and women who lay their lives on the line should be given the option to do so. That would be the only case I feel as if it should be allowed, otherwise it would be chaos in my opinion. As stated in the video, states have tried to lower the drinking age before. The result was failure, there were much more drunk driving cases and accidents from people under 21. Now days alcohol is readily available no matter where you are at or what age you are. When I was in High School getting alcohol never seemed to be an issue for a lot of the kids I went to school with. Whether it was parents...
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...Lowering the Drinking Age It’s a fact that most kids try alcohol before they are around 16. In Europe the drinking age is around 16-18 years old. The legal drinking age really hasn’t stopped young teens before. It’s talked a lot about in schools and other states of why it should be lowered. Lowering the drinking age will give these teens the responsibility that some of them are looking for. The drinking age within the United States should be lowered to allow people to begin legally consuming alcohol at the age of 18 as a measure to combat binge drinking, to boost the economy, and to be more reflective of an 18 year old person's status as an adult. Lowering the drinking age to 18 years old can diminish the thrill of breaking the law by underage drinking. There is a lot of excitement that some kids feel knowing they are breaking the law and most likely not going to get caught. Not wanting to admit to drinking “…Which can make rebellious teenagers sneak off to basements and backwoods to binge drink far from adult supervision” (CNN). A lot of teens feel the thrill of breaking the law and having their parents not know. Knowing that they shouldn’t be drinking is that “rebellious” side of the teens. If...
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...the minimum legal drinking age should be twenty one or eighteen. In the year of 1980 a law was passed that changed the minimum legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty one in order to decrease the amount of car crashes and fatalities and to keep alcohol out of the hands of an "irresponsible" age group (Ruth Streeter). Since the raising of the drinking age, more harm has been done than good and the drinking age should be lowered back down to eighteen, given some restrictions and changes. While each state was given the option of whether or not to support this act, the government threatened to cut highway funds if the states kept their drinking age to eighteen. It is strange that an eighteen to twenty year old can vote for our Nation's leader, risk their life fighting for our freedom, and be viewed as an adult, yet still cannot sit down and have a few drinks. At the age of eighteen one is considered an adult. This title of "adult" basically gives people the opportunity to make life changing decisions like voting, buying tobacco products, getting married, signing contracts, serving on juries, having abortions, and being drafted into or joining the military. Scientists claim that the pre-frontal cortex of the brain in which controls judgment is not fully developed until the mid twenties, which then leads to people against lowering the drinking age to claim that opportunities new "adults" take on are not necessarily needing full judgment like unsafe drinking would. So voting for...
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...The age in which someone is allowed to drink is a very controversial issue in the United States. While there are a lot of people who are satisfied with the current drinking age of twenty-one, there are still those who want the drinking age to be lowered to eighteen. States should keep the drinking age at twenty-one because it will prevent damage to brain development usually caused by alcohol and would also keep alcohol related accidents like drunk driving to a minimum. Keeping the drinking age at twenty-one would prevent alcohol from damaging certain parts of the developing brain. Studies show that the brain does not stop developing until the early twenties. The drinking of alcohol can permanently damage parts of the developing brain. For example, the pre-frontal cortex, this is the part of the brain that takes the longest to mature and it controls our learning ability and reasoning. Because we depend so much on these brain functions, this can be an exceptional loss. The damage is more likely to affect underage drinkers because this part of the brain has not fully developed yet. Early drinking can also damage parts of the brain that are responsible for planning, memories, and attention. All of there are crucial because they are necessary in anyone’s academics. Students who abuse drinking at a younger age tend to not do as well as those who do not drink at all. The current drinking age of twenty-one has greatly decreased the amount of alcohol related accidents from the ages...
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...Teen Drinking The topic of teen drinking age is controversial and has raised lots of debate over the years. There are many that believe the drinking age should be lowered, and there are those that believe the age to drink should stay at 21. There is no benefit on allowing underage teenagers the right to drink. Keeping the legal age to consume alcohol at 21 is beneficial for the safety and well being of teenagers. In Europe the Europeans let their teens drink from an early age. They also claim they have less alcohol-related problems than the United States, and their teens learn to drink responsible and are less likely to “binge drink.” According to T. R. Reid’s May 4 [2003] op-ed piece, “Let My Teenager Drink,” amid a national outcry over an epidemic of “ binge drinking,” the politicians don’t like to admit that this problem is largely a product of the liquor laws (86). That is a total myth. Among American youth binge drinking rates are higher in European countries by almost double. According to Joseph Califano Jr’s May 11 [2003] op-piece, “Don’t Make Teen Drinking Easier,” in 2001 the Justice Department released an analysis comparing drinking rates in Europe and the United States. The conclusion: American 10th graders are less likely to use and abuse alcohol that people of the same age in almost all European countries, including Britain” (88) There is also the argument that you should be able to drink at eighteen, since at that at the age you are considered...
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...in July, 1984 states, the age of 21 years as the minimum age for purchasing and publicly possessing alcoholic beverages . For this assignment I have chosen to critique a fallacy in the argument regarding the dispute of a decrease of the current age of consumption and purchasing alcohol in the United States. I believe the arguments discussed in the selected article to be fallacious because they deal generally with the positive results portrayed as an outcome in the reduction of the legal age of 21 to 18. Through analysis of this article, it will be evident that a reduced legal drinking age is a fallacious and flawed argument. Through research, I discovered a blog that is proactive with the reduction of the current drinking age. The blog states that once people turn 18 they’re considered adults, they’re responsible, and able to handle themselves. It goes on to explain the fact that once you’re 18 you are able to vote, drive, and make the decision to go to the military “why can they be mature and responsible enough to vote for a person who is going to run our country, mature and responsible enough to fly an airplane and go to war for our country, and third be mature and responsible enough to drive a vehicle”. Though this argument may be true and those responsibilities are substantial, this argument still remains fallacious as a whole. I believe the major fallacy evident in this blog is centralized around how a reduction in the current legal drinking age is beneficial for society...
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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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...Of all the 190 countries, only twelve countries have the minimum legal drinking age set at 21. That leaves 61% of these countries that have the minimum legal drinking age at 18 or 19 (Minimum Legal Drinking Age in 190 Countries). Why is the United States part of the minority? Why must our young adults have to wait so long before they can indulge in a drink or two? In those other countries that have a lower drinking age, they are introduced to alcohol at a younger age and have a healthier relationship with alcohol because they learn about the risks and are furthermore educated about those dangers than people in America. The minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old because we are considered adults and have adult-like responsibilities, it will decrease unsafe drinking habits, and it can even benefit the economy. The year that a teenager turns 18...
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...Lowering the Drinking Age To 18 By Daniel Harl When a person turns 18 they are given many responsibilities and rights. They are able to vote, enter into contracts, serve in the military, and buy cigarettes and porn to their hearts content. But the one thing they are not allowed to do is buy alcohol. I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Most people that agree with me will say that it should be lowered because of all that I just stated. I on the other hand believe that the drinking age should be lowered for a different reason. I believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because it was set at 21 to save lives, but it has not done that, in fact it has done the opposite and actually endangered more lives. After researching it a bit I found out some interesting facts. I found out that the legal drinking age in all 50 states and the District of Colombia is 21, but under certain circumstances drinking under 21 is legal in some states. In 29 states underage drinking is legal if it is on private, non alcohol-selling premises, with parental consent. In 7 states it is legal if it is on private, non alcohol-selling premises, without parental consent. 30 states allow it if it for religious purposes. 21 states allow it if it is for medical purposes. In 4 states it is legal if it is for government work related purposes. If it is for educational purposes it is legal in 13 states. In 3 states it is legal if reporting medical need due to underage...
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...Youth. Fraternity. College. When you hear these three words what do you think of? When I think of fraternity, youth, and college, I think of alcohol. In today’s modern world, it is common for college students to binge on drinking. However, I believe that we should focus on awaring the students of the problems heavy drinking causes. We should not ban drinking; however, we should lower the drinking age to eighteen, and the faculty should be involved in creating a conscious environment. Firstly, banning alcohol from colleges would create a chaos that cannot be controlled. For example, many “frat-brothers” are heavily involved in drinking, so they have developed an addiction to it; and, this addiction cannot overcome immediately. If we try to do so, it might cause the student to act aggressively or cause many health problems. also, if the students unite together and form a protest, then theirs and non-alcoholic student”s education would be at risk. Furthermore, we are talking about teenagers who are wants to experience freedom. therefore, they will, most likely still continue to drink even after the ban. as a result, banning alcohol is more like a problem than a solution. Yet, I agree that lowering the drinking age to...
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