...In all 50 states of the United States, the legal age to consume alcohol is 21. However, there have been disputes to change the age from 21 to 18. Two authors show their different points of view in this matter. Ruth C. Engs is a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University. Tara Watson is an associate professor of economics and she's the chairwoman of the Program in Public Health at Williams College. The article "Why the drinking age should be lowered" by Ruth C. Engs explains why adults 18 and older should be allowed to drink. The article "Lowering the Drinking Age Has Serious Consequences" by Tara Watson shows how the legal age for drinking should stay at 21. The article "Why the drinking age should be lowered" starts off by Engs explaining that young adults should be able to drink but taught how to drink responsibly. Throughout the article, Engs stays with an intelligent tone...
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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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...mean it has to change. For example, the legal minimum drinking age was set at 21 since 1984. Since 1984, “drinking and daily alcohol use have declined among young adults aged 18-20 years” (Wechsler and Nelson 987). This change was needed because alcohol consumption was a major threat to human health. Lowering the drinking age to 18 means that we are just ignoring what our history has presented us. It is common sense that alcohol is a major threat to general well-being. Allowing 18 year olds to legally buy and consume alcohol would simply allow them to harm themselves and others...
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...5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking…” (1). This quote shows that underage drinking is a very dangerous thing and many people should start taking that into consideration. The drinking age should not be lowered for various reasons. If the drinking age was to be lowered it could potentially cause more deaths and interfere with the development of minors along with many other consequences. The drinking age has been 21 since 1984 because of an act that said if states didn’t make the drinking age a minimum of 21 years old they would lose 10 percent of highway funds. “The legal drinking age in the United States has been 21 since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984. When President Ronald . . . Reagan signed the act, he issued a blanket requirement for all states to raise their drinking age, or risk losing highway funding from the government” (7). Reagan did find studies that the 18-20 age group are most likely to be in an accident related to alcohol than any other age group...
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...Much controversy has been debating on the subject of drinking age in the United States. Many people see it unfit that the drinking age in the United States is one of the highest in the world. The United States and the United Kingdom are very close compared to each other and will continue to be compared to one another. The question that must be asked is, should the drinking age be lowered for American voters, servicemen, and women. First, there are many causes to underage drinking illegally in the United States. One theory to this is that today's society is an open minded people aloud to speak out whatever they believe. This is completely legal under the Bill of Rights. In the past though this type of actions were frond upon by families, and communities. Also, underage drinking is due to the curiosity of teenager, or even wanting to fit in with their friends, or cool kids. This could all be prevented or at least reduced if the drinking age was lowered. The reason for this is that it will allow a greater number of teens to become familiar with alcohol, and the affects it has on their body....
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...lower the drinking age. My 1st reason is that there would be a lot more drunk driving. The percentage of people drunk driving has decreased since 1984 when they made drinking age 21 again. Anybody that does not drink until age 21 tends to drink less as adults which could cause less drunk driving. In the United States in 2007, about 1,400 teens die from drunk-driving accidents. http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/alcohol/drinking-and-driving.html. An estimated 32% of fatal car crashes involve a drunk driver. https://ncadd.org/learn-about-alcohol/drinking-and-driving. My 2nd reason to why drinking age should not be lowered is that there would be less violent behavior from people. If they lowered the age to 18 there would probably be twice as much violent behavior. Members from the National institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that 86 percent of homicide offenders, 37 percent of...
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...The United States’ minimum legal drinking age of twenty one is almost a perfect example of a policy with unrealistic expectations and serious unintended consequences. Although many people are not so popular with the drinking age being eighteen, I think why shouldn’t it be? One reason I think it should be lowered to eighteen is because even before eighteen or twenty one people still drink. So if people are still going to decide to drink although they are not of age, why shouldn’t they be allowed? Secondly, there would be a lot less arrests to be made because of under age drinking, the reason i say this is because they wouldn’t have to be rebellious about it. Another great reason is there would be less problems in general, statistics show that in the countries that lowered it there were less problems with drinking. Lastly, I personally feel as though less laws would be broken, because again they wouldn’t have to be rebellious about sneaking around to drink. For kids nowadays it’s really not that hard for us to get alcohol. The reason I say this is because if we have the money and older friends, that older friend can just buy it for us. The second reason is we can have parents that thinks drinking is ok and basically say it’s ok to drink just as long as your home....
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...The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) actually affects more things than people think. Think about how often somebody drinks alcohol to have fun, relax, enjoy a family gathering etc…. With the drinking age being twenty-one in the United States it makes underage teens and young adults want to drink even more. Why someone might ask. One reason is that it gives teens a sense of adulthood. When teens take a drink of that alcohol it gives them that grown up feeling. Just the fact you have twenty-one makes it so urging for teens and young adults. The drinking age should be lowered to eighteen in the United States. If you take a look at driving under the influence rates (DUI) in the United States and compare them to countries with the drinking age eighteen the United States is significantly higher. Why is that? In almost every other country the drinking age is lower than twenty-one found from...
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...Brendan Michael ENGL 1104: Written English I Professor Beighley 09-23-14 Minor Essay #2 When it comes to the subject of lowering the drinking age, many speculations have been made, both positive and negative. Ohio legislature should take into account both view points. A positive being a drastic reduction in binge drinking among the American population. A negative is the fear of higher death rates due to alcohol poisoning. The drinking age should be lowered and Americans should take charge and know their limit. The drinking age in America has been under speculation for many years now and even though the law is set for 21, there are still minors abusing their availability to the stimulant. One can argue that the law shouldn’t be 21 and should be reduced for many reasons. On the contrary others believe that it just might be the right age if not too low already. Many people disagree with lowering it because of the lack of maturity in young adults, the number of increasing injuries, deaths related to drinking alcohol, and also that effects of long time drinking on the body. Citizens of the United States tend to be rather opinionated on this particular issue for some of the above reasons. These lobbyers for the lowering of drinking age and the ones who think the age of consumption should stay the same are very passionate about their side of this issue as well. Many Americans agree that young students right out of high school are not to full maturity even though many of the students...
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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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...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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...writing my essay reasons on why I feel we should keep the drinking age at 21. I know that many people believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, and I will be talking about one of those strong points through out my essay. Many people argue that if a young person is able to support his country and go to war than that person should be able to drink legally. I do understand where the reasoning on why most young people believe that serving our country gives them the right to be able to drink alcohol. I am a veteran and understand that it takes a lot of personal courage for someone to join the military and serve our country in a combat zone and risk their lives every day. So yes it is fair to say that these young people should be able to drink, but there are so many other reasons that prevent the government from lowering the drinking age. There are so many other reasons on why the drinking age should be kept at 21, and I will go into more depth on what those reasons are and provide evidence to support my reasons. Research has shown that teenagers have started to use alcohol as early as the tenth grade, which means that they are more likely to encounter a lot of the issues that come along with drinking alcohol at an even earlier age. Teenagers are not ready and mentally prepared to face a lot of the issues that come along with drinking alcohol, such as being more aggressive and violent. There are multiple negative effects that come along with underage drinking such as...
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...English Mr. DiGioia 12/17/15 3rd Period Drinking Age In all of the articles and political cartoon there are many examples of ethos, pathos and logos. However, some of them are more effective than others. Each of these documents discuss the drinking age in the united states and why it should be either be lowered to 18 or stay at 21. The first source is the least effective out of the three because it does not explain what age the drinking age should be at. On the other hand, the third source, “Lower the Drinking Age Back to 18” is a very affective article because of the facts that it has and the experience that he had growing up in a world were colleges taught you how to drink responsibly In the first source you see a cartoon. This Cartoon shows the drinking age at 21 and what the drinking age would look like at 18 years old. However, both of these cartoons look exactly alike. The repetition of the same image with different captions emphasizes in what happens if the drinking age changes … nothing. Ethos is created because there are less females than males and statistically speaking more men drink binge drink. The symbolism in the shorts "OSU" and a fraternity are all zeugmas for drinking. This cartoon also establishes pathos by showing the emotion each person has in there face. All of the “adults” in this cartoon are very happy and look like they are ready to have fun. On the other hand, it does not show the repercussions of drinking irresponsibly. To improve this cartoon, I...
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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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...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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