...Lower the Legal Drinking Age to 18 Danielle Gonzales The government can trust those between the age of 18 and 20 to do many things, but they cannot treat them like full adults and allow them to drink alcohol. You will find that many Colleges and Universities disagree with the legal drinking age. In fact, they believe that rising the drinking age has increased the amount of ‘binge’ drinkers and only made our countries drinking problems worse. Eighty-five percent of twenty year old Americans reported that they had used alcohol. (Johnson) Two out of five said they had binged within the previous month. To ‘binge,’ is to consume five or more drinks at one time. (Engs) “The period since the twenty-one minimum drinking age took affect has been marked by a shift from beer to hard liquor,” Seaman wrote in Time “consumed not in large social settings, since that is now illegal, but furtively and dangerously in students residences. In my reporting at colleges around the country, I did not meet any presidents or deans who felt the twenty-one year age minimum helps their efforts to curb the abuse of alcohol on their campuses.” (Balk) A kid is going to drink if he or she wants to regardless whether the law says eighteen or twenty-one. In an alcohol related situation you are more likely going to hear “I don’t drink, thank you,” than “I better not, I’m not 21 yet.” When colleges and University presidents disagree with the drinking age, something has got to be done. If the drinking age...
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...Dr. Paul Davis | Political Science 101 | July 18, 2015 Dr. Paul Davis | Political Science 101 | July 18, 2015 Drinking Age Should Be Reduced to 18 in the United States by laurie rose Drinking Age Should Be Reduced to 18 in the United States by laurie rose The law states that you can start drinking legally at 21 in the United States. Some people think that a federal law should be passed that reduces the drinking age to 18 in all states. I agree with this side of the argument. It is not just young people who are for lowering the drinking age but some legislators as well. Representative Bob Lynn who is in the state legislature of Alaska also argues that the drinking age should be lowered for 18 year olds in the military. “Why do we consider 18-year-olds old enough to join the military, to fight and die for our country, but not to have a drink with their friends before they ship out or while they are home or on leave?” (Minton) Phyllis Kahn who is a state representative of Minnesota has fought for years to lower the drinking age in her home state. She proposed two bills this year on this topic in her state. One bill would lower the drinking age in bars and restaurants to 18. The other bill would allow underage teenagers who are accompanied by a parent or a spouse who is of legal age. She feels that if teenagers want to drink, they need to do it socially instead of getting alcohol from an older friend or relative and then binge drink. It would also eliminate the need for...
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...The drinking age has been a topic of debate ever since an age was established. Many years ago, government said that 21 years old would be the minimum age for drinking. This was fine for a while but later became an issue. People started to think of all the things one can do as an 18 year old, yet still not able to drink a beer. At 18 years old one is considered an adult. They become eligible to serve in the military and yield weapons. Also at 18, one can go out to the store and buy a pack of cigarettes. So why can they still not have a beer. This is where controversy has begun. People believe the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Already in some states it is legal for someone to drink at 18, under some circumstances, but why is it not nationwide?...
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...The drinking age in the U.S. is a widely debated topic. People everywhere think it should be lowered while other people think it should stay the same. In this report I will explain both sides of the story and all of the pros and cons of lowering the official age, and then explain to you my view on the topic. Why we should lower the drinking age. 18 is the age of adulthood in The United States, and adults have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. By lowering the drinking age, allowing 18-20 year olds to drink in regulated environments would decrease unsafe drinking activities. Also there are fewer drunk driving accidents and fatalities in many countries with the MLDA of 18. Lowering the MLDA from 21 to 18 would...
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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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...Intro Bus Critical thinking exercise 4-2 Ethical Dilemmas 5. You are the vice president of a beer company in a state that sets the legal drinking age at 21. Your boss asks you to organize a lobbying effort to have the drinking age reduced to 18. What would you do? A. I would do research and report my findings to my boss. Although it might seem like a good idea to do so -higher sales, and therefore higher revenue and profit- lowering the drinking age would be a losing battle. States can lower the drinking age back down to 18 or 19 but the amount of federal highway funds they'd lose (about 10%) makes it too expensive for them to do it. Many politicians don't want to risk getting involved. Why change something that appears to be working. Young people might like a beer at 18 but young people don't vote. 77% of Americans are opposed to lowering the drinking age to 18 according to a 2007 Gallop poll. Research shows that the law saves lives. It is one of the most researched public health laws on the books. When the law was raised to 21, alcohol-related deaths for young people decreased; when it was lowered, deaths increased. Scientific research about brain development and function, traffic accident records and population death rates show clearly that 18-21 year-olds handle alcohol poorly. The idea is strongly opposed by social and religious conservatives, parts of hospitality and retail industry concerned about liability, groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving...
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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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...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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...Dinking? 18 or 21? Amethyst Initiative is a proposal to consider lowering legal drinking age to 18. Some 130 universities have signed on to the initiative. UVa has not. “The initiative has triggered a backlash of criticism from health experts, transportation officials, government leaders, and opponents of drunken driving.” (Nancy) I think lowering drinking age will cause more problems. Because Lowering-drinking age to 18 not only let teenagers even younger than 18 will get alcohol, but also raises the number of drunk-driving accidents. We also cannot ignore this action will increase the number of problem cause by alcohol. All those things happen in our daily life and warning us that drinking age should not be lowered to 18. Lower drinking age is just like give the group of underage drinking teenagers official IDs instead of fake ones. And they will become much more reckless, even those one who used to care about the law so didn’t drink will soon become drunk. “A study done in 2003-4 at Johns Hopkins tested the incidence of binge drinking (as that term is defined in the Wechsler studies) in the age group just below the legal age in various countries. David Jernigan, who directed the study, used Wechsler’s survey methods to quantify the percentage of 16-18 year-olds who reported having become seriously drunk during the 30 days prior to their taking the survey. The evidence is being construed as proof that no matter what the legal age, persons just below it are disposed to...
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...Edwin Muniz English 1010 Lowering the Legal Drinking Age There are many controversial topics in today’s news involving the younger generation. One of the most talked about topics is lowering the legal drinking age in the United States. Lowering the drinking age could have a really good impact on society as a whole. Although there are people that believe that lowering the age limit will have a really bad effect on the US, the good outweigh the bad. The drinking age being at 21, makes those underage look at alcohol sort of like the “forbidden fruit,” making them want to drink even more, sort of as a rite of passage. Lowering the drinking age to 18 seems almost undeniable considering that in the US, 18 is considered the age of adulthood. In the United States, turning 18 gives you the right to vote in elections, smoke tobacco, serve on juries, get married, sign legal contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and even join the military. Just imagine being 18 in the military, watching everyone 21 and older having a cold beer while you’re sitting there drinking water because you’re not old enough to drink alcohol. Not only are you risking your life being in the military like the others, you are also able to do everything the older members are able to do but, you absolutely cannot have an alcoholic beverage. In 1984 the U.S. Government raised the legal drinking age to 21 in an effort to decrease instances of drunk driving and related injuries and fatalities. However, this attempt...
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...For years people have argued over whether or not the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in America should be lowered or stay the same. One of the main controversial issues regarding alcohol consumption in our society today is whether or not the legal drinking age is appropriate. Both sides to the argument have very considerable points that support their side of the argument. Do to these disagreements, the issue of whether or not to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 has become controversial. The best solution is to allow citizens that are 18 and older to drink but also follow strict rules and regulations to make sure it is not taken advantage of. This solution will help keep people safe while also allowing those 18 or older to have a good...
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...28th Amendment Proposal: Legal Drinking Age 1) This Bill would lower the drinking age to be the same age citizens can vote, join the army, and purchase cigarettes: eighteen years of age. 2) When a Citizen turns eighteen they are legally an adult, therefor have the right to make their own decisions, this should include the decision to by alcohol or not. Also with a lower dinking age more people would legally be able to drink in legal revenue would increase for private business owners, and greater amounts of tax revenue would be collected by the government. 3) The opposition would be that it is irresponsible to lower the drinking age due to the medical, legal and safety repercussions such as: “Lowering the drinking age would be medically irresponsible as alcohol consumption can interfere with development of the young adult...
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...current legal drinking age of the United States is 21. Should it be lowered to 18? The current legal drinking age of the United States is 21. Should it be lowered to 18? I think the current legal age in the United States is 21 and I find it absurd, but in my view i think it should be 18 because if you look at it I’m old enough to go to war but not old enough to drink. If you look at it I am dying for my country at the age of 18 but yet I can’t buy a drink? In my opinion it is absurd. The controversy between drinking and going to war is well known around the United States. Many people will agree with me that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Other people will disagree with my agreement they will say it’s better at the age of 21 because that’s when more people are more responsible. I think that is some bull because any person can be responsible some can be but others...
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...November 2010 Lowering the Legal Drinking Age Is Not the Solution “In 2005, about 10.8 million persons aged 12 to 20 (28.2 percent of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Nearly 7.2 million (18.8 percent) were binge drinkers, and 2.3 million (6.0 percent) were heavy drinkers,” according to the agency, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in the Department of Health and Human Services. To solve this problem, would be to try to avoid it from happening, and that is, keeping the legal drinking age at twenty-one years old. The minimum drinking age has been an argument as to lowering the drinking age to 18. Candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, argues, “Of course, they should be able to drink at age 18, and they should be able to vote at age 16.” Then there are groups that have been formed such as, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who are strongly against lowering the drinking age to 18 and fully support 21 to be the legal drinking age. Lowering the drinking age to 18 resulted in more car accidents, deaths, and harmful effects to the body at such a younger age. Having the legal drinking age at 21 is for everyone’s own safety and health, also less under age kids will and have the ability to drink. In the 1970’s the drinking age was 18 years old because it was thought if you could fight in the Vietnam War you should be able to drink. However, having the legal drinking age at 18 lead to an outrageous number...
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...until the age of twenty-one. The United States is one of four other countries with a drinking age of twenty-one or higher. The other three are Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau (Gillespie). The government does not trust anybody under the age of twenty-one to consume alcohol but trusts them to die and kill for them. They also grant 18 year olds the right to marry, vote, pay taxes, take out loans, adopt a child and buy tobacco. The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) should be lowered to eighteen to match the other responsibilities an eighteen year old is granted. The drinking age has been debated throughout history. Many states set the drinking age to eighteen to match the responsibilities given to them at that age after prohibition was ended. These ages were only raised because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 put into effect by Ronald Reagan. If the states did not agree to this, they were cut back ten percent in their federal highway funds (Devon). The federal government states they give the right to control the drinking age to the state government. This does not make sense since they would cut back ten percent of their highway fund for just thinking about lowering the drinking age, which no state could survive without (Jolley). The supporters of the twenty- one drinking age believe that it has saved many lives. This is true to some degree. The deaths from drunk- driving accidents did go down, but some argue it wasn’t just the higher drinking age. Cars...
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