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Should Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18 Essay

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Should the Drinking Age be Lowered to 18? In the United States of America, one is lawfully considered an adult on their 18th birthday. With adulthood comes choices, responsibility, and privileges that they did not possess as a minor. At the age of 18, a person can enlist in the army and die for this country, vote for the future president or other government officials, and be charged as an adult, potentially leading to them going to prison, jail, or facing the death penalty. However, an 18 year old can not purchase or legally consume alcohol in America. Although, some think 18 year olds do not have the physical or mental capacity for alcohol, the national drinking age should be lowered to 18 because teens 18 and older are able to make critical decisions. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed over 30 years ago. This act raised the drinking age from 18 to 21. This act has been poorly enforced in America. 10.8 million underage Americans drink(“Minimum Legal Drinking Age”). The higher drinking age causes teens to drink in unsafe settings. These unsafe, unsupervised drinking situations can lead to spiked drinks, injury, and sexual assault. The drinking age does little to stop …show more content…
Binge drinking and alcohol poisoning accounted for over 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year(“Minimum Legal Drinking Age”). Binge drinking has multiple sudden, but temporary side effects. These include dehydration, nausea, memory loss, poor decision making, shakiness, and coordination problems (Galbicsek, Carol). However, binge drinking can have long-term compilations. These long lasting effects include cancer, stroke, heart problems, infertility, liver disease, and brain damage (Galbicsek, Carol) . Young girls are more at risk to have harsher side effects because their body’s water content is naturally lower (Galbicsek,

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