...A Claim Against the Drinking Age in the United States of America The substance of alcohol has long been a topic of intense debate, particularly in the United States of America. In its relatively short history, the United States has had a prohibition which completely banned all alcohol distribution and consumption, as well as a drinking age which has changed over the years. Ultimately, it seems that legislative bodies in the U.S. cannot make up their minds. A big part of that indecision may stem from the fact that most amendments have been largely ineffective in culling what has been a very real, very large problem in the United States: alcohol related deaths or sicknesses. Nearly one out of every ten deaths in working class adults dies from alcohol-related incidents (10% of all deaths), making alcohol the fourth largest cause of preventable deaths in the United States. As a result of this, promoting responsible alcohol consumption and continued responsible actions once its effects take place are paramount in responding to those significant statistics. The method that seems to have been most focused on in curtailing dangerous alcohol consumption has been legally regulating who is allowed to consume it (as mentioned above: prohibition, and drinking ages). In short, alcohol consumption has been made illegal, and consequently deemed unjust, for people below certain ages. Many people have raised ethical, practical, scientific, and legal arguments surrounding...
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...changed the laws regarding drinking and driving throughout the United States. MADD changed the legal age for drinking and purchasing alcohol. MADD has made the laws stricter; including more fines and punishment for breaking the laws. MADD has become one of the nation’s largest agencies to help improve assistance for families that have lost loved ones to drunk drivers. The organization has made historical changes in laws and legislature. MADD, Impact on Social Policy Mothers Against Drunk Drivers has made a significant impact on our society today by bringing changes in our drinking and driving laws. MADD, more commonly referred to, has implemented a change in drinking age and mandated strict laws for people who break these laws. From a simple outcry by the founder of MADD, this organization has grown to service millions. MADD was originally founded by Candy Lightner in 1980 after her 13 year old daughter, Cari was struck from behind and killed by a drunk driver. The driver had three previous drunk driving violations and had been involved in a hit-and-run accident and arrest two days before the incident involving Cari. One of the most effective leaders was Rebecca (Beckie) Brown from New Port, Florida. Rebecca became involved in MADD after her son Marcus died at the age of 18 from an accident involving a 19-year old drunk driver. She created the first MADD in Florida and “was instrumental in passing legislation to raise the minimum legal drinking age to 21 in Florida. The U...
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...Drinking Age In The United States The drinking age in the united states should be lowered to 18. At the age of 18 you are considered an adult by law and can be tried as an adult in court, you can serve your country in the military, drive a motor vehicle at 16 and even do tremendous harm to your body by smoking tobacco, but you can’t go to the bar and have a drink. I believe there’s something wrong with that. Studies by the National Youth Rights association say that raising the drinking age didn’t save life's it actually lost more life’s for people age’s 21-24. They also said that Alcohol should be introduced in the home hold before the age of 18 parents should gradually teach them how to drink so they will be reasonably responsible later in life then they’ll be less likely to abuse alcohol because they were taught how to drink. Also Alcohol has played a big role throughout our history and to limit it to certain people should not be allowed. Keeping the drinking age at 21 is not going to solve the problem which is underage people drinking alcohol it’s only going to intensify the problem. According to ProCon.org having the legal drinking at 21 hasn’t stopped teens from drinking what so ever, it pressured them into wanting to drink more and it pushes binge drinking in dangerous environments which can lead to drunk driving and even death. While Interviewing a Fresno police officer he agreed that the drinking age should be 18 he said, “I don’t know how many times...
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...Drinking Age of the Military: Should it be Lowered Jason M. Stoudt DeVry University The drinking age in the military is currently set at 21 years old as it is set for the rest of the country. There has been an age old statement widely used by those in the military, “If I am old enough to fight and die for my country, I should be old enough to drink”. The debate is out there that the drinking age should be lowered for all young adults from 18 years old to 21 years old. The idea behind the fact that younger people tend to have less responsibility and are not good candidates for being allowed to drink is a valid point. Those serving in the military are different in that respect for the fact that they have more responsibilities than that of their counterparts in the civilian side of the realm. Anyone in the military from 18 until retirement has to be more responsible and is dealt with more severe consequences if they break the rules. Now the thing to look at is that it has not always been this way. In earlier years the military service members were allowed to drink if they were 18 years old and older as long as they were on a military base. It did not matter if the military base was overseas or inside the United States. In the middle of the 1980’s advocacy groups such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) as well as other groups lobbied Congress to have the rules changed. Per the U.S.C. 10, Section 2683, an amendment was made that changed the policy to reflect that the...
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... However, when I came to the United States, I was surprised that we couldn’t buy or drink an alcohol until we are 21. In “De-Demonizing Rum: What’s Wrong with “Underage” Drinking?”, Andrew Stuttaford is pro lower the drinking age. He points out that as an adult, who is under 21, “is judged to be responsible enough to vote, drive, marry and serve in the military”. Making alcohol a “forbidden fruit” will make the kids more curious about it and cause opposite effects. Moreover, although alcohol abuse is a big problem, it can help artists to create more amazing works as well as good for your body. Furthermore, too much government...
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...Suppose the government raises the legal drinking age in the UK from 18 to 21. Conduct an economic analysis of this policy to examine its impact on affected markets. The minimum legal drinking age or MLDA is the most well studied alcohol control policy. It is a controversial problem with different empirical studies showing opposite results. In my opinion the change of age from 18 to 21 will lead to lower demand and will cause prices to go up. The consumption of alcohol affects the economy in opposite ways- every beverage sold raises the welfare but the problems coming from alcohol (deaths, injuries, crimes and reduced workforce productivity) lowers welfare. The change of the MLDA is an answer to the question whether the economy is better off with more drinking or not. There are many studies some saying that the raise of the MLDA is going to cause more drinking. A very important thing that we mustn’t forget is the credibility of these studies. They have been carried out most of them in the 1970s and 80s and all of them in the USA. We need to consider that in the past people perceived things differently and results may not be the same today. Besides the studies were carried out in the USA which has a different culture than the UK. According to Phillip Huff (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31945082/The-21-Year-Old-Minimum-Legal-Drinking-Age-An-Economic-based-Analysis-of-Problems-with-the-MLDA-and-Potential-Solutions, page 2) the law as it is now is causing the loss of billions of dollars...
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...Case study analysis CASE METHOD EXERCISE: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH (by Meg Connolly, in Marketing Ethics: Cases and Readings (2006), edited by Patrick E. Murphy and Gene R. Laczniak) Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) of today differs dramatically from the original waterfront shop in New York that carried high-quality clothing suitable for camping, fishing and hunting. The A&F of 2002 can be found in virtually any major mall in America, and its target market includes preteen and teenagers. Indeed, the shift has been rather dramatic, and it could certainly be asserted that the direction A&F has recently headed strays substantially from the original vision of its founders. The style of clothes offered by A&F could be described as worn, casual, and rather rugged. Some critics contend the merchandise at A&F is seemingly overpriced considering that it is arguably no more unique than any other store of its kind geared toward the same market. One aspect of A&F that does make it unique from other stores, however, is their catalogue that was first published in 1997 and comes out four times a year with a spring break, summer, back-to-school, and Christmas issue. The Quarterly is a magazine-hybrid that, in addition to the clothing portion of the catalogue, has interviews with actors, musicians, directors and even some famous scholars. Fashion legend Bruce Weber does many of the photographs that appear throughout the magazine, and “these photos depict young, healthy, presumably red-blooded...
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...Constructing an Argument Section 1: Big Ideas Many people believe that everything is an argument—every piece of writing, every image you see. That's because every time we write something down—with the possible exception of a private journal entry—we are anticipating that someone else will read or see it, and we hope to achieve some kind of response in that reader or viewer. So even if you are writing a description of your favorite vacation spot, you are probably trying—maybe without even realizing it—to convince your reader that your vacation spot is the most beautiful place in the world. Think about it. When did you read any nonfiction writing that wasn't, finally, trying to persuade you of something in some way? Most rhetoricians—that's people who think about argument and language—agree that there are three basic ways to appeal to an audience. You can appeal to logic. That is, you can lay out your argument in clear, coherent steps, so your reader or listener can see how you get from one conclusion to the next. Or you can appeal to authority. Here you may want to find experts or facts to support your argument—think about Tiger Woods endorsing golf clubs. (Of course, do we also trust Tiger to advise us on buying watches? Not so clear.) Or you can appeal to emotion. Emotional appeals can be extremely powerful, especially when you are able to relate your argument to your readers' values or needs. Most good arguments make use of all three appeals in some way. But...
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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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...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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...com, keeping legal drinking age at twenty one save 900 lives yearly. the drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen for many reasons. At eighteen, teenagers are not mentally mature. Unlike adults, teenagers drink just to fit in or just for the fun of it. Drinking at a young age is not healthy for teenagers at such a young age, because by the time they’re are twenty one they’re already alcoholics. When thinking about lowering the drinking age, you have to put the poor choices that would be made by an intoxicated teen in perspective. Such as, dropping out of school, laziness, violent behavior, and drunk driving. To no surprise, too much alcohol can slow down a person’s ability to think, react, and make decisions at the current moment. One important and deadly impact drinking can have on teenagers drinking at an early age is drunk driving. On average, two in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime. According to huffingtonpost.com, every day in America another twenty eight people die as a result of drunk driving. If the drinking age is lowered to eighteen it would do nothing to decrease those numbers, it will only increase the death rate. In conclusion, we can clearly see that underage drinking is not a good thing, and should be avoided for the sake of lives. As i stated previously, lowering the drinking age to eighteen can cause poor decisions making; which can lead to death, drunk driving, and addiction. The drinking age being lowered will...
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...Changing our Nations Drinking Age Now if you have not already figured out the battle of our nations drinking age has been a widely debated and controversial topic for many years. Yet it is still a complicated problem that no one can agree upon. Knowing, as well as realizing a wide variety of topics that go hand and hand regarding alcohol such as health risks and impaired judgment it is important to realize other negative factors without supervision. However, people are still split on the issue of alcohol consumption. I will be focusing on the problem when mixing alcohol into supervised and unsupervised environments, discussing past and present issues when keeping alcohol locked up or out of reach from minors, addressing how the current drinking age demeans young adults under twenty-one, and why I believe the drinking age should be lowered to nine-teen to benefit from unsafe drinking habits. To make the issue clear regarding how when alcohol is mixed with different given environments shows different outcomes two life scenarios come to mind. For insistence, back when twenty-one was not the legal drinking age, sitting up at the bar drinking casually with a couple friends well sharing a couple laughs seemed harmless. Even if the young adults started drinking more and more there were staff, bouncers, and bartenders there supervising and making sure everyone was in line. Now turning the tables around when alcohol is introduced at a party with no supervision, the lack of responsibility...
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...Report: Draft March 3, 2014 Lower Drinking Age Turning 18 is a big year, probably one of the biggest in our young lives. When you turn 18 a million doors open, you can change your name, get tattooed, vote, join the military, go to jail and be trialed as an adult, basically anything you can think of, except one thing and that’s buying/drinking alcohol. That’s one thing that always got my attention: why 21? If you are considered by the law an adult at 18 then you should be treated like one in all aspects of it. Everyone has their own opinion on this matter, and there have been numerous arguments for each side. As I was surfing the web, I came across an article by Matt Nagin. Nagin’s article was “Top 3 Reasons Why the Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered to 18”. It grabbed my attention so I decided to give it a look, Nagin’s 3 top reasons were, drunk driving, binge drinking and alcohol poisoning, and violent behavior all in that order. According to the article Nagin states that there is an average of 17,000 deaths related to drunk driving. This survey was conducted in 2010. The numbers have slightly gone down (Nagin). From all the drunken driving statistics rates were the highest among 21-25 year old at 23.4% and 15.1% for 18-20 year olds, but after the age of 25 the rates decrease (Nagin). The way I see it keeping the drinking age at 21 is not really making a difference because as the statistics show most drunk drivers are over the age of 21 anyways, so what good does it do...
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...Booze clues As of November 2013, Texas has forty-nine ‘Wet’ counties and eleven “dry” counties. The definition of a dry county is; a county which bans the sale of all alcoholics. Opposite to this, a wet county is one that allows the sale of alcohol. However, this is the simplest way of looking at alcohol sales in Texas. Counties and localities have a identity crisis, they try to be “Texas independent” while at the same time mirroring the policies of other Bible belt localities outside of the state. As you take a closer look at wet counties in Texas, you will find that different localities have different levels of allowable alcohol sales and are referred to as ‘moist’ or ‘partly wet’. Designations are made based on the type of alcohol allowed and whether or not it can be purchased for home consumption, or be purchased at a licensed bar or restaurant. Religious groups primarily voice the arguments FOR dry counties; they say that alcohol has the potential to destroy families and wreak havoc on communities. In their eyes, limiting access to alcohol can curtail consumption thus lowering the chance of alcohol abuse. They also argue that banning alcohol sales can make it more difficult for younger individuals to drink underage thus protecting youth from the dangers and evils of the alcohol. The arguments for having completely wet counties are loud and clear. First, it represents a fundamental right for individuals to drink if they choose to, look at prohibition. All of our group...
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... IMAGE: Getty Images We all know that some entrepreneurs get rich quick, but still others do it even while they're young. Quite a few of them are making their first million before they're even of legal drinking age. http://www.inc.com/johnboitnott/40youngpeoplewhobecamemillionairesbeforetheywere20.html 1/6 19/01/2015 40 Young People Who Became Millionaires Before They Were 20 | Inc.com While most teens spend their youth honing work skills in entry-level jobs, whether that's slinging fast food or working retail, others get that spark to succeed at an early age. There's no shortage of useful advice out there to help even the very young make strong business decisions. There is also no minimum age to become a millionaire, as these "kids" know firsthand. From playing the stock market to starting up their own companies, check out these 40 teens who made millions before turning 20. 1. Ashley Qualls: The founder of WhateverLife.com got her ingenious idea back in 2004 when she was just 14. Meant to showcase her design skills, the site really took off when Qualls started doling out freebie MySpace layouts. An anonymous buyer offered her $1.5 million and the car of her choice, but she declined. 2. Juliath Brindak: She began creating sketched characters at age 10, and then developed a complementary social-media platform at 16. Her Miss O & Friends company is now worth an estimated $15 million, though Brindak gets most of her revenue from ads. 3. Sean...
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