lowering the drinking age

lowering the drinking age

Maxwell Parkinson
AP Lang

The United States is home to millions upon million of youths. All of whom are different; their backgrounds, race, interests, personalities. But what they all seem to have in common, however, is that they partake in underage drinking. According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 72.5% of high school students have had a drink of alcohol. Why is this the case? Even though the drinking age is 21, why are so many teenagers drinking? Some argue that setting the drinking age at 21 takes away the teenagers’ desire to wait to drink, as it is so far into their future. Others argue it gives a feasible way for kids to rebel from from the law. Whatever the case may be, teenage drinking cannot be stopped. There are steps we can take, though, to take away this inhibition teenagers have to consume alcohol. Because the current legal drinking age set a 21 is unsafe and unjust, it should be lowered to 18, with the enactment of a permit along with it.

Along with teenage drinking comes many problems associated with it. The first and biggest problem of it is the safety factor involved with drinking. Teenagers who associate themselves with consuming alcohol often do it in private spaces where safety is not taken into consideration. According to “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered From 21 to a Younger Age?”, “Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior.” Allowing 18-20 year olds to drink alcohol in regulated environments with supervision would decrease the bad decisions associated with drinking, as well as decrease the amount of alcohol consumption. John McCardell Jr., an esteemed historian of the American South, states in “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?”, "forced alcohol consumption behind the...

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