The drinking age should be lowered because the age of eighteen indicates mental maturity and responsibility on the part of the consumer. The U.S. has the strictest youth drinking laws in western civilization and yet has the most drinking-related problems among its young. As most of us know, in 1987 the drinking age was increased from eighteen to twenty one. This was done because of the behavior shown in younger people. But did anyone ever think of what the results would be? Now, younger people don’t have easy access to alcohol, but it is abused more. This only discourages the law to be passed to increase the drinking age, but with privilege comes learned responsibility. I think it’s important for younger people to start learning how to handle alcohol consumption at an earlier age. This way, they are less likely to makes bad mistakes later on. When people think of lowering the drinking age, crazy college students with no limits probably come to mind. But there are many aspects to enjoying alcohol that don’t involve getting “trashed.” Enjoying wine with a meal and drinking a beer watching the game are responsible acts people under 21 should be allowed to do.
It’s true younger people must have not shown enough responsibility while it was legal for those eighteen and above to drink, but a different generation exists now. Studies show young people eighteen and over aren’t as reckless as they were at the time of the law being changed to twenty one and over. On top of that, the amount of consumption has actually increased in the past 9 years. It’s important now more than ever to lower the drinking age so young people can have better judgment and ease into the process of being able to drink, not dive in and drown.
Introducing alcohol at an earlier age is the safest way to promote safe drinking. Young people in France, Spain, and Argentina rarely abuse alcohol. They learn how to drink within the family, which sees drinking in moderation as normal. Youth in these societies rarely embarrass themselves or their families by abusing alcohol. When it comes to binge drinking, however, I believe it’s the fault of the drinking age. Instead of in European countries, where they teach moderation and responsible drinking at a very early age, in this country drinking is more demoralized. It almost seems to be a sort of demonized thing. The simple fact is that when alcohol isn't demonized, the thirst for it is not quite so strong. But kids do it in their basement or they do it in backdoor keg parties. They don't learn responsible drinking with their parents. That's what raising the drinking age has done, it hasturned responsible drinking into dangerous drinking. If the drinking age is kept where it is and is enforced as strictly as it is now, it's just going to lead to dangerous results with alcoholism being much higher than it is in Europe and drunk driving deaths being much higher than they are in Europe.
Something else that may make drinking safer for younger people is lowering the drinking age and, at the same time, raising the driving age. In North Carolina, there are young people just shy of their fifteenth birthday who have a beginner's driving permit. To me, a 15-year-old in the driver's seat of their father’s sports car is a far scarier proposition than a 20-year-old on a bar stool with a margarita. Let's take the cars away from kids and give the right to enjoy a beer in a licensed, regulated establishment back to the adults. And rather than try to legislate good behavior, let's pursue education that promotes responsibility. This would be a legal driving age of 18 instead of 16 and a legal drinking age of 18 instead of 21.
The best answer for the proper alcohol consumption at the age of 18 would be to have education on the subject of drinking. We need to educate people about alcohol and educate people on the harms of alcohol. So that means if somebody has different capacities for alcohol, we teach them that because they're going to have to find out sometime, someday, whether they're over 21 or over 18 they're going to find out how they react to alcohol.
If adults would learn to have a better attitude about behavior toward young men and women, more maturity, self-restraint, and social responsibility could be expected of them. Parents, especially in the United States, have immediate thoughts that lowering the drinking age would be a bad idea, but they don’t take into account the good it could do. Everything experienced at an earlier age results in better responsibility late on in life, so why should early exposure to alcohol be any different? Whether it’s early exposure through a legal drinking age of 18, or alcohol education classes at even earlier ages, this is what young people today need. They need to know the effects of alcohol, how much is too much for each individual, and know the behavior that coincides with alcohol consumption. Also, alcohol isn’t some poison that ruins lives, when used correctly it’s actually healthy. For women, one drink a day is healthy and for men two. This method has long been proven to help prevent heart related problems. The number of strokes people have is reduced dramatically when moderate drinking is done compared to people that never drink. Perhaps, the stronger of the alcoholic drinks should be kept at bay until 21 such as hard liquors. Wine and beer don’t have nearly the alcohol content and could be controlled easier when drinking. It might be easier for a person to fathom the alcohol content being drank if it’s lower as well as be less likely to abuse it and get addicted at that age and later in life. I saw first hand what happens in dorms filled with underage drinkers. Because they couldn’t buy alcohol in clubs, they’d “pregame,” which mean binge drink so their buzz lasts for hours. This wouldn’t happen if the drinking age were lowered.
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