Should The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered?
Should The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Stay At 21?
Will Schwartz
Miami University
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Should The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered?
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Should the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Stay At 21?
For decades, the American social scene has revolved around the consumption of
alcohol. Whether it’s through advertisements, movies, billboards or personal
interactions, American children are surrounded with alcoholic images. Due to these
images combined with the influence of their peers, and in some cases their elders,
children have become extremely vulnerable to the pressures of under-aged
drinking. Across College campuses, binge drinking has become a very usual activity
and it is not uncommon to see a majority of high school and even some middle
school students consuming large amounts of alcohol. Some argue that the drinking
age should be lowered because it will decrease the thrill of under-aged drinking and
will make it much less common throughout the nation. Others argue that if the
parents of the under-aged individuals approve of alcohol consumption, then it
should be allowed. For example, here at Miami University, minors are able to drink if
their parents are with them. But these arguments understate the strength and
danger of the drug. Alcohol can cause extreme harm to Americans of all ages, but is
particularly harmful when consumed by individuals under the age of 21, the current
legal drinking age. The high drinking age serves to protect and make sure the
American youth is safe and should not be lowered.
Possibly the most important reason why the drinking age should remain at 21, is
due to the damaging affects alcohol has on the underdeveloped brains of young
adults.
“Research has revealed that alcohol consumption interferes with the
development of the brain, specifically the hippocampus, which
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provides essential learning functions for humans. A recent study
revealed that the hippocampus in an adults who began drinking at an
early age, were significantly smaller than those of adults who began to
drink later in life. The results of this study reveal that alcohol can have
permanent damage to the human brain. The alcohol imposed damage
to the hippocampus leads to the impairment of functions such as
memorization, which is essential to the academic success of any
individual. ”(Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge,
2013).
The motivation for setting the drinking age at 21 is to allow children to fully develop
their brains before participating in alcoholic consumption, which could hurt them in
the long run. If the drinking age were 18 like it used to, kids would start drinking at
even younger ages. In addition to the concerns for brain damage, there is a concern
that young adults have not developed all of their critical thinking skills before the
age of 21. It is important for the human brain to fully mature in order for the
individual to become fully able to process information and make informed,
thoughtful decisions concerning their personal well being. When considering the
potential brain damage and harmful effects that underage consumption can have on
young adults, it is important that the minimum legal drinking age remains at 21.
In addition to brain damage, underage alcohol consumption can have many
detrimental effects on young adults. Drinking heavy volumes of alcohol will
decrease the decision making abilities of young adults and can lead them to
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participate in various high risk activities. Young adults that are under the influence
are exposed to a much greater risk for participating in dangerous acts such as
drinking and driving, suicide, sexual assault, and unprotected sex. In addition,
underage drinking can lead kids to experiment in more powerful, addicting drugs
that have the capability to ruin their lives or even have fatal consequences. Alcohol
impairs an individual’s logic and self-control, which can lead them to participate in
the use of substance that they typically would not have if they were sober. John N.
Marr from American University explains,
“When under the influence of alcohol, persons who would normally have
enough invested in their recovery not to partake of controlled substances
experience mild euphoria and loss of inhibition, which often results in
behaviors that would not occur if the individual were sober” (2011, Marr).
Underage drinking can lead kids to experiment with drugs when they are under the
influence. The terrible effects that could come from the addiction and damage of
these drugs are just a few of the many reasons that the minimum legal drinking age
should not be lower.
In the past few decades, the American public has consistently supported the 21
year-old drinking age limit. In fact, the social pressure exerted by the American
public is the main reason why the drinking age today is 21.
“In the 1970’s, many states lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18, because
they felt the drinking age should go along with the new voting age of 18.
What followed was a significant increase in drunk driving accidents, which
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was associated with the decreased drinking age limit. Many interest groups,
such as MADD, ran intense campaigns in which they pushed for a raise in the
drinking age limit. In 1984, the Regan administration responded to the public
desires and set the national drinking age limit to 21, where it has remained
ever since. (2012, Carroll)”
Today, the public continues to support the minimum drinking age of 21 as revealed
in several polls. The American public is clearly in agreement when dealing with the
topic of underage drinking. Since the majority of Americans support the current
drinking limit and understand the benefits it brings, the limit should definitely
remain at 21.
One of the main reasons for the public push for a higher minimum legal
drinking age in the 1980s was the fact that alcohol consumption greatly decreases a
human’s decision-making abilities and can lead to many dangerous behaviors for
the individual as well as the community. The activity that provides the most
potential danger to the community is drinking under the influence.
“The rate of motor vehicle fatalities in the evening for 21–24 year-olds also
changes when the minimum legal drinking age changes. While the
proportional effect size for 21–24 year-olds (2.61/23.2 = 0.1125, or about 11
percent) is substantially smaller than for 18–20 year-olds (17 percent)”.
(Carpenter, 2011, para. 8)
This statistic shows us that younger groups already have a higher percentage of
fatalities in the evening. MADD.org estimates, “Almost every 90 seconds, a person is
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injured in a drunk driving crash” (MADD.org). This statistic devastatingly shows the
frequency of drunk driving incidents in our country. Clearly, it is necessary for the
well being of the American public that safety regulations are set in place to reduce
the number of drunk driving incidents. Police have cracked down on monitoring
drunk driving and have increased the punishments for those convicted in related
incidents. In addition, many organizations have spoken out against drunk driving
and have spread awareness in an attempt to lower the number of incidents. But one
policy that is essential to reducing the number of incidents is often overlooked. This
policy is the minimum drinking age. MADD reveals, “The rate of drunk driving is
highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4 percent)” (MADD.org). This statistic reveals
that most drunk driving incidents involve newly legal individuals. Therefore, if the
drinking age was reduced, the number of newly legal individuals on the road would
increase, which would create the opportunity for an increase in the number of
drunk driving incidents. Research has been conducted on this topic and the results
prove that the current driving age has served to protect society from drunk drivers.
ProCon.org states,
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that
MLDA 21 (minimum legal drinking age) decreased the number of fatal traffic
accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13% and saved approximately 27,052
lives from 1975-2008” (ProCon.org).
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The minimum legal drinking age of 21 is clearly vital to the reduction of traffic
accidents. Decreasing the drinking age would only put innocent people at risk, and
would increase the number of serious alcohol related accidents.
Today, children are drinking at a lower age than ever before. The National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports, “By the time they reach eight
grade, nearly 50 percent of adolescents have had at least one drink, and over 20
percent report having been “drunk”(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism). These numbers are extremely concerning considering the extreme
amount of damage that alcohol can cause to the growing bodies of these children.
For under-aged youth, the main routes of access to alcohol are teenagers and young
adults that are close to their age. This means that newly legal drinkers typically
supply alcohol to18-20 year olds, who then will sometimes provide for children
younger than themselves. This pattern creates a trend and will likely continue
regardless of the drinking age. But if the legal drinking age is lowered below 21, this
cycle continue will surely begin to reach even younger children. The 18-20 year-old
legal drinkers may begin to provide for young teenagers, who will pass their habits
down to even younger middle school children. This pattern will increase the
accessibility of alcohol for young children and will increase the commonality of
under-aged drinking among young high school and middle school children.
Lowering the drinking age will only serve to increase the potential for young
children to drink and will have extremely dangerous consequences on these
children as they begin to turn into adults.
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Keeping the drinking age at 21 will not only reduce the accessibility of
alcohol for young children, but it will protect these children from getting involved in
unsafe areas. The popular places in which alcohol consumption takes place include
bars, nightclubs, raging frat parties, and many other places. America social culture
has portrayed these types of places as extremely fun, safe environments where all of
the “cool kids” hang out. Once they engage in alcohol consumption, many children
may be tempted to go to these types of events. In reality these extremely unsafe and
unhealthy environments are dangerous for any child to be hanging out. By reducing
the drinking age, the number of children that would have accessibility to unsafe
environments would increase, which could lead to increased crime rates at these
venues. The American government wants to protect the children of our country and
one of the ways they do this is by setting the drinking age at 21. By reducing the
amount of young people hanging out at unsafe places, kids will be kept out of harms
way.
Underage drinking has clearly become a major issue in American society. It is
very common for adolescents to begin drinking at an early age, despite the
numerous alcohol related laws and police crackdowns. The most important of these
laws is the minimum legal drinking age. Many citizens and even other nations do not
understand why the American drinking age remains one of the highest in the world.
But when the facts are exposed, it is obvious that the drinking age plays a major role
in protecting American children and all of society. If the drinking age were lowered
children could damage their brain development, would gain easier access to alcohol,
would be more likely to experiment with illicit drugs, and would be exposed to
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unsafe environments such as bars and nightclubs. Furthermore, societal dangers
would increase as a result of a lower drinking age. The number of alcohol related
motor accidents would increase and innocent citizens would be put at risk. It is
clearly in the best interest of the American pubic and youth to keep the drinking age
at 21.
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References
Carpenter, C., & Dobkin, C. (2011). The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Public
Health. Journal Of Economic Perspectives
Joseph Carroll. (2007, July 27) Most Americans Oppose Lowering Legal
Drinking Age to 18 Nationwide. Retrieved from
http://www.gallup.com/poll/28237/most-americans-oppose-lowering-legaldrinking-age-nationwide.aspx
(2011) Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from
http://www.chooseresponsibility.org/frequently_asked_questions
(April 2013) Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge
Retrieved from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa59.htm
(2013) Drunk Driving Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.madd.org/drunkdriving/about/drunk-driving-statistics.html
John N. Marr. (1999) The interrelationships between the Use of Alcohol and
Other Drugs. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/178940.pdf
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Reflection
I wrote this piece because I have always been interested and wondered why
our MLDA is higher than most countries. The audience is the teacher and the
government. It was difficult because it was my first research paper. I found myself
changing my paper around a lot. It was hard to me to get good quotes and expand off
of them. I also kept changing quotes and paragraphs last minute. I reworked a
couple of the quotes and added different ones that I thought were better. I focused
on getting the facts and trying to convince the audience why the MLDA should stay
at 21. I also had trouble with APA all around from the quotes to the references. I
worked on my sentence flow and structure. I also worked on grammar and
punctuation throughout this piece.
If I had to change anything, I would try to find better academic journals and
books. I got most of my information from credible websites. I thought the sites were
easier and better to find good information regarding my topic. I did not like most of
the journals. I do not think I read anything that influenced me; I’ve just always been
interested in the topic. I learned a lot of facts and reasons behind why the MLDA is
what it is. I don’t think I will publish or share it. I will definitely not delete it and will
file it.