Byrd 1
Molly Byrd
Professor Teri Klauser
English 1301-900
April 24, 2018
Draft Two: Lowering the legal drinking age
In the United States, legal drinking age has been maintained at 21 years for quite some time. in the recent past, there has been a debate as to whether the allowable age should be lowered below 21 years or maintained at 21. Lowering drinking age, however, comes along with some serious consequences. In this piece of work, I will present reasons for lowering the age of drinking alcohol. Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:ve Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:against
Reducing the age of taking alcohol below the age of 21 years would lead to an increase in the cases of drunk driving. Drunk driving is the new thing that has increased with civilization. According to a research that was carried out, at least 17,000 people die every year as a result of cases that are linked to drunk driving. As of 2010 for instance, 10,228 people died as a result of cases that were related to driving while drunk. Currently, drunk driving is one of the issues that are taken with seriousness when traffic rules are being imposed. The question then comes as to how lowering the drinking age below 21 years is related to increasing in the cases of drunk driving (Wagenaar, Alexander &Traci 210). The issue is that driving while drunk is has a strong correlation with the youth. Basing on current research, a majority of the cases of drunk driving are with youths aged between 18 and 25 years. For the ones between 18 and 21 years, cases of drunk driving are too many since this is the time when the youths have attained freedom and are thus eager to enjoy themselves. Once a person has attained the age of 25 years, the rates of driving while drunk tend to decrease. It is quite surprising that the high number of cases of drunk driving among youths between 18 and 20 years happen when alcohol drinking is prohibited among youths in this age group. If it were legalized, chances are that the number of youths drinking while drunk will rise at a very high rate (Saffer & Michael 410). Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:e Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:at
Another reason for lowering the drinking age is that lowering it would result in binge drinking as well as alcohol poisoning. Prevalence of binge drinking is very common in colleges and universities. A brief stroll through the big campuses in the United States crowded bars with people using fake IDs, a plethora of keg parties, and rowdy fraternity functions and sorority that happens through the night. According to a research study that was recently conducted, 44 percent of students in the college or campus get involved in spree drinking. What is astonishing is that at least 30,000 college and campus students in the United States undergo treatment every year in cases involving alcohol poisoning. There are also cases in which spree drinking among the youths has resulted in cases of death. Looking at the current state of binge drinking among college and university students, lowering the age of drinking below 21 years would be like increasing the number of youth who get involved in cases of alcohol poisoning and binge drinking (Wechsler et al, 985). Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:against Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:to
Lastly, lowering the age of drinking below 21 years would lead to an increase of violent behaviors associated with the consumption of alcohol. Consumption of alcohol is associated with academic failure, hazardous sexual behavior, abuse of drugs, and alteration in the structure as well as the functioning of one’s brain. Looking at recent cases of assault and homicide offenders, a large number of them were under the influence of alcohol when coming to the act (Birckmayer & David 1367).
As discussed above, reducing drinking age below the age of 21 years comes along with certain serious consequences. The most common include an increase in the cases of drunk driving, binge drinking as well as alcohol poisoning, an increase of violent behaviors association with taking alcohol. looking at the consequences it comes along with, drinking age should not be lowered below 21 years. Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:: Comment by Grammarly: Deleted:d
Works cited
Birckmayer, Johanna, and David Hemenway. "Minimum-age drinking laws and youth suicide, 1970-1990." American Journal of public health 89.9 (1999): 1365-1368.
Saffer, Henry, and Michael Grossman. "Drinking age laws and highway mortality rates: Cause and effect." Economic Inquiry25.3 (1987): 403-417.
Wagenaar, Alexander C., and Traci L. Toomey. "Effects of minimum drinking age laws: review and analyses of the literature from 1960 to 2000." Journal of Studies on Alcohol, supplement 14 (2002): 206-225.
Wechsler, Henry, et al. "A gender-specific measure of binge drinking among college students." American journal of public health 85.7 (1995): 982-985.
