Should Drinking Age Be Lowered from Twenty One to Eighteen Essay

Submitted By tmrolle
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In fall of 2009, a group over one hundred college presidents including the heads of Dartmouth, Virginia Tech and Duke all signed a declaration (Stahl, Page 1) stating that the twenty-one drinking age is not working and is creating more alcohol problem in colleges. I strongly agree with them, when it comes to lowering the drinking age to eighteen I am totally for it. At the age of eighteen most Americans are considered an adult, they are able to make many choices on their own such as joining the military, voting, getting married and even purchasing a firearm, so why are they not allowed to make a decision about purchasing and drinking alcohol. Although lowering the drinking age to eighteen may seem unethical, it should be considered because an eighteen year old is mainly consisted an adult, lowering the drinking age can decrease underage and undercover drinkers and limit alcohol problems in colleges and in our society.
Firstly, at the age of eighteen Americans is mainly considered an adult, they have the rights to purchase and drink alcohol. At eighteen you make many major decisions such as voting, joining the military, getting married and even purchase a firearm. If the government gives an eighteen year old all of these responsibilities, why are they not given the choice to buy and purchase alcohol? When joining the military, you have to fight for the country which can lead to injuries or even death but yet they are not allowed to make a decision to drink alcohol? At eighteen, one can get married and have the wedding of their dreams, but when giving a toast they are not allowed to drink the wine? These issues just sounds somewhat hypocritical don’t you think? If the government sees an eighteen year old as an adults why limit them to a drinking age law? That just isn’t fair. Once you are considered and treated as an adult you should have every right to make all of your own decision.
Secondly, if the drinking age was lowered to eighteen there would be less undercover and heavy drinking from teenagers. According to a study showed on CNN.com, 22% of all students under twenty one compare to 18% of students over twenty one are heavy drinker (Stahl, Page 3). This shows that people under twenty one tend to drink more when they get a hold of alcohol because they are uncertain as to when they might get it again. They see alcohol as a forbidden fruit, which make them curious and because they cannot drink in public they tend to become heavy drinkers behind closed doors. Heavy drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning and even death. In contrast if drinking is made legal for anyone over eighteen, drinking can take place in public. It can then be supervised by the police, security guards and even health workers.
Thirdly, if the government lowered the drinking age to eighteen, there would be less alcohol related problem in colleges. Colleges and Universities often argue that the legal drinking age should be eighteen because outlawing alcohol consumption in college for those under twenty one is just making the problem worse. These colleges say that allowing alcohol consumption legally may help cut down on alcohol related deaths. Gordy Balley is a prime example; he was a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004. He had to drink alcohol in order to get into a fraternity; he then passed out and died of alcohol poisoning. The fraternity brother left him on the library couch for nine hour, they were afraid to call the police because they know that they gave Balley and other fraternity brother alcohol knowing they were underage, they also had a variety of alcohol in the house which was a violation. According to an interview with Balley parent on CNN Network, they were asked “If the drinking age was eighteen do you think the fraternity brother would have call for help? Their response was YES, they explain that if the fraternity brother did not break any laws they would have nothing to lose or be afraid of and maybe there son
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