Essay, Research Paper: Drinking Age

In the United States, it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of twenty-one. At the age of eighteen, a person can get married, vote, drive, take out loans, pay taxes, buy tobacco, and be in the armed forces and die for their country. Yet that person still can not drink alcohol. In many other countries the drinking age is lower. It is imperative that the drinking age be lowered to the age of eighteen.
The drinking age must be lowered to the age of eighteen because this age would be consistent with other responsibilities that the government ____ grants eighteen-year-olds. For instance, at the age of eighteen, a person is liable to be in the armed forces. If a person is being trusted to fight or even possibly die for their country, it seems a lot less crucial to trust them with an alcoholic beverage. To add to the fact of dying for their country, these people are being counted on to kill other humans. This seems unreasonable that a person is liable to take on an adult’s job, that involves the future of the country, and still be unable to enjoy an activity that other adults are allowed to participate in. If one can be expected to kill and die for their country, then they have the maturity to look at alcohol as a social activity to interact with peers and adults and not as a way to alter their conscience. In addition, people fresh out of high school are bombarded by many financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America. These companies are offering them Visa and Master Cards with up to 25% annual percentage rates (APR). How is someone with no credit history and little or no income supposed to take such huge financial responsibilities? They are expected to be able to take on this burden, yet they still can not buy a six pack to get their mind off the fact that they are in serious debt with their new credit card. Most twenty-one year olds that own credit cards want to get drunk when they realize that they have such enormous financial burdens, when eighteen-year-olds don’t even have this option. An eighteen-year-old can die for his country while leaving his family to pay the 25% APR accrued by his quickly accumulated short-lived large debt. Yet he still couldn’t drink.
The drinking age must be lowered because in the majority of foreign countries, there is no distinction between a right and a wrong age to drink. For instance, Amsterdam has no drinking age, but there are barely any injuries that relate to alcohol by people under the age of 21. This is because all the young teenagers know that they can drink and this leaves nothing to rebel against, there is no hype. If something isn’t prohibited, it becomes something of less interest. Professor Craig Reinerman of University California Santa Cruz has devoted his life to studying alcohol and drug policies in different countries. He has found that when no boundaries are placed on the use of alcohol, it becomes part of the normal way of life and there is no final destination to reach if there is no age limit. In addition, Mexico’s drinking age is lower than Americas, which increases the rate of accidents involving alcohol. The rate of alcohol related accidents would decrease if the age limit were the same as Mexico’s because there would be no need for teens to travel to Mexico to get drunk. Each year many teens from America travel to Mexico to take advantage of the young drinking age. In the act of doing this, horrible things take place, especially rapes and kidnappings of young girls. Going to Mexico and drinking is much more dangerous for an eighteen year old, than drinking in America for numerous reasons. Most importantly though, Spanish is the main language that is spoken there and if a teen is drunk and crosses paths with a policeman, he will go to jail. This is a very scary thought to think, because it could separate and worry schoolmates of the whereabouts of their friend. Changing the legal drinking age in America would solve all these problems, because the curiosity and hype would decrease dramatically.
Life hits a peek of change at the age of eighteen. There are responsibilities flying from all directions. These responsibilities are all characteristics of adulthood, but alcohol is considered a mid-adulthood only characteristic. It a restriction of freedom to trust and expect so much out of a young adolescence and not let them participate in the activity of drinking. A young adult can be left to die for his country, but still can not give a toast to celebrate adulthood.


Word Count: 793