The Drinking Age
Vernon Meigs
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Opinions
There are rumors floating about that the US drinking age will be lowered from 21 to 18. For many people, including adult teens and college students, this would seem to be something to look forward to. However, there are those that have reasons for keeping the minimal drinking age where it is.
For nearly two decades, the minimal drinking age has been 21. The idea has been thought of since well into the 1970's, but fruition came greatly due to the influence of Mothers Against Drunk Driving during the 1980's. Congress made the law definite in 1984. Consequentially, the United States has had the highest minimum drinking age in the world. (Some countries' minimal drinking ages range from about 17 to none at all.) Those who have advocated it have done so with the hopes of preventing irresponsible drinking and incidents such as drunk driving among the young.
Defenders of the minimal drinking age proclaim that the age is justified because the human brain continues to develop and grow until around 21. However, those that refute those claims argue that those results were extrapolated from non-human laboratory specimens, and those involved in the experiment were already to some degree alcohol-dependent.
Scientists in the rest of the world seem not to ascribe to these alleged findings. Supporters of the law also argue that casualties and fatalities on the road have since decreased.
Decriers of the federal minimum protest that the laws are not working and that they are only breeding more extreme measures for the young to get their hands on alcohol. Underage drinking simply shifted to the underground and anywhere that the law cannot find them. Alcohol-related health problems also increased due to the fact that adolescents cannot call for medical care for an alcohol problem illegal for them to have.
Others voicing opposition to the current law provide a general libertarian argument of non-regulation and doing away with federal government interference. Personal responsibility should go to the responsible and the government should not lend a hand in deciding whether or not drinking should be allowed for certain ages. There are even those who advocate the lowering of the drinking age due to health reasons: the delaying of first exposure to alcohol would cause increased risks for 21-year-olds.
Some bring up the subject of soldiers in Iraq. They believe that if they can take a shot in the battlefield, they should be very much allowed to take a shot or two of some drink back home.
The option of states independently reducing their ages may have been thought of once or twice; however, the federal law on the drinking age also supports the funding of the states' roads and if they were to dissent from the law, their federal funding would be cut. The minimum drinking age has been so effectively sustained due to those threats by Congress.
So, will the decision be made to lower or sustain the drinking age anytime soon? There are no definite federal proposals currently, though with enough voices opposing it, it may not be that far off.
For nearly two decades, the minimal drinking age has been 21. The idea has been thought of since well into the 1970's, but fruition came greatly due to the influence of Mothers Against Drunk Driving during the 1980's. Congress made the law definite in 1984. Consequentially, the United States has had the highest minimum drinking age in the world. (Some countries' minimal drinking ages range from about 17 to none at all.) Those who have advocated it have done so with the hopes of preventing irresponsible drinking and incidents such as drunk driving among the young.
Defenders of the minimal drinking age proclaim that the age is justified because the human brain continues to develop and grow until around 21. However, those that refute those claims argue that those results were extrapolated from non-human laboratory specimens, and those involved in the experiment were already to some degree alcohol-dependent.
Scientists in the rest of the world seem not to ascribe to these alleged findings. Supporters of the law also argue that casualties and fatalities on the road have since decreased.
Decriers of the federal minimum protest that the laws are not working and that they are only breeding more extreme measures for the young to get their hands on alcohol. Underage drinking simply shifted to the underground and anywhere that the law cannot find them. Alcohol-related health problems also increased due to the fact that adolescents cannot call for medical care for an alcohol problem illegal for them to have.
Others voicing opposition to the current law provide a general libertarian argument of non-regulation and doing away with federal government interference. Personal responsibility should go to the responsible and the government should not lend a hand in deciding whether or not drinking should be allowed for certain ages. There are even those who advocate the lowering of the drinking age due to health reasons: the delaying of first exposure to alcohol would cause increased risks for 21-year-olds.
Some bring up the subject of soldiers in Iraq. They believe that if they can take a shot in the battlefield, they should be very much allowed to take a shot or two of some drink back home.
The option of states independently reducing their ages may have been thought of once or twice; however, the federal law on the drinking age also supports the funding of the states' roads and if they were to dissent from the law, their federal funding would be cut. The minimum drinking age has been so effectively sustained due to those threats by Congress.
So, will the decision be made to lower or sustain the drinking age anytime soon? There are no definite federal proposals currently, though with enough voices opposing it, it may not be that far off.
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Alcohol Rehab Center
posted 2/19/09 @ 9:58 PM EST
In my opinion, lowering the drinking age will only fill up the rows of those teenagers that end up in an alcohol rehabilitation center. If now they're drinking like crazy everywhere in campuses, while they know not all of them are 21 yet, imagine how it would be if government legalized alcohol for them. (Continued…)
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