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Riley Clifford
Mrs. Pettay
ENG 111, 2B
29 March 2017

Lowering the Drinking Age

The legal age for an adult to purchase or consume alcohol in the United States is twenty-

one years old. While some believe that lowering the drinking age may be potentially beneficial

to society, others find that a lack a maturity may cause more chaos if the drinking age is lowered.

Both opinions on the issue have different respectable and valid points to support their position.

However, both sides have the same goal in mind. The safety of society, preventing alcohol

related incidents and deaths, and lowering drinking and driving incidents are all shared goals.

Based on aspects such as maturity and responsibility, there are key points as to why keeping the

drinking age the same and lowering the drinking age may cause a safer society Americas

population and the new age of rookie drinkers.

With the drinking age at twenty-one years old, it is simple to see that three more years

will allow individuals to mature more and become more responsible about their drinking. In a

2002 meta-study from the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 87% of the analyses found higher

legal drinking ages associated with lower alcohol consumption (ProCon). The less people drink

the better. Therefore, keeping the drinking age at twenty- one is beneficial. Also, with lowering

the drinking age and allowing more younger adults to drink, alcohol can not only create

irresponsible actions but it is also harmful to the brains frontal lobes development, a part of the

brain that controls the decision-making process. By lowering the drinking age and impairing our
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decision-making lobe of the brain at a younger age, it will create a greater population of less

responsible drinkers that will enter places like clubs and bars, a recipe for disaster (ProCon). I

understand that waiting another three years for the right to drink may cause less dangers to the

public due to an increase of maturity, such as drinking and driving incidents. Similar to why

gambling and renting cars have higher age requirements, it is understandable to keep the

drinking age at twenty-one in order to protect society.

However, by lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen years old, a smart

move, the public may better learn to control their drinking, making drinking a safer activity for

rookie drinkers. The American Journal of Public Health relates the issue of drinking to

abstinence. The article introduces the fact that middle and high school sexual education classes

who teach their kids about ways to protect themselves and control themselves during sexual

encounters, instead of telling children to abstain from sex, have lower levels of teen pregnancy

(Weschler). Similarly, allowing a younger age of drinkers provokes more control because

whether the drinking age is 18 or twenty-one, underage drinking will not stop. Being able to

control drinking and not trying to prevent it will allow less reckless behavior from the rookie

drinkers. In comparing the United States to other countries globally who have a drinking age at

18 years old, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provided statistics that there

are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities in many countries with MLDA of 18

(ProCon). Drinking is inevitable, no matter the drinking age, there is certain to be a class of

under aged drinkers. While underage drinking is illegal and can be irresponsible, it allows

experience for young adults to better control their drinking in the future. I am not advocating for

underage drinking, however, lowering the drinking age will allow for young adults to see

drinking as a thing of comradery instead of binge drinking to blackout. Lowering the drinking
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age in the United States is the right decision. It is seen in colleges around the U.S., when the

goody- goody or the college freshman with strict parents taste freedom in college and dont

know how to control their alcohol and this is when accidents happen (Wechsler) . Controlling

drinking and introducing the concept and legalization of drinking at a younger age will create a

potentially safer community for the United States.

I understand that there are few benefits to drinking. Whether the drinking age is twenty-

one or eighteen, drinking is dangerous and harmful to those involved in drinking and those who

are surrounding the drunk at times where their decision making is impaired. I recognize that an

older drinking age allows for more maturity when drinking. Lowering the drinking age,

however, will allow for more control in rookie drinkers. If opposed to lowering the drinking age,

I propose to allow underage drinking within the household and in controlled environments to

allow young adults to engage in social drinking to prevent dangerous binge drinking once people

are of age. Lowering the drinking age or allowing under aged social drinking will better control

and prevent danger to push towards the safer society that both sides wish to create.

As a high school senior, I am fully aware of the irresponsible and underage drinking that

occurs in the United States. Both those in favor and against lowering the drinking age agree that

drinking is harmful and finding a way to promote safer drinking is vital. So, instead of giving

young adults the thrill of breaking the law, lowering the drinking age will help alcohol become a

more controlled substance. The ability to possibly have young adults learn to control their

alcohol through the practice of social drinking at a younger age will create a safer society where

alcohol has less influence. Not only will the roads, nightclubs, and bars be safer places, by

taking away the stigma of alcohol through introducing it earlier in social settings, America will

be a safer place.
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Works Cited

"Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?" ProCon. N.p., n.d. Web. 27

Mar. 2017.

Wechsler, Henry and Toben F. Nelson. "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the

Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences among

Youths?." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 100, no. 6, June 2010, pp. 986-992.

Accessed March 27, 2017.