Luke Swail

Finnegan
English 11 2A
November 18, 2014
Lowering the Drinking Age
An 18 year old can fight for his country, own a house, and vote; yet 18 year olds cant
have a drink. Dont you think an adult should be able to have a drink? 72% of graduating high
school students have already consumed alcohol (Minton). Since it is illegal, those students could
have been arrested and charged for drinking. Should 72% of todays youth belong in jail? Rates
of alcoholism in Europe are lower than in the U.S., even though the drinking age in Europe is 18,
or even none at all in some places. Many cultures believe this is because it is treated as simply
part of a meal, or something to drink with your family, such as in Italy. In America this is not the
case, and it is frowned upon. Europe and Canada have a good system for alcohol, so why not
follow in their steps? The drinking age in America should be lowered to 18 because adults,
whatever age they are, should be able to drink.

Lowering the drinking age would reduce the number of young adults binge drinking.
There are several reasons for this. One being when adults under 21 drinks alcohol, they tend to
drink a lot because it is rarer and they dont know when the next time theyll be able to drink.
Another reason is they dont know how much to drink, so they just drink way too much.
Whereas, if young adults drank legally in a public atmosphere; cops, bartenders and even parents
could monitor them. 129 college presidents signed a petition to lower the drinking age to 18, to
stop binge drinking on college campuses. Even presidents of leading universities signed on to it

such as Ohio State University, Duke University, Dartmouth University and Johns Hopkins
University. John McCardell, president of Middlebury college in Vermont and founder of the
petition, said "When you have a law that says you may not consume alcohol until you turn 21,
and when just about everyone affected by that law is violating it routinely, we have to ask
ourselves, 'Are we truly a nation of lawbreakers or is this just a bad law?' "

Another reason is that traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among new legal
drinkers regardless of the drinking age. In 2009, the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest
percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or
higher - 35 percent (Dee). This means that the fault for drunk driving is not the legal age, so why
do so many people attribute raising the drinking age with safer driving? If a person starts
drinking at 18, they are just as new to it as someone who is 21. Some countries with lower
drinking ages have a lower rate of drunk driving crashes and fatalities as well. Overall, traffic
accidents and fatalities have no correlation with how high or low the drinking age is.

Finally, lowering the drinking age would be good for the economy. A whole new age
group would be allowed to go to a bar and drink, thus creating more revenue for bar owners and
smaller businesses. Also the government would receive money from the taxes on alcohol.
According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, underage drinking
accounts for 17.5% ($22.5 billion) of consumer spending for alcohol in the United States
(Drinking). That number represents the amount that underage drinkers spend on alcohol.
Imagine what would happen to that number it the drinking age is lowered. That 22.5 billion
dollars would most likely increase substantially due to a larger percentage of 18-21 year olds

drinking, and drinking more often as well. Lowering the drinking age can definitely help the
U.S. economy thrive.

Some people say it would be medically irresponsible to lower the drinking age. There
reasons for this are alcohol is not good for younger people as it can mess with your brain
development if it is consumed in excess. This is false because it only affects brains negatively if
someone were to drink heavily for a while. This would not occur if the drinking age was
changed to 18 because there would be less young adults binge drinking for various reasons
which were stated previously. Also studies have shown when heavy drinkers abstain from
alcohol for a long period or only drink moderately, their brains repair themselves (myths).
Another reason they have is that 18-21 year olds arent responsible enough to drink, therefore
theyd get into more traffic accidents. This is also false because young adults would be less
likely to drive drunk because they arent breaking the law and therefore can get a ride from
somebody, even a cop. Also if people really thought they werent responsible enough to drink,
then why are they allowed to vote and join the military when 18 year olds are irresponsible, and
have undeveloped minds?

In conclusion, the drinking age should definitely be lowered to 18. It would reduce the
amount of young adults binge drinking, reduce the amount of fatalities from drunk driving, and
also it would be beneficial to our economy. Sadly this law will not be passed just with wishful
thinking. In order to make the U.S. a safer and fairer country, you have to get up and do
something about it. Sign petitions, protest, and send letters to your local and state governments.
You can even run for office. The fact of the matter is, the drinking age needs to be lowered now.