Topic: (Pro) Lowering drinking age to 18

Purpose of Speech: To prove that the 21 age drinking restriction is

ineffective, unnecessary, and is not a long-term solution to the nation’s
drinking problem.
Thesis Statement: The federal law on drinking restriction at age 21 is
ineffective, unnecessary, and is not a long-term solution to the nation’s
drinking problem.

Intro:

Attention getter: We have a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol.

Cred: I’m sure most of the teenagers in this room such as myself know
more than a couple of our friends who have had an alcoholic drink before.

And it shouldn’t be surprising. Alcohol is “trendy”. It’s a form of rebellion

Tie to Audience: As an average, everyday teenager in America, I can say

from experience that this law hasn’t worked at all in stopping drinking. A lot
of the kids I know continue to drink regardless of legal restrictions, whether
it’s for religious or social reasons.

First Main Point: First of all, I do not dispute that evidence that binge
drinking in teens is a serious problem that poses significant consequences
to their health.

Subpoint A: Alcohol and its effects are a “leading cause of death”

among teenagers, often in the form of drunk driving.
Ninth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health from the Secretary of Health
and Human Services. Rockville, MD: USDHHS, Public Health Service, Alcohol, Drug Abuse and
Mental Health Administration, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Jun 1997.
Kann, L., Warren, C., et al., Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1995. Morb
Mortal Wkly Rep CDC Surveillance Summaries, 45(4):1-84, Sep 27, 1996.

Subpoint 1: Every year, more than 17 hundred college students are

killed in the US due to alcohol-related injuries
6
Magnitude of Alcohol-Related Mortality and Morbidity Among U.S. College Students
Ages 18-24: Changes from 1998 to 2001; Ralph Hingson, Timothy Heeren, Michael Winter,
Henry Wechsler; Annual Review of Public Health, April 2005, Vol. 26: pp. 259-279.

Subpoint 2: According to national surveys conducted by the US

Govt, someone dies from alcohol poisoning nearly every week
These side effects are almost 100% preventable,
 Subpoint B: Despite prohibitions established to restrict it, alcohol use
in teens continues to account for nearly 11 million teenage drinkers in the
US, 7.2 million of them being heavy drinkers.
2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2006). Results
from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Office of
Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-30, DHHS Publication No. SMA 06-4194). Rockville,
MD.
Subpoint 1: “Every day, on average, 11,318 American youth (12 to 20
years of age) try alcohol for the first time, compared with 6,488 for
marijuana; 2,786 for cocaine; and 386 for heroin.”

Data reported by Jill Schmidtlein, White House Office of National Drug

Control Policy, Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse, Feb 13, 1998. The
data were extrapolated from Preliminary Estimates from the 1996 National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 1997.

National surveys have found that “nearly one third (31.5%) of all
high school students reported hazardous drinking”

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States, 1999. June 09,

2000 / 49(SS05);1-96 Kann, L., S. Kinchen, B.

Subpoint 2:
teenage binge drinkers nearly has remained a problem in America
despite prohibitions established to restrict it.

Subpoint B:
A, Rachel. "Alcohol: Problems and Solutions". Potsdam. July 2,
2010 <A Teenager’s View on Reducing Alcohol Abuse >.