StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Lowering the Drinking Age - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
One of the most contentious topics of the day has been regarding the lowering of the drinking age and there have been strong arguments in favor of and against the attempt to lower the legal drinking age to eighteen. The idea of lowering the drinking age has been strongly opposed by the federal safety officials while a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to eighteen has been taking root for some years now…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.5% of users find it useful
Lowering the Drinking Age
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Lowering the Drinking Age"

Download file to see previous pages

"The argument goes like this: Our current drinking age forces young people to drink in private, so binge drinking of serious alcohol is on the rise and can be deadly. Lower the drinking age and kids will choose to drink low-alcohol beer openly--and safely. Teenagers want to drink because it's a 'forbidden fruit.'" (Drinking While Young, 11) According to the proponents of lowering the drinking age, it would not be such a big issue if drinking alcohol were legal at eighteen. On the contrary, to them, it would even help in the reduction of the number of teenage drinkers as those under twenty one would be less likely to drink.

Following the debates on the minimum-age laws and policy change in the United States between 1970 and 1973, half of the states in the US lowered the legal age to eighteen. "The legislation was viewed as enlightened and forward-looking. It was believed that if consuming alcohol would lose the symbolic significance of being grown-up, young people might learn to drink moderately and more wisely than their elders. Furthermore, most teenagers had been drinking anyway, despite their inability to purchase alcoholic beverages.

" (Cohen, 33) Therefore, the arguments in favor of lowering the drinking age are influential and these are further supported by several research evidences. However, it is also important to comprehend that the opponents of such an argument also have crucial research evidences to prove their point. They point out that there has been reported rise in binge drinking as teenagers increasingly turn to hard liquor and prove that minors cannot be allowed to drink. Therefore, this exploratory essay aims at posing the two sides of the argument on the topic 'lowering the drinking age' and attempts to make a logical conclusion on the issue.

One of the most thoroughly researched areas of social issues in the modern American society has been the controversial issue of lowering the drinking age and there have been vital researches on the Minimum Legal Drinking Age. "The Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is the most well-studied alcohol control policy in the United States. The intention of this policy is to lower alcohol use and its associated problems among youth As a result of research evidence indicating that traffic crashes among youth increased following lowering of the legal age, a citizens' effort began urging states to raise the MLDA back to age 21.

" (Wagenaar and Toomey, 206) It was during the early 1970s that a trend toward lowering the MLDA to age 18, 19 or 20 was most prominent in the United States. However, following a number of research evidences proving the pitfalls of lowering drinking age, all the states established an age-21 MLDA by the year 1988. This act of increasing the drinking age across several states provided researchers with different natural experiments to evaluate the effects of these policy changes on alcohol consumption and related problems among youth.

However, the debate over the MLDA has become one of the most important discussions of the day and a significant issue in this debate has been if increasing the drinking age can in reality reduce alcohol-related problems in society. In order to determine the overall

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Lowering the Drinking Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved de https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1515127-lowering-the-drinking-age
(Lowering the Drinking Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1515127-lowering-the-drinking-age.
“Lowering the Drinking Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1515127-lowering-the-drinking-age.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Lowering the Drinking Age

Lowering the Drinking Age

Therefore, the age should be reduced so that it includes those people This is because, despite the fact that it is illegal for young adults below drinking age to drink alcohol, most people always start drinking before they reach the legal drinking age Credibility Statement: I have researched on the issue at Lowering the Drinking Age in USA on the pros and cons, as well as their implications for over 30 years.... Many have been arguing that Lowering the Drinking Age will encourage promiscuousness and irresponsibility, which is a mistaken stand since there is no direct relation between drinking and behaviors, as we will come to realize....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Lowering the Drinking Age: A Discussion of the Risks and Benefits of Such a Proposition

An essay "Lowering the Drinking Age: A Discussion of the Risks and Benefits of Such a Proposition" claims that the way in which the USA has enacted and enforces drinking law is the fact that privilege of adulthood within our society is granted upon the individual reaching the age of 18 years.... nbsp; This brief essay will attempt to consider some of the ways in which the drinking age, as it stands currently at 21.... Additionally, some of the policy and legislative mechanisms that have been used to standardize the drinking age as well as the key drawbacks that they espouse will also be considered....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Debate: Why should we against to lower drinking age

There are some in society who believe Lowering the Drinking Age from 21 to 18 would have positive benefits, both for society and for the health and well-being of today's youth.... Proponents of changing the drinking age believe that under the current 21-and-over laws found… However, there is far more evidence that reducing the drinking age to 18 would have significant health-related consequences and would likely provide increases HERE HERE YOUR HERE HERE Why should we be against Lowering the Drinking Age?...
2 Pages (500 words) Term Paper

Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 in the USA

hose in favor of the 20th March Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 in USA The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 s that onlya person above 21 years of age can purchase or publicly possess alcohol.... he most pressing concern in Lowering the Drinking Age is drunk driving.... Lowering the Drinking Age will invite more cases of binge drinking which is harmful for the young people.... Lowering the Drinking Age will cause an increase in campus and street violence leading to death and lifelong harm to the bodies of young people....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Lowering the Drinking Age

In this paragraph, I will show the seriousness of this debate by showing the level at which it has been discussed and the kind of… Books, scholarly articles and respected authority figures that have made their contribution to this topic are highlighted in this paragraph. Paragraph 2: The ethical concerns that will be highlighted will touch on what the National Lowering the Drinking Age Paragraph Contents Paragraph Whether the drinking age in the US should be lowered to 18 years or not has been a subject of intense discussion across the US....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 in the USA

The paper looks at the articles and journals that support this motion while drawing reference to The Constitution of the United States of America and supports the idea that the drinking age ought to be lowered.... The National Minimum drinking age Act of 1984 highlights the ethical benefits of setting the minimum drinking age of the American population at 21.... Although some states have completely instituted a ban on the consumption, purchase and handling of drinks to the minimum age required, others allow them although under tight restrictions....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Argument for Lowering The Drinking Age to 18

the drinking age should be lowered to 18 It seems preposterous that one can go to war at age 18 but cannot even drink a nice cold beer.... the drinking age should therefore be lowered to 18.... Banning drinking age at 18 will not stop teenagers from drinking.... Banning drinking age at 18 will not stop teenagers from drinking.... Delaying drinking age to 21 years old does not make one a more responsible drinker....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Why the Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

hellip; From the arguments presented, it is accurate to assert that the argument of Lowering the Drinking Age is opposed and supported from different perspectives.... However, one may also cite that the arguments in support of Lowering the Drinking Age are based on problems that could be easily addressed by other relevant approaches.... n the article by Laurence Steinberg, the alternative of Lowering the Drinking Age is embraced.... The author tends to recognize the changing society as changing as Lowering the Drinking Age should also follow the trend....
5 Pages (1250 words) Thesis Proposal
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us