Advantages & Disadvantages of Drinking Age

Oscar Wilde once said “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.” He discussed the effects of absinthe, which is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. He for one was on absinthe. The legal drinking age for alcohol was first set to the age of 21 in October 1986. This means that Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which forbade the purchase and public possession of alcohol for people aged 20 and younger. Only 21 years old and higher were allowed to buy and possess alcohol. The act ensured that states raised their age requirements and if they didn’t, they would lose 10% of their federal highway funds. Despite there still being many supporters, nowadays, some people believe that the drinking age should be lowered and are fighting for it. Thus, the debate as to whether or not the drinking age should be lowered arose. Not only was there powerful research evidence, but there was also high public support for the social movement. The evidence was pertinent to the members of Congress and also to President Ronald Reagan since it would be what persuades them to agree with the social movement and raise the drinking age to 21. This showed how not only were supporters of the 21 age act were for the act, but also 77% of the public. Supporters and also most of the public believed that passing this act would save lives. The drinking age limit should not be lowered because it would be medically irresponsible, it’s a public health issue, and it gives high schoolers and middle schoolers easier access to alcohol.

Lowering the drinking age would be a medical mistake. Alcohol can affect the mental and physical well-being of people and could potentially ruin life to some extent. The health damages could either be physical or mental. A physical effect could include liver damage from chronic drinking. Some mental effects include increased anxiety and stress levels, and depressive episodes secondary to drinking, and it could also include blackout spells where the person could not remember what had happened prior to drinking or what happened while drinking because of heavy binge drinking. According to the magazine, The Over/Under by Stephen Wallace, “An estimated 1,700 college students are injured while under the influence of alcohol. Approximately 600,000 students are injured while under the influence of alcohol. Some 700,000 students are attacked by other students who have been drinking. About 100,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual attacks or date rapes”.

This shows how alcohol can influence an individual’s mind, causing one to do or say inappropriate actions or words. Not only does it ruin but it also affects others. People could get injured, developmental illnesses from experiences with drunk people and students, or even the drinker could be injured.

“Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for boys and four or more in a row for girls. Nearly one out of every five teenagers (16 percent) has experienced “blackout” spells in which he or she could not remember what happened the previous evening because of heavy binge drinking... Binge drinking during college may be associated with mental health disorders such as compulsiveness, depression, or anxiety, or early deviant behavior”.

This shows how alcohol could really affect the mind, body, and life of teens. Alcohol could potentially ruin a teen’s whole career before it even began. Society needs the people in college to grow and advance their capabilities to bring about a new generation of professionals. Without these young adults growing to become fine necessities for the well-being of society, the world has the potential to become worse. Alcohol also affects the mental state of people. As a result, accidents and such happen all the time while under the influence of alcohol.

Underaged teens that drink are becoming public health problems. Many times, DUI-related accidents have been revealed on the news. There have also been many cases where people have been harassed, sexually assaulted, raped, etc. Also, many lives have been lost at the hand of alcohol. According to The Over/Under by Stephen Wallace,

“Frequent binge drinkers were eight more times more likely to miss a class, fall behind in schoolwork, get hurt or injured, and damage property… In colleges with high binge drinking rates, 34 percent of non-binge drinkers reported being insulted or humiliated by binge drinkers; 13 percent reported being pushed, hit, or assaulted; 54 percent reported having to take care of a drunken student; 68 percent were interrupted while studying; 26 percent of women experienced an unwanted sexual advance”.

This shows how alcohol had really taken effect not only on the drinkers but also on the people that are associated with those drinking. When drunk, some people aren’t in their right minds, therefore they act in ways that contrast how they would usually behave. According to the magazine Yes, the U.S. Legal Drinking Age Should be Lowered written by John McCardell, “Five thousand lives are lost to alcohol each year by those under the age of 21. Of these, fewer than 40 percent are traffic fatalities. The vast majority-over 60 percent--of alcohol-related fatalities take place off the roadways”. Likewise, this shows the extreme toll that alcohol takes on juveniles, and therefore, they should not be given the ability to get their hands on alcohol. Just as alcohol is not beneficial to the health of people, teens should not be given the choice of consuming alcohol.

However, some people believe that the drinking age should be lowered considering how the law is predominantly ineffective since teens consume alcohol anyway. This perspective is reasonable since, despite the law being set to age 21, many teens in America still continue to consume alcohol and ignore all of the warnings. According to the article Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Lower Age?

“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. [16] The 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 24.8% of youth aged 14 or 15, 46.7% aged 16 or 17, and 68.3% aged 18 to 20, drink alcohol”.

Even so, the drinking age should not be reduced because it allows high and middle school students to easily attain alcohol. With the amount of underage drinking even with the media being set to 21, it is unimaginable how much the statistic will rise if it were to drop down to 18. If the MLDA were to be dropped to eighteen, kids in high school who are of age would already be drinking and it would be considered acceptable. Kids who have just turned fourteen or so would be going to school with grown adults who drink. According to the academic journal Commentary on Callaghan et al.: Minimum legal drinking age laws protect high school students from both crashes and alcohol abuse written by Robert B. Voas,

“However, a critical factor not tested in the Callahan et al. study is the trickle‐down effect of empowering 18‐year‐olds to purchase alcohol on the availability of alcohol to the 15–17‐year‐old high school age group. Currently, in the United States, no high school student can purchase alcohol, but if the MLDA is lowered to age 18 high school seniors will have access to alcohol'.

This means that people who are currently for lowering the drinking age haven’t exactly considered the fact that there is a huge possibility that the allowance of alcohol to eighteen-year-olds might trickle down to teens who are younger and give them easier access to alcohol. Pertinent to this, “The study in New Zealand by Kypri et al. found that the effect of reducing the MLDA from 19 to 17 was principally evident in the increase in hospitalizations of 14‐ and 15‐year‐olds”. If it was this bad in New Zealand, it is almost unfathomable on how bad it would be in the United States. The mental and physical wellness of teens all over America would be disastrously affected. For these reasons, lowering the media is not suggested since many problems occur and many issues would also consequently arise as well.

Essentially, lowering the U.S. minimum drinking age is not suggested because it would medically affect the health of not only teens but also innocent civilians. It is a societal wellness problem, and lastly, it gives teens in school an easy way to obtain possession of alcohol. It is shown how the current drinking age is beneficial to the well-being of society because it keeps teens physically in good shape health-wise, safe, and prevents them from making abominable decisions that will negatively affect their futures. Clearly, teens should not drink while still underage to refrain from negatively affecting their bodies. Teens are still developing, so in order to avoid deteriorating their health, they should at least wait until they come of age. By doing this, not only would their own lives be saved, but also many others. Help better the well-being of society by following this and saving people.