Lowering the Legal Drinking Age to 18 in the United States

How many 18 year olds have died for the sake of our country, but they are still not legally able to consume alcohol. How many 18 year olds are able to serve on juries and send men to execution chairs, but were still not able to walk to the liquor store to purchase an alcoholic drink. How many 18 year olds have bought a gun to end their very own life, or a life of someone else's', yet drinking alcohol is known to be a higher safety concern. Hello fellow members of the legislative branch, I believe that the legal drinking age, or shortly known as MDLA should be lowered at 18 years old, in order to lower the amount of safety hazards that are relating to alcoholic consumption.

In the United States, 18 is when a person is now considered an adult, therefore proving that they should be given the rights to drink and consume alcohol at their own risk. At the age of 18, adults are now given much more responsibilities such as voting, smoking cigarettes, getting married, signing contracts, serving on juries, and even join the military- which can risk one's life. Young men all around our country register in the army and this might lead to possibly endangering his very own life or he could even take the life of another. Unfortunately still he is not able to have a drink, in a public setting. This is considered to be much of a definite social injustice, because if an 18 year old is known to have the clear mental state to list in the army, it seems fair and just that the same person should be able to drink alcohol. In many of the other countries that have a lower MDLA , it can be proven that there are an abundance of less drunk driving accidents. 31 percent of road traffic deaths include the usage of alcohol, in the United States. Which is a very high percentage In contrast to other countries with a lower drinking age such as Germany, which only have a 9 percent road death rate, China with 4 percent, and Israel with the lowest at 3 percent.

Morris Chafetz, who was one of the original legislators that passed the MLDA of 21, states it is the single most regrettable decision of my entire career. If someone that passed the law in the first place, says that there is issues with the MDLA now, and it was one of the most regrettable decisions he has ever made, this obviously emphasizes the problems within the law itself. Dr. Chavez states that the minimum legal drinking age of 21 has only led to the youths that drink more irresponsibly. This leads people around the world to question, why the MLDA was even passed in the first place.

The minimum legal drinking age of 21 causes the forbidden fruit dilema. Much like the adam and eve story, you are told that you are unable to have something, therefor you want it that much more. The urge for underage drinkers to break the law is what encourages college students and even teenagers to consume alcohol. Prohibiting young adults from drinking alcohol beverages, does not stop them and instead they find very unsafe ways to drink. Students are usually at unsupervised parties in secret where their drinks could be poisoned or drugged. If a student becomes sick or ill, others people that are around them are not as inclined to call for medical help. Why would people not ask for help, you might wonder? Because drinkers under the age of 21, are too scared to get in trouble, which leads to the many safety hazards and even deaths of many students. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 4 out of 5 college students drink, and almost every 2 out of 3 are engaged in binge drinking. As a result, nearly 700,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted each year by other students who have drunk alcohol. But most tragically, more than 1,800 college students die every year of alcohol-related injuries, including car crashes. We must move the MLDA to 18 in order to stop these tragic deaths and injuries, but we must act soon before more young adults face the consequences of this law.

The over consumption of alcohol can be drastically decreased if the MDLA was lowered because 18 and 20 year olds could be able to drink alcohol in supervised places and venues such as restaurants and bars. Within these places, there are many people that are able to get for help, if needed relating to an alcoholic illness. Thus. reducing the amount of injuries and deaths.Lowering the legal drinking age to 18, would lessen the thrill of law breaking for young adults, and it would decrease injuries in minors that are relating to drinking. We as law makers truly need to reconsider, and make this drastic change, in order to save the lives of many young adults throughout our country.

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