Prohibition: Minimum Drinking Ages

Since the Prohibition many politicians, scholars, and parents have debated the drinking age. Should the drinking age be 21 or should we lower it to 18? Allowing 18 to 20 year olds to drink in regulated environments with supervision would decrease unsafe drinking activity. Prohibiting them this right only leads to them feeling like they need to make up for lost time and them binge drinking at parties and partaking in unsafe behavior.

Parents, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how and when their offspring should be permitted to drink. Intelligent parents don't let alcohol become a big deal, a mystery or a battleground. They teach its perils, but its pleasures, too. For so many, alcohol is seen as the forbidden fruit and thus making it that much more attractive to the already vulnerable teens and adolescents. By giving teens and adolescents the right consume alcohol, you are allowing them the right to learn how to drink gradually, safely and in moderation, and allowing parents to supervise and guide them through the effects of alcohol. Granted, many teens have snuck a drink or two here and there but what happens when they go off to college and have unlimited access? They binge because they don't have anyone there to guide them or cut them off and they practice unsafe drinking habits, which can lead to serious health concerns or life altering situations. Sure, parents can stress the importance of drinking safely but how can they truly be certain how alcohol will effects their child without being there to supervise them?

Allowing parents the right to choose when their children experience alcohol, ensures that parents can teach their child, just like have done the past 18 years, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Instead of hoping that our children will remember the words we spoke about how alcohol can affect them, let's teach them and guide them through experience.

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