Lowering the drinking age has been a mild yet persistent issue for a long time. The initial enactment of the 21 year old drinking age came about because the national government demanded that states either raise their drinking age or lose 10% of their funding for highways. Many people hoped that raising the drinking age might contribute to less dangerous drinking habits, but in practice it had the opposite effect. Accident fatalities in the US are greater than European countries whose drinking age is 18. Also, because underage drinkers are forced to do so in private locations, they lack supervision that could be vital in reducing accidents and fatalities.
Another argument is the fact that at 18, citizens are able to give their lives for their country. With freedom comes responsibility, so how can the government expect men and women who have the enormous responsibility of ensuring our nation’s security to not drink? The reasons behind raising the drinking age are vague and are in direct violation of our personal freedoms. The constitution does not give the government the right to dictate who can and cannot consume alcohol.
The fact is underage people drink alcohol, whether it’s legal or not. In light of that fact, there are many dangers that come with having to drink secretly. It doesn’t allow teens to learn how to drink responsibly, and causes them to do things, such as binge drink and drive while intoxicated, that they might not do if the drinking age were lowered. When approaching this issue, we need to shed old assumptions and take a good long look at the facts.
