Do you think the minimum drinking age should be lowered to 18?

Question

I have to do a 8 page research paper and wanted to get different opinions.

Answer 1

No. Keeping it at 21 saves more lives. Other countries such as New Zeland have lowered the drinking age and the rate of accidents due to alcohol increased.

Answer 2

I believe that it should be 18. It changed when I was that age. I was grandfathered so I could still drink. It went from 18 to 19 and then to 21. You are an adult and 18. You can vote, leave your parents or fight for and die for your country so I do not see why you cannot have a beer. People say that you are immature at that age. I see a lot of older people that need to grow up also. I don't think that 18 year olds will drink and drive any more than anyone else. People do that daily. I am a 39 year old female if that matters.

Answer 3

Any state at any time can change the state's drinking age, in fact, the sole reason why the age is at 21 is due to the federal governments refusal to allocate millions of dollars annually to highway repair. This was a supreme court decision that upheld the feds rights to dictate how funds are in fact allocated. So the states would not be willing to sacrifice all of the federal aid that they do in fact get.

On a more realistic note though, statistics prove that most fatalities due to drunk driving occurs within the population under the age of 25, hence the higher insurance rates.

At this point, no state would lower the drinking age. I personally do not feel that 18 year olds and most 21 year olds would drink responsibly any how. Enforcement of drunkenness, especially on our roads should be intensified.

Answer 4

No.

From my experience atleast. When cops bust a party when they know people are underage.....they issue a noise violation instead....and say something along the lines of i better not be called back here tonight.....that causes the party to break up.

I only really see underages issued when someone is acting stupid. The cop is going to give them a drunk in public, but they are under 21 so they get their underage.

I think its a good system like that.
It causes 18-20 year olds to be more careful about their drinking. We let them drink as long as they are being responsible about it.

21 has some medical reasons behind it too. The age is variable, but typically your brain still develops until you are 21. Alcohol consumption can stunt that growth..

Not sure if that all made sense....only slept 3 hours in 2 days and can't fall asleep.

Eh..sorta goes with my marijuana feeling. I think it should stay illegal, but me decriminalized. You get caught doing something stupid while high...you get a citation, but otherwise you can do whatever. thats my 18-20 view on alcohol.

Answer 5

No, it should not be lowered. It was 18 at one point and there were many irresponsible young drivers on the road. They are excited to be 18; maybe out of high school and looking to be "grown" along with possibility of having new drivers licenses and then add drinking to this part of their excitement makes a dangerous mix.

Most of them may have just gotten their drivers licenses and have not had time to learn to be responsible for the lives they meet on the road. Being responsible means staying over a friends home, calling home for a ride or taking a taxi home.

Some people have not even learned to control their anger at 18 and therefore drinking, anger and a car...Not a good mix.... just look at some of the older one's who drink, drive and kill and most of them have a family and children of their own that do reckless things like this.

I am on this road because most 18 year olds do not stay home and watch TV when they are not at work or in school including colleges where they binge drink and die. I am not generalizing here because, I know that some 18 year olds are responsible however, based on stats car insurance rates and would triple and so may the deaths of many innocent people due to immature people drinking.

Answer 6

Legal age for drinking, smoking, voting should all be raised to 22. Of course I also believe that marijuana should be legalized and available to anyone of that age as well. Reason? Well, I consider a 22 year old an adult. At 22 most have completed their 4 year degree. They have at that point enough knowledge and experience to make sound decisions, act responsibly. On the other hand, if we lowered it to, say, 16 we could weed out all of the dumb ones.

Answer 7

Go and hang around a bar in Calgary, Alberta and you will get a feel of what it is like to have the drinking age at 18 years. They are the province with the youngest age of majority. They have LOOKED at raising the drinking age a few times and its been vetoed. However, they are beginning to look at it differently. Here is a link that talks about legal drinking age being raised.

Answer 8

It is already 18 in the UK and people are thinking of lowering it to 16, which in one way makes sense as it is better for them to drink in the open rather than hidden. But it's bad enough in pubs with 18 to 30 year olds without having 16 year olds there as well.

Answer 9

I feel that this is a double edged sword. 18 year old kids are not usually mature enough nor are they responsible enough to drink however we will allow them "serve" their country in the military. I think that the drinking age needs to remain 21 but I also think that the age to enter the service needs to be 21, since as previously stated 18 year olds are immature and irresponsible,

Answer 10

No, I do not think it is any wiser to drink at 18 then it is at 80. In fact I would love if they raised the drinking age to 80. There would be a lot less pain and heartache in this world if it was. I know that sounds cynical but it is true. An addictive substance that destroys brain cells should never have been made legal to begin with.

Answer 11

This is tough because there are a lot of good points made by proponents for this, such as we'll send them to war at 18 but they can't have a beer?

I still must say no, not because of made up assumption, but because I remeber me at 18 and 19 - there was no way I should have been trusted with the responsibility of drinking at that age.