Argumentative Essay Lowering Drinking Age Text

3 sources cited length: 743 words 2.1 double spaced pages america must lower the drinking age in other countries around the world if you are under the age of 21 you can drink alcohol some countries don't even have an age limit, but in america you have to be 21 to buy alcohol. You can go to war and die for your country when you are 18, you can also vote, buy cigarettes, but you can't buy alcohol. One of the main causes of the drinking age being set to 21 was teenagers were getting into car accidents after getting drunk. What i am saying is there should be more government programs to educate and prevent people from driving intoxicated. A survey released by the texas commission on alcohol and drug abuse tcada found that by the time texas teenagers are seniors in high school, more than 80% of the teens admit to having some experience with alcohol.

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The same study found that secondary students say it's easy to get beer, wine or liquor. In westbrook texas is a zero tolerance state for underage drinking it has some of the strictest penalties for underage drinking, and if 80% of the teenagers in texas have had experiences with alcohol that tells me that the campaigns against underage drinking, and zero tolerance programs are not working. So instead of spending all this money to prevent teens from drinking maybe it should go toward programs, or educating these teens about alcohol so they can make a informed decision about drinking. These programs are being implemented in colleges around the country, and are about the choices of using alcohol. At the university of virginia they are taking a more of an old fashioned approach to educating college students about alcohol use. They are boasting high results from this program a total of 75 percent of participants said they planned to reduce how much they drink in the future, while 85 percent indicated they had spoken to a friend. If these programs have high success rates, i think these programs should be put in high schools as well.

Traffic fatalities in the 16 24 year age group during late 70's to early 80's accounted for 43% of traffic fatalities. That is when interest groups started to form like madd mothers against drunk driving. During those times people weren't aware of the risk of drunk driving could have on their life, but with the interest groups that have been informing the public about drunk driving people now a days are more aware of the risk you take when you are drinking and driving. The amount of alcohol related fatalities have decreased over the years due to the amount of awareness on drunk driving and more education on the effects of alcohol.

From 1977 20 the number of alcohol involved traffic fatalities between 16 and 24 year olds has decreased by almost half. In 1977 there was 7,327 alcohol involved traffic deaths between 16 and 24 year olds. The number of alcohol related traffic deaths has also decreased for people under the legal drinking age as well.

In 1977 between 16 and 20 year olds there were 3,912 alcohol involved traffic deaths, and in 20 that number has decreased to 1,654. National now a days people are more aware of the effect of drinking and driving can have on themselves, and other people. We should continue on educating the public and people under the drinking age about the effects of alcohol. Now that more people are aware of the effects of alcohol i believe we should lower the drinking age to 18 because at that age you are considered an adult. With teens being more educated in high school and collage i think they will not make the mistake of driving drunk now that they are aware of the consequences. Cavalier daily 16 september 2003: national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism database october 26 2003: online westbrook, steve alcohol, kid can be shattering mix.

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Corpus christi caller times 6 june: online after people in the united states reached the age 18 they are no longer considered juvenile. They have the right to choose their political leaders, purchase certain firearms and ammunition, and even enlist in the military. However, they are denied a very simple right: the right to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages. A twenty year old man can go legally kill people or be killed for his country, but he would be denied the right to have a beer with his dinner.

The purpose of having the legal drinking age at 21 is supposedly to protect children from the negative effects of alcohol. Not having alcohol normal and easily accessible has made teens tend to drink more excessively when they have the chance. Binge drinking is very dangerous and it can lead to severe complications, which means death in many cases. Moderate consumption of alcohol can be healthy, both physically and psychologically. Making alcohol illegal for people under 21 only makes it more likely that teens will drink irresponsibly.

The efforts to reduce the adverse effects of drinking for teens by making the drinking age 21 have failed. In addition, having a drinking age higher than the age where people assume many other important rights is ridiculous. People between the ages 18 and 21 are considered second class citizens because of their age.