In the united states, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the minimum legal drinking age of 21. The age of adulthood, celebrated around the world, has a unique meaning in this country: it’s time to party. When one thinks of turning 21, one thinks of bar hopping, shots for every year and every person, partying all night, and in general just going above and beyond binge drinking.

This sample research paper touches on the american drinking age and why it should remain at 21 years of age. If you would like to buy a research paper in full on a topic like this feel free to give us a call or simply click here to view a list of the paper writing services we offer. Our extremely talented writers can craft custom work on both sides of this intense and longstanding debate. In fact, it was only thirty years ago, in 1982, that president reagan signed the law into being. According to the group choose responsibility, what pushed reagan to signing this law was the large amount of drunk driving accidents, and a lot of lobbying from madd mothers against drunk driving.

Madd was founded by candy lightner when her daughter was killed in a drunk driving accident by a repeat offense drunk driver, and the 21 drinking age law was signed with the hope of curbing drinking by adolescents, especially ones behind the wheel. Though people under 21 are not allowed to drink, they are allowed to drive without taking driver’s education, smoke cigarettes, buy pornography, and even serve in the military at the age of 18. The implications for this seem staggering to some people a soldier is allowed to die for the country but not allowed to have a beer? this point has been of major concern to many groups, including ones like choose responsibility and the amythest initiative. Choose responsibility and the amethyst initiative are both organizations focused on lowering the drinking age to 18 and promoting responsible drinking. These groups say that they would implement more education about alcohol in colleges across the country, and hope that if the secrecy of drinking was brought to light and talked about that students would become more responsible drinkers: the 21 year old drinking age ties the hands of parent and places them in an untenable position. They must either ignore the reality of alcohol consumption among young people and forbid their children from drinking or break the law by serving alcohol to their under 21 children.

Neither option is acceptable to a responsible parent, or in a society governed by rule of law. Parents need to be re enfranchised, again involved in the process of teaching their children how to make informed, healthy decisions about alcohol and its use choose responsibility.

arguments on both sides of the aisle

choose responsibility insists that if students were only more educated on alcohol, and if parents were more involved in that education, that students would drink less regardless of age. The amethyst initiative is a group of university presidents who stand with choose responsibility in promoting education on alcohol while lowering the drinking age to 18. John mccardell, founder of the initiative, said in a 2010 cbs interview that t his is a law that is routinely evaded… it is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory.

According to the amethyst initiative’s statement: 21 is not working… a culture of dangerous, clandestine 'binge drinking' often conducted off campus has developed. Mccandall addresses a concern shared by choose responsibility, which is similar to the idea of teaching sexual abstinence not responsibility and safe sex and ending up with pregnancy. Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students… by choosing to use fake ids, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law. Because they are not allowed alcohol, for some students drinking becomes a mystified activity that they long to take part in and when they do, they overdo it. But the other side of the debate, groups like madd, argue that lowering the drinking age will not stop excessive drinking. Many proponents of keeping the law as it is point to science, and to the 48 tests that have extensively shown the benefits of the drinking age being 21.

When speaking on the current drinking age and lowering it to 18 in the same 2010 cbs interview, president of madd, laura dean mooney, said it saved over 1,0 young people's lives every year for the last 24 years. It simply did not work then alcohol related fatalities went up in that age group cbs/ap. Studies have shown a decrease in drunk driving accidents since 21 become the drinking age, and people like the mothers of madd may be correct in not wanting to regress.

madd's influence on american drinking habits

researcher drew saylor agrees with madd, and defends the current drinking age of 21 in her article heavy drinking on college campuses: no reason to change minimum legal drinking age of 21.

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Saylor 2011 opens by explaining what binge drinking is 5 or more consecutive drinks for men, 4 or more for women and listing the many side effects of binge drinking by the population who binge drinks the most: college kids. Besides the long term consequences, binge drinking is associated with risky sexual behavior, increased risk of physical or sexual assault, and violence and that it significantly affects academic performance, social relationships, risk taking behaviors, and general health. One long term effects of binge drinking in college is that adolescents who drink a lot form habits and behaviors that may follow them with age: alcohol use at a younger age in general can have lasting repercussions such as an increased likelihood of alcohol related disorders and substance abuse in adulthood p. In will increasing alcohol availability by lowering the minimum legal drinking age decrease drinking and related consequences among youths? henry wechsler and toebn nelson 2010 point out that t he heaviest drinking college students are more likely to have been heavy drinkers in high school 987. It has been proven in many tests that people who drink at younger ages are more likely to become alcoholics.

Moreover, james fell 2011 of the alcohol, policy, and safety research center of the pacific institute for research amp evaluation points out that binge drinking among 8th, 10th and 12th graders has been steadily going down since the drinking age was raised to 21 los angeles times. Saylor discusses many reasons why the drinking age should remain 21, but focuses on drinking related traffic accidents. There is an extensively documented association between mlda minimum legal drinking age 21 and decreased alcohol consumption, fewer alcohol related problems, and reduced traffic accidents and fatalities p. She argues that young people are learning to keep drinking and driving separate because with the age limit of 21, drinking is seen as an extreme activity, and one that deserves caution. In 19, new zealand changed its legal drinking age from 20 to 18, and higher rates of drunk driving ensued, mirror ing the us findings from previous decades before 1982’s implementation of 21 as the legal drinking age p. After new zealand’s drinking age lowering, drunk driving accidents rose 12% for males aged 18 19 and 51% for females aged 15 17.

Such findings are more recently supported by a meta analytic review that showed raising the mlda is associated with a 16% median decrease in alcohol related crash outcomes, while lowering the mlda results in a 10% median increase in such crash outcomes p. Having a drinking age of 20 and lowering it to 18 makes new zealand a perfect example of what could go wrong if they same law was implemented in the u.s.

a happy medium is almost non existant

the debate about the drinking age is clearly very polarized, and there does not seem to be a happy medium in which both parties could be satisfied there are only two options the law will be changed or it will stay the same. While there only a few countries in which the drinking age is 21 besides the u.s.

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There is indonesia, mongolia and palau , there are many countries in which the drinking age is 18, and even more countries where the age isn’t even observed choose responsibility. To understand where the opposing organizations are coming from, and what their biases are, is important in determining whether or not their points are valid, and if the law really should be changed. The amethyst initiative, for example, is comprised of college presidents, whose interests include creating inviting environments for students so that they stay in business.

College kids seem to agree with the initiative, because most of them don’t like having to sneak around, risk arrest, and not be able to buy their own booze. Of course it would make their lives easier if the legal drinking age was lowered to 18, so of course most of them support the initiative. In the 2010 cbs interview, donna shalala, the president at the university of miami, was asked to sign the initiative, but didn’t. Her reason was that she thinks the drinking age of 21 has had a positive effect on colleges: i remember college campuses when we had 18 year old drinking ages, and i honestly believe we've made some progress…to just shift it back down to the high schools makes no sense at all.