Lowering the drinking age to 18 the legal drinking age in the united states is twenty one and older. Some say that lowering the age would make it more dangerous, but that is not the case. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen would increase in restuarant and bar revenue, make drinking safer, and if we are considered a legal adult at the age of eighteen, we should be able to drink. If the drinking age was to be lowered, there would be a drastic increase in bar, restuarant, and privite business revenue. This being the case, the government would earn that much more in taxes and could possibly increase the tax. That money could be used to build new schools, increase the police force, and even help the united states get out of debt. Since there are more people buying alcohol, distributors such as budlight, would increase their sales by at least twenty five percent if not more.

This could be used in research to develope new drinks that are less harmful to the body. The united states has the highest rate of dui's and traffic accidents, yet we have the highest legal drinking age. People from the age of eightteen to twenty can drink safely and securely in their own homes and would not have to risk getting a dui or in an accident. They could also drink at bars and restuarants under supervision, unlike at a party. In many other countries, the drinking age is lower than twenty one and they still have less accidents, crime rate, and dui's.

Once you turn eighteen, you are considered a legal adult, and should have the right to choose to drink alcohol. If we can serve our country and possibly loose our lives, we should be able to have a beer at. By: edward bull 1,725 words bull june 11, 2010 bull 1,072 views lowering the minimum drinking age the national minimum drinking age act is perhaps the law that has the most impact on the day to day lives of america apos s youth since it was signed into law on july 17, 1984. While the 21 year old drinking age seems imbedded in american society, it is only a recent innovation.

Most people do not know that the drinking age was only made a national law in 1984, and only after a determined battle by special interest groups. This bill concerned many notable politicians and lobbyists, fighting for it and against it they left their impact on the future of our nation. These eminent people have gone down in history for the effect they have had on this piece of legislation. Both houses and several committees exerted their influence on this and helped it on its way. The history of the national minimum drinking age act truly started back before prohibition. The temperance movement used selective prohibition drinking ages as a stepping stone approach to their goal of outlawing all alcohol.

Finally they did achieve the goal of total prohibition of alcohol, and in 1919 the 18th amendment to the constitution was ratified. Although due to the seeming ineffectualness of prohibition and the change in public opinion, the 18th amendment was in 1933 repealed by the 21st amendment. What followed was a compromise with the lingering temperance movement and the modern drinking age was established. The political failure of general prohibition meant that american adults would increasingly focus justifications for alcohol policy less on the perils of drunkenness and more on the tenuous concept that adults can drink properly but youths cannot or should not.

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Males 190 from the end of prohibition until 1984 drinking ages were determined by the states, many of them had the age at 21 while several lowered the age to 18 for the purchase of beer. From 1970 through 1975 nearly all states lowered their legal ages of adulthood, thirty including their legal drinking ages, usually from 21 to 18. Males 194 it was argued that if people were required to fight and die in a foreign war then they should be allowed the privileged of drinking alcohol. This generation exercised previously unheard of clout and political muscle, and through years of protest and many valid arguments this generation of youth gained back some lost liberty. The baby boomers were aging and the freedoms they for which they fought for themselves no longer seemed important when they involved someone else. This loss of a powerful ally allowed the modern prohibitionist movement led by candy lightner, the president and founder of mothers against drunk driving madd , to gain strength in this country again. The late seventies and late eighties were marked with an excess of highly publicized studies that claimed teenage alcohol was out of control and was turning into a devastating problem of epidemic proportion.

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This and the national mood produced an environment primed for the anti youth, anti alcohol legislation that became the national minimum drinking age act of 1984. The actual bill required all states to raise their minimum drinking age to 21 within 2 years or lose a portion of their federal aid highway funds and encourage states, through incentive grants programs, to pass mandatory sentencing laws to combat drunk driving. Thomas senate record vote analysis the portion of the federal aid highway funds that would be lost if the state didn apos t comply amounted to 5 percent in the third year and 10 percent in the fourth year. Certainly the person who had the most impact upon this legislation was candy lightner who founded the organization, madd, after a drunk driver killed her daughter in 1980. After that traumatic event lightner turned her grief into revenge and founded the powerful lobbying organization that claimed a membership of three hundred thousand in 44 states by 1984.

Also a highly visible person was the president of the united states, ronald reagan. Initially reagan had threatened to veto the bill, citing that the provisions that punished states that didn apos t comply was and infringement upon states rights. Reagan later changed from opposition to support, formally announcing this on june 13, 1984.

Many congressmen were involved in the long process that created this piece of legislation. This amendment was the first piece of legislation he has successfully sponsored since his election in 1982. The right of citizens of the united states, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or any state on account of age amendment 26, section 1 of the constitution. At the age of eighteen, a person can get married, vote, drive, take out loans, pay taxes, buy tobacco, have sex, be tried as an adult, have children, use credit cards, buy real estate, act independently of parents and be in the armed forces and die for their country. On one\ apos s 18th birthday the law no longer views him as a child yet he is restricted from many places of social activity.

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Bars and many dance clubs are strictly for those 21 and over due to the legal drinking age in america, so many legal adults are not permitted entry. Clearly a discrepancy exists between an 18 year old adult and a 21 year old adult however, since they are viewed by law as equals shouldn\ apos t they have the same privileges daniel 140 ? obviously certain laws that regulate activities by age are necessary. Voting, alcohol, and driving should not be available to people of any age because of the amount of responsibility these activities require. Up until 1984 the legal drinking age was 18, however mothers against drunk driving madd spurred a campaign to raise the age limit to 21. They succeeded with the passage of the national minimum purchase age act in 1984. The law aimed to lower the number of drunk driving accidents, which it has done, but only by a small margin. However, what it has also done is reduce the rights of citizens between the ages of 18 and 21.

The right to drink one\ apos s self into a drunken state still falls under the personal right category however, this basic freedom is restricted by the implementation of the 1984 law. Instead of being able to have complete control over one\ apos s life when they reach the legal age of adulthood, citizens are forced to wait an additional three years for an equal level of freedom. A need for drinking regulation definitely exists, yet it needs to coincide with other laws defining adult privileges edwards et al. All rights would be gained simultaneously and lowering the legal drinking age to 18 would erase the discrepancy that now exists.

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Furthermore the temptation to undermine the law through underage drinking would be greatly decreased. For many college students that fall in between years of legal adulthood and legal drinking age, the desire to drink is spurred by getting away with something they are not supposed to be doing. According to \ dan,\ an english exchange student, the typical college student would not feel the need to have a binge drinking party if he were allowed into the local bar. The need to throw private drinking parties would no longer be prevalent because the accessibility of alcohol would no longer be in question. Lowering the legal drinking age would also create a plethora of social events for those 18 and older. Currently many dance clubs are strictly for those 21 and over because the establishment serves alcohol. This leaves the remainder of the adults populous to find their own forms of entertainment, counter productive or otherwise.

If these bored adults were allowed to participate in more activities there would be less people idling on the streets. Society as a whole would be better off because there would be less illegal activity taking place. This could entail underage drinking or more serious matters engaged by those with spare time and nowhere to go.