Should the drinking age be lowered?

The drinking age is 18 in 65% of the world. The lowest drinking age in the world is 15, but some countries don’t even have a limit. There are many pros and cons to lowering the drinking age. In the U.S there are some state-by-state expectations like consumption at home, under adult supervision, and medical necessity. In the United States, the legal majority for almost everything else is 18. For example, the voting age, enrolling in the military, and you can get married or signing almost any legal document without a parents consent when you turn 18. 

 

By the time 60% of people are 18 they would have had at least one alcoholic drink. That shows that most people already drink alcohol. I think that part of so many underage people drinking is the thrill of breaking the law. If we lowered the drinking age then it could solve many more problems. People tend to use fake I.Ds and can get in more trouble because they are doing more illegal stuff.

 

I think the drinking age should be lowered. I think it will help stop someone from drinking and driving accidents, I say this because if you are allowed to drink then you can stay wherever you are drinking whereas if you are underage then you would have to drive home or leave before anything happens. If you are allowed to get drafted into the military, you should be able to decide what you put in your body. One of the biggest reasons was that kids would show up to school drunk, I think that if a student comes to school with alcohol in them then they could get a public intoxication and should be sent home.

 

Do you think that the drinking age should be lowered?

If so what age do you think it should be lowered to?

Why do you think the drinking age should be lowered/stay the same?

sources 

https://www.procon.org/

 

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  • Great topic choice and well done Kendall!

  • I believe that the drinking age should stay where it is currently at. I think that if it's lowered then there will only be more problems with it. I believe that it can damage your brain because it is not fully developed yet, so the drinking age should stay the same.

  • I think that they should lower the drinking age to 18. If an 18-year-old is able to go into the military and be classified as an adult. They should have enough responsibility to drink. When you are 18 you should be responsible enough to drink. I think it will lower the number of underage drinking also. Many 21-year-olds are irresponsible and dumb when it comes to alcohol. 

  • I personally believe that the drinking age should stay where it is now in the United States, at 21 years of age. At 18, your brain is not fully done developing and should not be affected by substances like alcohol that will negatively harm its chemical make up while it is in such a malleable state.

  • I personally believe that the drinking age should be kept the same because it will not solve any problems people are still going to drink no matter what and if you lower the drinking age to 18 it will ruin younger people because their brains are not fully developed yet.

  • I think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old. The goverment should do this because there are a lot of people that are drinking when they are 18 or even younger. I think that it will lower the crime rate. I think that 18 year old can be capeable of this responsibility because they are available to vote for the leader of our country and even fight for it.

  • I don't think the drinking age should be changed because many teens have friends who are 18 or 19 and they would supply underage people to alchohal which would cause a big problem. I think people who are 21 are more mature than an 18 year old.

  • I think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, because if you can enlist in the military to defend our country and freedom, and have the right to vote, then you should be able to purchace alcohol or beer.  Also, people underage sometimes drink because they think its funny and cool, but once you are able to drink legally, people dont make a big deal out of it.

  • I think that the drinking age should be kept the same. Your brain isn't completely done developing until your mid to late 20s and alcohol can interrupt that. Just because you lower the drinking age doesn't mean that it will take down the number of accidents. If you lower the age then more kids will start drinking and all of those kids still have to go home somehow. 

  • I think the drinking age is 20. But I think if you are in the armed forces you should be allowed to drink. Also I think if it were lowered to 18 it would bring some backlash like having high school students drinking.  If we had it at 20 it would be better than having it at a weird age so why not lower it to 20.

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