Should we raise or lower drinking age?

Should we raise or lower drinking age?

The NHTSA estimates that raising the national legal drinking age from 18 to 21 has saved more than 500 lives each year. “Research shows that it saves lives,” agreed MADD National President Jan Withers. The 21-year-old limit may be less effective at curbing binge drinking on college campuses, however.

Why is the drinking age 21 and not 25?

The drinking age was raised back to 21 over federal highway funding. In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act passed, which stated federal highway funds would be withheld from U.S. states that failed to set the minimum legal drinking age back at 21. By 1988, all the states had adopted the age minimum.

Why we shouldn’t raise the legal drinking age?

Opponents of lowering the MLDA argue that teens have not yet reached an age where they can handle alcohol responsibly, and thus are more likely to harm or even kill themselves and others by drinking prior to 21. They contend that traffic fatalities decreased when the MLDA increased.

Why should the drinking age be raised to 21?

They say raising the age limit would protect young people from the brain damage that can be caused by too much alcohol and the harms associated with being drunk, such as car accidents and violence.

What would happen if the drinking age was lowered to 18?

Lowering the drinking age to 18 would allow 18-to-20-year-olds to consume alcohol safely in regulated environments, with supervision. Lowering the drinking age would also reduce the number of alcohol-related accidents among underage drinkers.

Why the drinking age should not be lowered to 18?

The drinking age shouldn’t be lowered because of three very real risks: drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and violent and/or destructive behavior. Above: Every 12 minutes, another person dies in a car accident. Drunk driving is a blight on our civilization. After age 25, the drunk driving rates decrease.

Should the age of drinking be raised to 21?

Why the drinking age is 18?

However, during the Vietnam War, the age was reduced to 18 on the grounds that a person who could be conscripted to fight and die for their country should also have the right to drink alcohol. By 1974, all states and territories had adopted 18 as the legal drinking age.

Why 18 year olds should not drink?

Proponents of lowering the drinking age to 18 routinely surface with arguments that have become all too familiar. The drinking age shouldn’t be lowered because of three very real risks: drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and violent and/or destructive behavior.

What are the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age?

Pros and cons of lowering the drinking age 1. Turning 18 entails receiving the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, serve on juries, get married, sign… 2. When adolescents are not taught to drink in moderation, they end up binge drinking. 3. Traffic fatalities in the 1980s decreased

Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to a younger age?

Lowering of minimum drinking age from 21 to younger age will entail severe social and health problems among the youth and it needs effective legal monitoring to ensure its positive results. While in any other issue, in the context of lowering of drinking age also there are two groups of people.

Why should the legal drinking age be lowered to 18?

The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because you can vote at eighteen, buy tobacco, it’ll reduce the thrill of breaking the law, evidence supports that early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse, and college people that are not 21 drink also.

What are the benefits of lowering the drinking age?

Lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen will help young adults be more responsible, and in addition it would make colleges a safer environment and it would lower the amount of binge drinking. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen will help teenagers act more responsible.