The Alcoholic Drinking Age: Decrease Or Increase?

It’s illegal to drink alcohol across the United States if you aren’t 21. An interesting fact, the drinking age of 21 years old is considered to be one of the highest in the whole world.

“Forbidden Fruit”

Obviously, the US drinking age is not working. We may observe lots of pictures and scenes of alcohol-fueled parties almost everywhere and, moreover, it doesn’t even surprise us anymore. Uncontrolled illegal drinking leads to alcohol consumption in enormous quantities. Unlike the UK, where you must be 18 to drink alcohol, young people at university are allowed to consume alcohol drinks in bars.

Reasons for Lowering

Proponents of lowering the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) from 21, say that it hasn’t stopped teen drinking and, what is more, causes the biggest trouble: uncontrolled drinking only God knows where. Lowering MLDA, they hope to secure teens and protect them from the life-endangering behavior. We all know and remember ourselves at that young age, full of adventurous stupid thoughts, and taking unnecessary risks just for having fun and nothing more. That’s why the main reason for lowering MLDA is to set control over drinking in uncontrolled environments.

Reasons for Increasing

Talking about the reasons for increasing the MLDA, we should mention that teens are at the age when they can’t consume alcohol with responsibility. Thus, the chances they can harm or even kill themselves are high. They also believe that with the help of increasing the MLDA we can reduce the number of accidents. Sometimes, alcohol may be a spark for a fire which will burn everything around.

Should It be Raised?

Despite the fact that alcohol plays large parts in crime, statistics do not indicate the reasons for increasing the drinking age. What's definitely needed is greater education and awareness. A violent crime won’t be stopped only because of raising the legal drinking age, though it would be probably a very slight decrease.

It's quite obvious that it’s not about the drinking age, the awareness of an impact on a person alcohol can have, or needs to be increased. A lot can be said concerning the drinking age and arguments may be endless, but the key point is our own responsibility in this tricky question.