Lower the Drinking Age to 18
If I can start my entire life at 18, why can't I drink then too?
The day any American citizen turns 18 years of age, they are able to begin their adult lives. They can get married, buy a car, sign a binding legal contract, purchase and participate in pornography, sue or be sued, and fight and die for their country in the military. Unfortunately, for these "young adults" between the ages of 18 and 20, they are unable to celebrate their marriage with a toast, cannot drink with their fellow soldiers during the hard times of war.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was created to promote safety, especially in terms of drunk driving and the health of teens. By raising the drinking age, the country hoped to limit the number of drunken youth on the road. Statistics today show that the largest percentage of drunk driving occurrences happen within the ages of 21 to 24. Instead of teaching kids to drink responsibly and stay off the roads, we refuse to allow people to drink legally until they are 21, and then they go wild: drinking, driving, causing accidents, killing innocents. Another problem that the National Minimum Drink Age Act caused was an increase in binge drinking, an increase in the number of fake IDs, and an sharp decrease in the number of teens who seek help for alcohol poisoning. Teens feel as if they have to drink large amounts of liquor before going out for the night, so that they can stay drunk (as they have the inability to drink at a bar). Studies published on the National Institutes of Health and the US National Library of Medicine show that almost half of all college students have used a fake ID to purchase alcohol at some point. And because alcohol is so easily accessible, and binge drinking occurs before going out, teens are more likely to drink until they get alcohol poisoning. I myself have had countless friends refuse to go to the hospital for this potentially fatal poisoning, and an ambulance was called only after they had passed out from being too drunk.
Although the National Minimum Drinking Age Act does not set the age at which Americans can drink, it punishes the states for lowering their drinking ages. I am asking you, the federal government, to repeal this act and let the states take care of their own drinking laws. We all became an adult at 18, so why can't we drink too?
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was created to promote safety, especially in terms of drunk driving and the health of teens. By raising the drinking age, the country hoped to limit the number of drunken youth on the road. Statistics today show that the largest percentage of drunk driving occurrences happen within the ages of 21 to 24. Instead of teaching kids to drink responsibly and stay off the roads, we refuse to allow people to drink legally until they are 21, and then they go wild: drinking, driving, causing accidents, killing innocents. Another problem that the National Minimum Drink Age Act caused was an increase in binge drinking, an increase in the number of fake IDs, and an sharp decrease in the number of teens who seek help for alcohol poisoning. Teens feel as if they have to drink large amounts of liquor before going out for the night, so that they can stay drunk (as they have the inability to drink at a bar). Studies published on the National Institutes of Health and the US National Library of Medicine show that almost half of all college students have used a fake ID to purchase alcohol at some point. And because alcohol is so easily accessible, and binge drinking occurs before going out, teens are more likely to drink until they get alcohol poisoning. I myself have had countless friends refuse to go to the hospital for this potentially fatal poisoning, and an ambulance was called only after they had passed out from being too drunk.
Although the National Minimum Drinking Age Act does not set the age at which Americans can drink, it punishes the states for lowering their drinking ages. I am asking you, the federal government, to repeal this act and let the states take care of their own drinking laws. We all became an adult at 18, so why can't we drink too?
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