Drinking Age
Drinking is a big problem that causes many teen-age deaths in the United States, however, many people still argue that the legal age for drinking should be reduced to eighteen. This issue has been brought up many times, but the law has not been changed since the change to twenty-one in 1980. States have become stricter about preventing under-age drinking, but teen-agers have no problem getting alcohol. There are many arguments in favor of changing the drinking age back to eighteen. The facts show that drinking alcohol is too large of a responsibility for an eighteen-year-old to handle.In 1980 the government raised the drinking age to twenty-one because the number of drunk driving accidents was causing many teen-age deaths. The young adults of America considered this law a second prohibition. The main objective of the law was to make the young people happier, healthier, and safer (Smith & Smith 1). Because this law was viewed as a revival of prohibition, it was not widely accepted by the public, and some states were hesitant to pass the new law. Despite the opposition, the government pursued the passage of the law and offered states benefits for their cooperation. Some of these benefits included extra government money
"Coping With Cold, Hard Facts on Teen-Age Drinking. One of the main reasons that the age should not be changed back to eighteen is that many eighteen-year-olds are still in high school and can distribute what they purchase to younger peers. These are responsibilities that only an adult can handle (Smith & Smith 1). The drinking age should not change, but the way the alcohol companies present their products should not be aimed towards younger audiences. "Minimum-age drinking laws and youth suicide. Eighteen-year-olds are treated as adults. If the drinking age were eighteen then this figure would increase by about 12,000 (Olson & Gerstein 34). "Treat students as adults: Set the Drinking Age at 18, not 21. Males were more likely to drink than females but by a small margin (56 percent versus 49 percent), but the gender difference for getting drunk is a greater percentage (39 percent versus 29 percent).
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