Drinking_Age

Kirill Kurtsev ESLG 0630-02 22/10/2010 The United States Must Lower the Drinking Age. Everyone knows that it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of 21 in the United States. Many people are in agreement with this legal restriction. Some would even say that it should be raised. However, the legal drinking age sometimes causes more problems then it prevents. I am here today to persuade you that drinking age limit should be lowered. It is necessary to question this law. Why is 21 the “magical” age that makes one intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol' Why not 18 or 35 or 40' I think it is a problem to have a limit higher then the age of maturity. When people are considered adults, that means they are responsible for all their actions, and it’s their right to choose when drink and when don’t. It is unfair to people that they can marry each other since they are 18, but they can have a traditional wedding ceremony once they will turn 21. By the way, have you ever imagine your own wedding without alcohol' There are a lot of things like that, people can vote, have children, pay taxes, drive cars, to own homes, fly planes, risk their lives in the armed forces and to be financially and socially independent, and yet to be legally prohibited from drinking a glass of wine in a restaurant. I think it is unfair to have a limit higher then the age of maturity. In other countries around the world if you are under the age of 21 you can drink alcohol. Some countries don't even have an age limit, but in America you have to be 21 to buy alcohol. One of the main causes of the drinking age being set to 21 was teenagers were getting into car accidents after getting drunk. I am not saying driving under the influence should be legal. What I am saying is there should be more government programs to educate and prevent people from driving intoxicated, rather than raise the drinking age. More and more people under the age of 21 are experiencing alcohol. "A survey released by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) found that by the time Texas teenagers are seniors in high school, more than 80% of the teens admit to having some experience with alcohol. The same study found that secondary students say it's easy to get beer, wine or liquor. Texas is a zero tolerance state for underage drinking it has some of the strictest penalties for underage drinking, and if 80% of the teenagers in Texas have had experiences with alcohol that tells me that the campaigns against underage drinking, and zero tolerance programs are not working. Teens are going to drink alcohol at one point of their lives. So instead of spending all this money to prevent teens from drinking maybe it should go toward programs, or educating these teens about alcohol so they can make a informed decision about drinking.  There are programs now that educate people under the age of 21 about alcohol. These programs are being implemented in colleges around the country, and are about the choices of using alcohol. At the University of Virginia they are taking a more of an old-fashioned approach to educating college students about alcohol use. They are using two, two-and-a-half hour courses in class rooms called "Choices". They are boasting high results from this program a total of 75 percent of participants said they planned to reduce how much they drink in the future, while 85 percent indicated they had spoken to a friend. If these programs have high success rates, I think these programs should be put in high schools as well.  Nowadays people are more aware of the effect of drinking and driving can have on themselves, and other people. We should continue on educating the public and people under the drinking age about the effects of alcohol. Now that more people are aware of the effects of alcohol I believe we should lower the drinking age to 18 because at that age you are considered an adult. With teens being more educated in high school and college I think they will not make the mistake of driving drunk now that they are aware of the consequences.  It is legal for eighteen year-olds to die for their country, it is legal for eighteen year-olds to marry, and it is legal for eighteen year-olds to vote. Why then isn't it legal for eighteen year-olds to drink' I don't think that is right, and I believe that the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from twenty one years of age, to eighteen.