Controversial Analysis: Drinking Age
Carolina Quiroga
April 02, 2012
Leslie Jones
English 102
The Drinking Age and Young Adults. Because underage drinking is a major problem for young adults, the drinking age has become a very controversial issue. In the 1990's, the drinking age was 18, but it was changed to 21 in 1984. The Federal Government informed states to choose between raising the drinking age to 21 or foregoing highway funding. This decision obviously affected 18 to 20 year olds who could no longer buy alcoholic beverages. As in every controversy, there are supporters on both sides. Some argue that at the age of 18, when young adults are able to fight in war and get married, they should be able to make the decision to have a drink. Others say that at the age of 18, the brains of young adults are in a process of developing and they may not be responsible enough to drink. Would lowering the drinking age to 18 years be safer for young adults here in the United States? Henry Wechsler and Toben Nelson wrote "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths?" They both explain the controversy as to whether the drinking age should stay 21 or be lowered to 18. To prove their point they talk about a little history within the drinking ages for the last 75 years They say that minimum legal drinking age laws have been a primary alcohol control strategy in the United States. When prohibition ended in 1933, most of the states put the drinking age to 21. These laws began to change in the 1970's when they lowered the minimum drinking age; then again in 1980's the law got back to drinking age of 21. They changed it back to 21 because of the increase in alcohol consumption among the ages of 18 to 20, and more traffic fatalities began to happen when the drinking age was lowered. As research has been done its said that over the years people aged 21 to 24 has become more of a binge drinking while the young adults of
April 02, 2012
Leslie Jones
English 102
The Drinking Age and Young Adults. Because underage drinking is a major problem for young adults, the drinking age has become a very controversial issue. In the 1990's, the drinking age was 18, but it was changed to 21 in 1984. The Federal Government informed states to choose between raising the drinking age to 21 or foregoing highway funding. This decision obviously affected 18 to 20 year olds who could no longer buy alcoholic beverages. As in every controversy, there are supporters on both sides. Some argue that at the age of 18, when young adults are able to fight in war and get married, they should be able to make the decision to have a drink. Others say that at the age of 18, the brains of young adults are in a process of developing and they may not be responsible enough to drink. Would lowering the drinking age to 18 years be safer for young adults here in the United States? Henry Wechsler and Toben Nelson wrote "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths?" They both explain the controversy as to whether the drinking age should stay 21 or be lowered to 18. To prove their point they talk about a little history within the drinking ages for the last 75 years They say that minimum legal drinking age laws have been a primary alcohol control strategy in the United States. When prohibition ended in 1933, most of the states put the drinking age to 21. These laws began to change in the 1970's when they lowered the minimum drinking age; then again in 1980's the law got back to drinking age of 21. They changed it back to 21 because of the increase in alcohol consumption among the ages of 18 to 20, and more traffic fatalities began to happen when the drinking age was lowered. As research has been done its said that over the years people aged 21 to 24 has become more of a binge drinking while the young adults of