Drinking Age Research Paper

In the United States, it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of twenty-one. At the age of 18 people are considered adults. "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen-years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age (Amendment 26, Section 1 of the Constitution). At the age of eighteen, a person can get married, vote, drive, take out loans, pay taxes, buy tobacco, have sex, be tried as an adult, have children, use credit cards, buy real estate, act independently of parents and be in the armed forces and die for their country.

If we look at Vietnam War, half of the soldiers that fought in that war were under the age of twenty-one, and a lot of them
Bars and many dance clubs are strictly for those 21 and over due to the legal drinking age in America, so many legal adults are not permitted entry. Clearly a discrepancy exists between an 18 year old adult and a 21 year old adult; however, since they are viewed by law as equals shouldn't they have the same privileges (Daniel 140)? Obviously certain laws that regulate activities by age are necessary. Voting, alcohol, and driving should not be available to people of any age because of the amount of responsibility these activities require. However the segregation between younger and older adults is unwarranted. Up until 1984 the legal drinking age was 18, however Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) spurred a campaign to raise the age limit to 21. They succeeded with the passage of the National Minimum Purchase Age Act in 1984. The law aimed to lower the number of drunk driving accidents, which it has done, but only by a small margin. However, what it has also done is reduce the rights of citizens between the ages of 18 and 21. Americans hold personal freedom to be an undeniable right. The right to drink one's self into a drunken state still falls under the personal right category; however, this basic freedom is restricted by the implementation of the 1984 law. Instead of being able to have complete control over one's life when they reach the legal age of
These companies are offering them Visa and Master Cards with up to 25% annual percentage rates (APR). How is someone with no credit history and little or no income supposed to take such huge financial responsibilities? They are expected to be able to take on this burden, yet they still can not buy a six pack to get their mind off the fact that they are in serious debt with their new credit card. Most twenty-one year olds that own credit cards want to get drunk when they realize that they have such enormous financial burdens, when eighteen-year-olds don't even have this option. An eighteen-year-old can die for his country while leaving his family to pay the 25% APR accrued by his quickly accumulated short-lived large debt. Yet he still couldn't drink. The drinking age must be lowered because in the majority of foreign countries, there is no distinction between a right and a wrong age to drink. For instance, Amsterdam has no drinking age, but there are barely any injuries that relate to alcohol by people under the age of 21. This is because all the young teenagers know that they can drink and this leaves nothing to rebel against, there is no hype. If something isn't prohibited, it becomes something of less interest. Professor Craig Reinerman of University California Santa Cruz has devoted his life to studying alcohol and drug policies in