Legal Drinking Age

Legal Drinking Age

In the U.S., when you reach 18 years of age, you are legally an adult. Your new rights allow you to vote, join the military, obtain a marriage permit, sign legally binding contracts and many others except purchase and consume alcohol. Many feel this is the best reason for lowering the drinking age. I want to take a different approach at the issue; I think the legal drinking age should be lowered to allow young adults to drink under supervision in controlled environments such as restaurants, taverns, pubs and official school and university functions. We should allow drinking under supervision at an early age, because this teaches and develops more responsible acts of drinking. In these situations responsible drinking could be taught through role modeling and educational programs, this would develop mature and sensible drinking behavior. As we teach more responsible drinkers, then we can correct our current problem of abusive drinking. The drinking age is to youth today, what the Jim Crow laws was to blacks in the Old South. This law segregates our youth, while it is meant to protect society.
Everyone knows that it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of 21. 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 than it prevents. First, it is necessary to question this law. Why is 21 the magical age that makes one intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol?   We all know some people under 21 who can drink responsibly, and some over 21 with no hope of ever drinking responsibly,. Why isn't the limit 18 or 35 or 40? This seemingly arbitrary number is associated with adulthood, as if the day a person turns 21 they know everything and are mature. The drinking age used to be 18 in some states. Many parents of today's teenagers were legally allowed to drink at 18. Today's teenagers face more responsibility and are treated more... [continues]

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